Asian Plantations Limited Proposed Acquisition (4141N)
28 September 2012 - 5:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMPALM
RNS Number : 4141N
Asian Plantations Limited
28 September 2012
28 September 2012
Asian Plantations Ltd
("Asian Plantations" or the "Company")
Proposed Acquisition
The directors of Asian Plantations (the "Board") are pleased to
announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Asian Plantations
(Sarawak) II Sdn Bhd, has entered into a conditional agreement to
acquire the entire issued share capital of Grand Performance Sdn
Bhd ("GP") (the "Proposed Acquisition"), which owns approximately
7,000 hectares of land zoned for the development of palm oil in
Sarawak, Malaysia (the "GP Estate").
The total consideration for the Proposed Acquisition, is RM45
million (circa. US$14.7 million) and is payable in three
tranches:
-- The initial, fully refundable tranche of RM1.7 million
(circa. US$0.5 million) is payable immediately.
-- A second tranche of RM6.7 million (circa. US$2.2 million) is
payable seven days from the fulfillment of the conditions
precedent.
-- A further tranche of RM36.7 million (circa. US$11.9 million)
is to be paid within one month of the fulfillment of conditions
precedent and is also subject to bank financing. The total gross
purchase price per hectare is approximately RM6,429 (circa.
US$2,100). APL is in discussions with lending banks and is
confident that it will secure funding on favorable terms. However,
in the event that it is not able to raise sufficient finance
[Dennis to add comment].
The Proposed Acquisition is subject to a number of conditions
precedent (the "Conditions Precedent"), which include, inter
alia:
-- Various regulatory approvals;
-- Completion of the Company's legal and financial due diligence
in respect of the GP Estate; and,
-- Approval by the Board and the directors of GP.
The Board are confident that the Conditions Precedent will be
met, and it is anticipated that the Proposed Acquisition will be
completed during the first quarter of 2013 after the delivery of
the audited accounts for Grand Performance Sdn Bhd. Further updates
will be provided in due course.
Information on Grand Performance Sdn Bhd
The GP Estate is adjacent to the Company's existing palm oil
plantations and consists of 7,000 hectares of agriculturally titled
land. The GP estate is less than 5 km from the boundaries with our
Incosetia estate and is ideally located to generate additional
volume for our crushing mill planned for opening in December 2012.
The Company expects, subject to the availability of sufficient
working capital, to fully complete all the in-the-ground planting
by the end of 2014.
In addition, the Board believes that the Company has secured an
attractive valuation of the GP Estate relative to other publicly
announced land transactions in East Malaysia, at a time of
increasing scarcity of agricultural land in Malaysia.
GP is a newly formed company and its first accounts will be
produced as at 31 December 2012.
Planting Projections
Should the acquisition of the GP Estate complete as anticipated,
the Company will have 27,770 hectares of titled land. Management
expects to have a final minimum total of 22,000 hectares planted
with palm oil (excluding all roads, common areas, mill, quarries,
rubber plantings, buffer zones, etc.) by the end of 2014. Based on
our previously announced target of 14,200 hectares planted by
year-end 2012, and assuming completion in Q1 2013 the remaining
7,800 hectares would be planted equally in 2013 and 2014.
Dennis Melka, APL's Joint Chief Executive Officer,
commented:
"It has become more apparent during the course of 2011 and 2012
that the availability of appropriately titled land suitable for the
development of palm oil plantations in Sarawak is becoming
increasingly scarce. I am therefore delighted that we have been
able to agree the terms for the Proposed Acquisition. We will
continue to explore potential further acquisitions on an
opportunistic basis but our main focus will now be on fully
planting our existing plantations and opening our milling facility.
I look forward to providing shareholders with updates regarding our
continued progress in this regard in due course."
-ENDS-
For further information contact:
Asian Plantations Limited
Graeme Brown, Co-Founder & Joint Chief Tel: +65 6325 0970
Executive Officer
Dennis Melka, Co-Founder & Joint Chief
Executive Officer
Strand Hanson Limited
James Harris Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409
Paul Cocker 3494
James Bellman
Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited
Steve Baldwin Tel: +44 (0) 203
Dan Iacopetti 037 2000
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited
Tom Nicholson Tel: +65 6824 8204
Callum Stewart Tel: +44 (0) 20 7459
3600
Bankside Consultants
Simon Rothschild Tel: +44 (0) 20 7367
8871
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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