United Malacca sells four estates to Huat Lai for RM175mil

KUALA LUMPUR: United Malacca Bhd on Thursday entered into three separate agreements to sell four plantation estates to Huat Lai Resources Bhd for RM175.14mil.

The four estates, located in Negri Sembilan and Melaka, measuring a total of 1,021ha, were sold via an open tender exercise.

C H Williams Talhar & Wong Sdn Bhd has valued the land and plantation assets at RM185.4mil, the company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

“Despite the discount, the board believes the sale consideration is fair, given the overall age profile of the plantation assets and the said sum offered by Huat Lai was the highest bid received through the open tender process,” it said.

United Malacca said the cash proceeds from the proposed sale are expected to be utilised for the company’s plantation development expenditure for its other remaining estates in Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as for general working capital.

“However, the board has yet to determine the breakdown of the said utilisation at this juncture,” it said.

The plantation assets represent approximately 0.94% of the total land bank of the United Malacca group of approximately 109,143ha.

Huat Lai, a poultry producer based in Melaka, was delisted from Bursa Malaysia in 2017 after the founding Lim family bought out other minority shareholders in the company.

Source: TheStar