Felda on overdrive to hard sell FGVH listing

The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) today went on overdrive in the biggest bid so far to hard sell its move to list Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGVH) on Bursa Malaysia to more than 1,300 land settlement scheme leaders.

Deputy Minister in Prime Minister's Department Ahmad Maslan (right) said the programme at Felda headquarters in Kuala Lumpur lasted roughly two-and-a-half hours and involved key leaders from its 317 settlements nationwide.

"If they fall, so will Felda," Ahmad said, referring to Felda's five ‘pillars' - the settlement chiefs, the women and youth chiefs, programme managers and senior officials.

He said today's programme was the most comprehensive and convincing, compared with previous efforts when certain facts could not be disclosed.

Malaysiakini and Merdeka Review were barred from attending the programme.

The listing of FGVH has received strong criticism and resistance, with critics contending that the move would be against the interests of the settlers.

Asset holding company mooted

Addressing concerns that the listing will cause Felda to lose its stake over the long-running oil palm plantations scheme, Ahmad said a Felda Asset Holding Company (FAHC) was being set up to control FGVH and ensure that its 37 percent stake is not sold off arbitrarily.

He is confident that the Felda's bid will be approved at the Felda Capital Cooperative (KPF) meeting on Feb 22.

KPF holds a 51 percent stake in Felda's RM3 billion share capital.

"I hope the suggestion will be accepted. Otherwise we will try other methods.

"But I am confident that it will be. Some of the KPF representatives were here at today's session," Ahmad said.

Asked about claims that a large number of Felda's 23,000 employeesdisagreed with the move to list FGVH, Ahmad said if this was true, it would have been be during the initial stages, before many issues had been ironed out.

"Even if there is disagreement, it is at certain levels of the administration only. But recently, all the top management agreed with the listing.

"If we need to call up the staff, we will do it," added Ahmad, who is also Pontian MP.

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