Business

Wednesday August 1, 2012

Risda eyes Bursa listing

By DANIEL KHOO
danielkhoo@thestar.com.my


Agency seeking best method to facilitate IPO

KUALA LUMPUR: The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) is reportedly eyeing an initial public offering but will have to get approval from the Government on the move due to the differing ownership structure of the land compared with Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd.

Risda chairman Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik was quoted by Bernama as saying that the agency was carrying out research for the best method for this purpose.

According to information obtained from the Risda website, the land assets are managed by wholly owned subsidiary Estet Pekebun Kecil Sdn Bhd. Estet Pekebun Kecil manages about 78,000ha of oil palm and rubber plantations in Peninsular Malaysia.

Risda also owns a 70% stake in Risda Plantation Sdn Bhd with the remainder equity being owned by Koperasi Pekebun Kecil Getah Nasional Bhd.

Risda Plantation’s role is to facilitate palm oil and rubber replantation and commercialisation programmes Risda Plantation’s role is to facilitate palm oil and rubber replantation and commercialisation programmes

Risda Plantation's role is to facilitate palm oil and rubber replantation and commercialisation programmes. It manages a further 76,000ha of oil palm and rubber plantations.

Besides that, Risda's nine subsidiaries spans an almost complete supply chain, including a college; rubber and oil palm seed tree incubators; a fund management firm and an insurance broking arm.

Rahim noted that Risda was “different from Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd” as the land was owned by the farmers and this plan also required the explicit approval of the Government.

He also said they also planned to create a unit trust through Risda Holdings in order to increase the income of the smallholders and Risda staff, and to protect their interests, in the near future.

Analysts and fund managers surveyed by StarBiz said that Risda's listing, should it eventually materialise, could be a catalyst for increased trading participation and would increase foreign interest into the Malaysian capital markets.

A foreign fund manager however pointed out that Malaysia fundamentally needed to ensure more openess in its economic system to allow more effective capital flows in its current capitalist economic system to ensure that the positive impact of these listings would last moving forward and would not be a one-off experience.

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