‘Bumi investors’ to get more FGVH shares than FELDA settlers, says PKR
UPDATED @ 05:48:40 PM 28-05-2012
PETALING JAYA, May 28 — Felda settlers will only get an allocation of 91 million shares while government-backed Bumiputera investors are being offered a whopping 420 million shares out of Felda Global Ventures Holdings’ (FGVH) 2.2 billion shares, PKR has alleged.
The opposition party has demanded that the prime minister explain why unnamed Bumiputera investors are being allocated such a sizeable amount of shares under FGVH’s planned initial public offering (IPO).
PKR investment and trade bureau chairman Wong Chen today reiterated his party’s assertion that FGVH’s planned listing would not benefit Felda settlers, this time saying that FGVH’s share allocation was “unfair” to settlers and only beneficial to “rich Bumiputeras.”
The preliminary prospectus of FGVH obtained from the Securities Commission’s (SC) website, said Wong, shows a breakdown of FGVH’s share allocation.
He said Felda settlers would only be entitled to an allocation of 91 million shares (2.5 per cent of FGVH shares) while Bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry would be entitled to 420 million shares (11.5 per cent of FGVH’s total shares).
Felda employees will be allocated 109 million shares (three per cent of FGVH shares) while “institutional investors” such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNB) would be allocated 1.5 billion FGVH shares.
“What’s alarming is that the MITI-approved Bumiputera share allocation of 420 million shares. Who are these special Bumiputeras? What have they done to help develop Felda?
“We do not know their identities but we know that under MITI’s official guideline, to be MITI-approved you must first be very rich,” Wong told reporters.
He said that MITI guidelines obtained from its official website stated that in order to qualify as a MITI-approved Bumiputera investor, an individual must have at least RM3 million in assets, and if it is a company (100 per cent Bumiputera owned), its assets must be worth RM10 million.
“We demand MITI produce a complete disclosure list of the rich Bumiputera investors and beneficial owners of this IPO, and why they are more deserving than settlers.
“The way shares are allocated clearly shows the PM is more interested in helping the rich... PM Najib must withdraw the undeserving rich Bumiputera allocation and give it to settlers,” said Wong.
PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli, who was also present, alleged that the land lease deal inked between Felda and FGVH in November last year included the leasing of more than 100,000 acres of Malay reserve land.
He claimed that the deal played a major part in FGVH’s planned listing.
“PKR can confirm that we have full copies of the agreement and list of land affected.
“Our checks show that out of the 847,362 acres of land leased, 105,382 has been identified as Malay reserve land,” said Rafizi.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will launch the prospectus of FGVH in Kuala Lumpur this Thursday.
Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad said last week the launching would enable FGVH to be subsequently listed on Bursa Malaysia.
Putrajaya is currently forging ahead with Felda’s controversial planned public listing despite criticism from some settlers and the opposition who claim that it will short-change some 112,000 Felda settlers nationwide.
Najib has assured Felda settlers that the listing would yield profits, and has announced a RM1.69 billion windfall for all settlers and staff throughout the country, ahead of the FGVH listing.
