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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Saturday 2 June 2012

FGVH issue, again and again.


This issue is not going to stand down. 

I have to repeat this question. FGVH has not even been listed, the government of the day plans to give a total of RM 15,000 to each FELDA household. The pop gets 5k first, then the mom and finally, junior. Where did the government appropriate the money? Advances from the underwriting banks? From FELDA itself? 

If the money is from FELDA coffers, then the FELDA folks must then be suffering from a peculiar mental illness, the name of which I don’t know. But it entails, a person feeling jubilant receiving his own money but given by another person. 

If the money is not from the listing exercise, it must come from somewhere. So for what purpose was the money given? I have said it many times- Najib’s favorite way is to pay his way through. The FELDA settlers are no exception. Moreover there are 52 parliamentary seats to be won in FELDA areas. Sabah and Sarawak are almost certainly gone. FELDA is now the favorite political fixed deposit. Najib is pre-paying the interest amounts.

And Najib at least knows the Malay mentality- anything given free will be wiped clean. He told this once to me when I complained that FELCRA settlers wanted shares for every member of the family when only per household was meant to be given. So now, he has improved on his delivery system- RM 15k to be divided among pop, mom and junior. That’s representing every member of the family. 

Clearly, this is a financial inducement to FELDA settlers to persuade them to decide in a particular way. Its corruption. If settlers are given RM 15k, what about the ordinary traditional villagers? FELDA settlers are better off than most of them. This government is being selective again. So, intelligent sons and daughters of discriminated villagers go back and tell your parents not to vote for a government that is playing favorites. 

The original idea to list FGV came from CIMB Investment Bhd. It was also aided by Ethos Consulting as joint global coordinator. Probably now, many others have been roped in to become joint coordinators. It’s Don Corleone assembling a gathering of the families from New York, Nevada, Vegas to join in to share wetting their beaks. 

This probably was the source of the idea when Najib announced sometime in October 2011, that he wanted to list FGVH and its related companies.

If he has studied FELDA, he would have not agreed to the idea in the first place. If the idea has always been the welfare of the settlers and FELDA employees as he claimed, the better idea was to allow KPF to buy out FGV completely and then go for listing. KPF can hire a top management team to run the business. FGVH is doing the same too, so managing better is not something exclusive that can be done only by FGVH. Moreover, if KPF has been allowed to buy out FGVH and gains 100% control of FH, the claim that we are looking out for the welfare of settlers and FELDA employees first, would have been more credible. 

The business outfit making money for FELDA is FELDA holdings which is owned by KPF and FELDA (through FGV). FGV is the smaller partner of FH and in theory; the bigger partner offers to buy out the smaller. 

FELDA the authority made a judgment and subjective call- it favored FGV to buy KPF out instead of the other way round. Now, please tell us, based on that decision, which side does FELDA support? The settlers and employees or the corporate marauders? 

The owners of FGV upon receipt of the purchase sum will then do whatever they want in the downstream side of the business or whatever. They can even buy shares in the FELDA Holdings. If that has happened, then FELDA settlers and FELDA employees would have become 100% owner of FH and all assets therein. Moreover, FGVH has no standing to swallow up FELDA Holdings because as a business it hasn’t done well. The last two years profits were probably not enough to cover all the previous losses it incurred. 

It has to tackle one nagging question. After the listing, where would FELDA) the parent company) get money to run its business? It has to pay employees, manage the welfare of the settlements and carry out its social and political responsibilities. It needs about RM 3 billion a year to finance its operations. When the listing takes place, it will be left with RM 400m a year which is not enough to see it through. It can of course operate from the earnings it gets from selling its 49% in FH to FGVH. How much will it get? It will have to use its portion from the listings to pay off EPF debt for example. It borrowed RM 6b from EPF the last time.  And don’t forget , it has to allocate a big amount to the ministry in charge of FELDA to allow the minister in charge to play Santa Claus all over. 

Probably realizing that, FELDA says it will set aside 20% of its earnings from the listing in a new vehicle named Amanah Saham FELDA.  I suspect Aamanah Saham FELDA will become the repository of moneys deposited there (either from earnings of its 20% share in FGV or from direct government transfers) to take care of the usual income which FELDA has now lost. From RM3b to RM400m a year. So when Isa says the Amanah Saham FELDA will use the dividends and earnings it gets to distribute dividends to settlers, that claim is dubious. 

We don’t know whether Amanah Saham FELDA will get 20% from FELDA’s portion of the profits upfront or 20% in the form of shares in FGVH entitling it to get dividends each year later. Will that 20% equity entail getting RM 3 billion a year, we don’t know. Suppose it doesn’t get 3 billion, where will the shortfall come from? It will have to come from the government.  If at the end of the day, the government ends up having to contribute money into FELDA which previously doesn’t need help from it, doesn’t this show the myopia of the government? We can even call it stupidity.

21 comments:

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 10:32  

is this an amazing game of musical chairs? looks like a bad ipo. if facebook looked bad with insiders dumping on the muppets, felda stinks to the max.

bruno,  2 June 2012 at 11:09  

Dato,the money Najib and his sidekick Isa are going to give to the settlers are the money shortchanged from their harvests all the years before.After giving back each family 15,000 ringgit,they still own them many times more.

But as long as the settlers got any money,they are happy.It does not matter if these money were cheated from them over the years.To them it is godsend money.Money falling from the skies.

They are getting screwed from behind and they thought that they were getting paid for their services.What they didn't know are that they were being paid with their own money.That means that they are getting screwed for free.

So what they should do is take the money and vote ABU.The settlers should wake up from their trance and realised that they have being taken for a ride.Maybe should send the PAS brigade into the Felda schemes and smack them up from their dreams.

bruno,  2 June 2012 at 11:23  

Dato,some ball carrier analysts are out calling for FGVB shares to be worth RM5.50-6.50.They think that their grand daddies Najib and Isa would be so kind and generous to leave crumbs on the table for them to feast.Such stupid fools would lose their underwear if they were to trade for their own accounts.

They are having wet dreams that Uncle Jibby and his sidekick Isa are Santa Clauses,dropping RM100 bills from the helicopter,like Fed Reserve Chairman Big Ben.What they do not know is that their grand daddies would milk the cows till their tits turned red,purple and black,and still have no pity for the poor suferring cows.

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 13:07  

commodity boom is over for now. CPO price sank below 3k yesterday and outlook is bearish amidst downturn in major economies.
looks like the party is over. if najib gonna stalled election till next year, even the settlers will desert him once felda share price tanked.

kampong lad 2 June 2012 at 14:01  

felda tu harta bapak dia....kalau oghang putih tak bawak mai pokok kelapa sawit dari afrika, felda ada ka hari ni? tun razak boleh main peranan ka? serupa jugak dgn pokok getah. sekurang2nya oghang putih ada tinggai jasa. apa jasa kerajaan umno/bn? minyak? kayu balak?. boleh jadi rakyat tak susah macam ni kalau oghang putih atau jepun perintah negara ni.

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 16:40  

Najib thinks that everyone in the country is like he and his wife. He thinks we all love money without earning it.

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 17:06  

The settlers' land is their future....most are not good with finance and money.

With so many failures and scandals, this is not the time to risk their future with such scheme.....may be after the change of government with more accountability and responsibility.

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 20:07  

i wonder how much those guys are raping from this ipo?

it will make an interesting story about the gains made by non settlers from this ipo

Sam Yap,  2 June 2012 at 21:00  

Dato', who will explain this to the peneroka? And how to convince them, which is another problem. I don't think the peneroka are stupid, but truthfully, this FGVH deal is so convoluted that most of us don't even begin to grasp what goes where!!!

I am pretty sure if the peneroka understands how they are being taken for a ride, then we'd sure they will return the compliment to BN and take Najib & partners for a ride.

bruno,  2 June 2012 at 21:07  

In six months time,CPO will be trading between 2,400-2,800 and 1,600-2,000 within three years.These are very conservative figures.Extreme figures will be 2,200-2,400 within 6 months and 1,200-1,600 within three years.

It will all depends on how much of a hit the markets will take within the first couple of weeks after the fat lady sings.Commodities have had a very good run for the last decade.Commodity markets when they topped,will be like falling out of bed during a bad dream.

FGVH Investors hoping to make a killing will be licking their greedy fingers a few weeks after the IPO.They will have to hold for the next five years to break even if they are stuck,that is if the markets do recover.

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 22:05  

Najib offers the cash to the settlers very much like the way Isa offered the UMNO delegates when he contested the party elections. Isa was suspended by UMNO. Najib will be suspended by the rakyat. Isa taught Najib how to win elections....

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 22:30  

LONDON/SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - Motor sport racing company Formula One has delayed its Singapore initial public offer worth up to $3 billion, the fifth big Asian IPO to be postponed or pulled in a week, as weak markets bring the global market for new listings to a shuddering halt.........
..............
On Thursday, London luxury jeweller Graff Diamonds ditched its $1 billion IPO in Hong Kong, Asia's IPO capital, which along with the United States has seen a slump in initial offers. Deal volumes in Hong Kong have dived 85 percent so far in 2012. In the United States, 12 IPOs were pulled or delayed in May.
(http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/asia-ipo-idUSL4E8GU83J20120601)

Anonymous,  2 June 2012 at 22:32  

UMNO has been able to survive for half a century because it has successfully screwed the Malays.
The wonder is that the Malays don't even realize they are being screwed.

Bunga Raya 2 June 2012 at 23:24  

The eleven management goons have helped themselves to 1.6m shares, worth half a million ringgit per person. Isa Samad of course takes the biggest slice, with 180,000 shares. I read he has only a Bachelors degree, but he is a master in manipulation.

CurryMan,  3 June 2012 at 01:51  

Dato,

As you have pointed out post after post, BN is corrupt, UMNO is hopeless, M'sia is downward spiral in all aspects.

But I can't help but thinking who are the people who still support BN? And why do they do so? I am talking about the ordinary rakyat and not the people linked to BN.

I just attended a conference in KL. Not often an international conference being held in KL. On the second day of the conference, the talk of the conference was one of the organizers, who is not a Malaysian, got robbed and injured at the previous night near a LRT station.

I don't know if robbers deliberately avoid people who voted for BN? With M'sia at its current state, why is there no greater outrage for some segments of ppl in our country? I left M'sia twenty years ago, and I feel outrage seeing what is going on. This is definitely not the M'sia that I remember when I was growing up.

Can you shed some lights on why ppl still support BN and how can that be changed?

CurryMan

Anonymous,  3 June 2012 at 08:42  

I strongly believe one way to make money from this fiasco is to SHORT the stock. Same thing happened to FACEBOOK.
LYNAS too.
DYOR

Anonymous,  3 June 2012 at 09:59  

Saya menjangkakan saham FGVH meningkat mungkin ke paras RM7.50 seunit vs harga asal RM4.55 seunit semasa diapungkan di Bursa M'sia. Jika angka ini menjadi kenyataan maka yg untung besar mestilah pengurusan tertinggi Felda.

Saya difahamkan setiap staff Felda diperuntukkan saham mengikut taraf jawatan masing2. Bagi eksekutif muda diperuntukkan 6,000 unit. Manakala GM 40,000 unit. Saya menjangkakan penjawat pengurusan tertinggi seperti SVP dan Group President mesti melebihi 100,000 unit seorang...ini bermakna SVP akan memprolehi keuntungan modal sebanyak kira2 RM0.30 juta seorang. Bagaimana pula dgn Tan Seri Isa dan Datuk Sobri Ahmad serta mereka2 yg menyokong/berjasa kpd Felda (dalam hal ini para2 pesara tidak diperuntukkan saham)...berapa banyak yg mereka dapat???

Dengan keuntungan sebagini lumayan vs apa yg peneroka dapat, pastinya geng2 Isa tidak akan melepaskan peluang. Peduli apa dgn Tanah Felda (sebahagiannya tanah Resab Melayu) seluas hampir menyamai keluasan negeri Melaka (360,000 hektar) terlepas ketangan Mr Robert Chin dari Hong Kong atau Mr Goh dari Singapura..

walla 3 June 2012 at 16:47  

The market today is unlike the market back when Petronas Gas and Maxis had listed. This time buoyancy and exuberance are missing, and investors are pessimistically cautious, evidenced by the paucity of analyst coverage.

The listing can't come at a worse time. All the big IPOs in the world have pulled back. And foreign buyers won't be enthusiastic about a maximum of ten percent allocation of a share base diluted by some 37% through the cross-holding, what more with a sub-priced leasehold on the core asset where production is done so there is no way they will bump up the price post-listing which means there is likelihood the price will fall despite the parade.

Furthermore, since some of the BN states have been forced to buy what they have been allocated, those states are going to be hit when the price falls and the only way they can avert immediate loss is to hold which means they will face even bigger cash-flow problems in the coming years in much the same way GLCs like EPF, PNB and Ltat which are potentially the other major buyers will be savaged by forced participation in this listing which will dilute their own future earnings and thus dividends. So, voters in those BN states and subscribers of those GLCs should take note now.

Some 3.6 billion shares may be listed. If everybody sells, who can they sell to? Thus, hold which means no fast money.

The next question then is - how long? One of the risks identified is replanting. Fifty-three percent (lima puluh tiga peratus) of the estates are twenty years old and more. They are like the fuel-guzzling jumbo's of MAS, low on yield, high on cost. If you replant now, it will be three years before you can get 5 tonnes per hectare on the old seed, ten on the new MPOB seeds. Then you will need another three years to max about 17 tonnes per hectare on the old seeds, twenty eight on the new ones. These are already subpar outputs by industry standards. Meanwhile there will be general decline in production so that in the short and medium terms, revenue will be hit. In the commodities market, people are only interested in short-to-medium term futures.

Now during that time, the second risk will kick in. That's competition from Indonesia which has ambition to corner the market for itself shown by its favorable export structure which compensates for the tariffs imposed by import markets which have been hurting our export. While Felda also have some 14 thousand hectares in Indonesia, none has been developed. You'd wonder why.

Meanwhile, the third risk continues to dampen. The price is volatile and will yoyo net revenues since FGVH also buys and will have to buy even more during replanting slides if it is to keep up with its new image.

Since the downstream activities have been comatose, there's only one other aspect. Through its 51% stake in MSM Holdings, FGVH is also a sugar refiner. In this day and age of kurang manis, that's also a risk, not forgetting the right-to-left hand subsidy on sugar, all at rakyats' expense.

Which leaves us to ask where did that RM15,000/household come from? That's over one billion ringgit of irrational exuberance money to hit the accounts of the nation's stakeholders, namely the rakyat, one day after the listing. Expect some creative presentation of the Sept 23rd budget, especially expenditure columns.

walla 3 June 2012 at 16:48  

2/2

This listing exercise is but another one of the ponzi schemes of spending in advance rakyat money from the common pool for political causes of specific prejudice on the arrogant notion that since Umno runs treasury and khazanah, it can damn well do anything it likes with the rakyats' money. Like the way the BN forex play had caused the rakyat RM30 Billion back then when the ringgit was two point five to a stronger dollar, the tradition of ruinous financial plays continues. And BN has the nerve to layer Bafia on Rafizi while the ex-Minister walks away exonerated.

Don't people ever think if such schemes really work, all nations in the world would already have done so and we don't have to argue about keynesian economics?

What is galling in this case is our Felda settlers and their own cooperative have had no say on the way the whole escapade has been steam-rolled; they have also been underpaid for the lease. One also understands the conscientious Felda officer who had bravely objected has been banished to be some storeroom clerk. And if the proposal is so right, why the need for the grand roundabout way, one day mooting a special purpose vehicle, another day mooting a special trust fund?

On a larger landscape, the coming months leading to GE13 will see Umno trying to cover the sky. It will steer all eyes away from the most important thing still left undone - election reforms. The electoral roll as it stands now cannot be used. The two EC jokers who remain Umno members also cannot pakai.

And high-level corruption that still exists will show no one can trust a foot-dragging Umno government. The two elephants in Malaysia Timur are so big to be missed how can MACC say it hasn't finished when it had said before a report has already been submitted to Putrajaya on one of them? Hmmm? think the rakyat don't notice, izzit?

Umno is trying to be the centre of attention. To overwhelm all sights and sounds of the rakyat. To be the only silat player on the stage. But all ten million voters must surely realize by now Umno is just standing next to the Opposition players whose deliveries of performances are more remarkable, less troublesome and are clear of corruption, hypocrisy and arrogance.

Where is the real rule of law in our society if the federal institutions have ganged up on the very people they must protect - the rakyat? Umno has become just a byway of sycophants, moral cowards and opportunists with no conscience bullying the rakyat to curry favour with political paymasters who remain greedy, corrupt and power-crazed liars to the core.

Clear the sky, Rakyat of Malaysia. You are the centre of attention, not any Umno leader. Boot them out.

Anonymous,  11 June 2012 at 01:51  

I think the money is going to be from Felda's current coffer of RM800 which is supposed to be used for re-planting. After the listing exercise, it doesn't really matter whether the RM800m balance becomes RM200m. The RM15k actually rightfully belongs to the settlers and it is not "Durian Runtuh". The strategy of dividing the 15k into 3portions has caused disharmony in many Felda families, eg which child will inherit the RM5? And for those with 2 wives, which wife? Assuming split equally, the money is chicken feet. Felda settlers are also hard-pressed to receive this RM15k because they're in a perpetual cycle of debts deliberately created for them in order to enslave them. Many can never make enough to pay off debts and are trapped in this cycle. The only freedom for them is to manage the plantation themselves, that is KPF must take over, with capable managers from the 2nd Generation who are well educated. Form a management team and eliminate all those blood-sucking sub-contractors who have done nothing except to pile up the settlers debts, and taking advantage of the illeteracy of elderly settlers. Lately, it was also revealed that 4.5% is going to a Jewish company. Malays really have to open their eyes especially those gullible UMNO supporters. The irony is in every Opposition speech, UMNO "gangster" would parade the street with a large banner calling Anwar "Pengkhianat", Anwar "Yahudi", but what do they say about the 4.5% of listing shares that are going to a Jewish company? I repeat 4.5%, this is larger than the 2.5% to be held by 112,652 settlers. Anak has actually revealed a lot of evidence supported by documents and yet there are still people who will fall for the trap. This is really bewildering. Even the letter by the bank asking the settlers to use the land as collateral, is worded in such a way that almost every word in the dictionary is used to corner the settlers in assuming the debts, lose ownership of land and has no legal recourse whatsoever against anyone. And yet, there are still those in felda who just refused to believe, thus it had taken ANAK so long to garner the necessary support.This is daylight robbery, human slavery & cruelty all happening at the same time. The best part is this Durian Runtuh is actually money that is rightfully the settlers in the first place. I pray that I'm wrong, but from my observation, this is what I think is happening and FYI, I'm not Malay, just giving an independent view. At the end of the day, it is up to the Malays to rise and fight the listing.

bukan senang nak senang 4 July 2012 at 13:25  

Stupid and ignorant kampong Malay folks are being conned by the 'bright' town Malay corrupted United Monkeys again.. hahaa!

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