Drama in the Sky- Felda buys Eagle High

Let the Felda settlers realised, they have been screwed. Felda set up by Tun Razak in 1956 is now plundered by the son. Najib promised manna from heaven to felda settlers when it is now raining brimstone from hell. No bonanza and no windfall.

It can buy a  a 37% stake in Eagle High Plantations but it cannot take care of the welfare of settlers who have been accustomed since 1956, being looked after by patronizing felda. Now Felda is abandoning its children and rushing to take care of Najib’s friend.

When I asked in parliament where has the money borrowed by SRC from KWAP- that elusive RM4 gone to- the answer came we have only spent RM400 million. Maybe that RM400 million has gone to pay the down payment in peter sondakh’s plantation and paid into buying a stake in the plantation. 

And maybe , its now convenient to redirect the flow of the balance into buying whatever stake in Eagle High and some into somebody’s private account. It is acceptable to just declare, we don’t know the money came into our private account nowadays.

Settlers should realise that Felda looks out after its own interest first. It looks out after the interest of its masters and its ultimate master- the PM of Malaysia, aka MO1, the embezzler in chief. Everyone in the world recognised Najib as one of the most corrupt leader in the world except the Malays in Malaysia. Well, at least the majority of UMNO Malays- the man who is placed there by God, who can do no wrong, is one of us, a fellow Malay and a fellow Muslim. Malay/Muslim above everything else.

That same sentiment was once displayed proudly by a race clad in brown shirts carrying Swastika flags.  Heil MO1!

Was it designed to give Malaysians a sense of comfort that now it is felda and not that going down down FGV that is now buying the 37% stake in Peter Sondakh’s Eagle High Plantations? Felda says triumphantly it is buying the stake at USD505m much cheaper than when FGVH wanted to buy it at USD680m.

But by not much. When the sale was USD680, our exchange rate was probably RM3.50 to the USD making the value at RM2.4 billion. Now our exchange rate is RM4.4 to the USD making the price at RM2.2 billion. A mere saving of RM200milion. It is no big deal which probably only involves Peter Sondakh to cancel the planned purchase of one private jet from the original 5 ordered.

Where is Felda getting the money to buy the 37% stake? By now, Malaysian should be wary and suspicious whenever MO1 announces to buy anything. Please don’t forget that he is ultimately the master of Felda and FGV. You people spoiled my idea to buy eagle high through FVH, I can buy it through Felda. That seems to be his attitude.

Does the reduced price give us comfort? It does not because it’s still a high price to pay for a 37% stake with no voting power. It’s like putting money into a friend’s distressed company. The share price for Eagle High just last month, in November 2016 was 212 rupiah. Felda is paying 580 rupiah per share.

Felda quickly came out with a disingenuous answer saying, they are evaluating the purchase price on the basis of enterprise value per hectare. This is like pissing on us. Felda comes out with a more refined term- urinating, relieving, etc. It is still pissing on us. 

The share price may not reflect the true value of the company. why is Felda siding with Peter Sondkah?

I thought, sound economics means we are always looking to buy at a cheaper price instead of looking at reasons to buy at higher price. Why does felda want to do this?

Its a stupid answer.  when you can buy at a cheaper price based on the share price, you are putting up more money to buy at some fiction price. What economics is this? At the price of 580 rupiah per share, the price which ought to be RM826million becomes Rm2.3 billion. How do you explain for the difference? Under the current climate of leaders stealing money, there is a strong suspicion the difference in purchase value is going into some people’s private account.

What is enterprise value? It means and suggest that, we put up a price we fancy and come out with an explanation later. Are we so hard up to get a 37% share of Peter Sondakh’s eagle high plantations? At the current share price, if felda is willing to spend a bit more , it can acquire 90% of the business, noting that we need to have an Indonesian partner in that country.

Posted by Ariff Sabri