Prelude to FGV Listing

A few days ago, we heard that the highly anticipated EGM of Koperasi Permodalan FELDA Malaysia Bhd (KPF)’s was  cancelled. The EGM of  the 224,000-strong cooperative was called off following the Kuantan High Court’s temporary injunction blocking the transfer of shares from the cash-rich cooperative to FELDA Global Ventures Holdings Bhd. FELDA Global is on its way to a listing on Bursa Malaysia, expected to be as early as May. After the listing, it would create a RM 21 billion corporate behemoth. That was how Ahmad Maslan described it.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been scheduled to attend the event. Last week, eight settlers who are members of the KPF filed an application at the same court for an injunction to block the share transfer from KPF to FELDA Global or for discussing it at the EGM.

If the injunction was granted at that time and efforts toward securing the injunction had in fact begun as early as January 2012, my question is what were UMNO lawyers doing? Especially that chap who got the RM 2.2 billion highway contract? Perhaps he was too busy imagining counting the millions he will personally get and millions more he and his buddies will have to allocate to hidden hands, to care about what’s happening to FELDA GV. 

Indeed, the injunction was the third application KPF. The National FELDA Settlers Children’s Association (Anak) had filed a similar action twice, one to prevent KPF from holding its EGM end of last year, and the other today. Today means 2 days away from the EGM. UMNO lawyers must be sleeping.

This is an embarrassment to Najib. His lawyers cannot preempt the injunction. Heads must roll. The first person he must sack following this fiasco should be Isa Samad himself. Perhaps Isa is too busy playing the resident politician at FELDA HQ at Jalan Semarak where he dispenses his homegrown wisdom laced with the usual sardonic phrases and of course, cash belonging to FELDA.

The next person Najib should sack head of the legal team representing FELDA and UMNO in this injunction application. Better, he should terminate the 2.2 billion highway contract. If UMNO lawyers cannot even circumvent the injunction by 4 ordinary people, how can they look after the construction of the highway? You want this kind of lawyers to look after UMNO. They are only good at executing disciplinary measures on dissenting members.

Beyond that what is at stake really? First and foremost, FELDA settlers through their KPF must pressure FELDA to stop allowing FGV to do a reverse takeover. its clearly a case of a smaller, loss making business entity, managed by incompetent people, planning to take over FELDA Holdings. Why should losers and incompetents take over FELDA Holdings?  FELDA Holdings should take over FGV or better still, sell off FGV. See whether there are takers for FGV?Isnt that called wide asset unbundling?

The objective of the injunction was to prevent KPF from disposing of all or part of its equity in FELDA Holdings Bhd to FELDA Global. You may remember that KPF owns 51 per cent of FELDA Holdings while the remaining 49 per cent is owned by FELDA Global. Among the grounds for the application was that the KPF’s proposal to dispose of its equity in FELDA Holdings and other subsidiaries, worth RM3.13 billion, to FELDA Global would not benefit them or KPF shareholders.