By Stephanie Jacob
Felda, Felda Holdings and Felda Global Ventures Holdings share more than just a first name, they have one man to lead them all, chairman Isa Samad, who despite his own previous questionable behaviour has managed to find himself at the helm of three important companies, including one that sits among the biggest listed companies in the world.
Tiger is extremely familiar with palm oil plantations, after all since she was nothing more than a wee cub, Tiger has had to deal with a fast decreasing amount of green spaces, all cleared to make way for large swatches of plantations.
One big company that is into palm oil, rubber and other plantations is Felda, which through its subsidiary and associate companies such as Felda Holdings and Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) acquires such plantations and provides support to the people who cultivate it.
From Tiger’s note comparison sessions with its cousin cats across Malaysia, she hears that Felda is pretty active and has vast tracts of land all over the country. And why not? The plantation business is no small sang kancil; it is a lucrative business, heck even one of Tiger’s ambitious cousins has made a play for the chief executive officer position in FGVH (he is still waiting on a reply, so paws crossed!).
But if Tiger is being totally honest, she is not sure the FGVH position is the one that her cousin should be going for, she thinks he might want to look for something even a little more senior, such as chairman.
Isa Samad
The reality though is that it will be a tough job to nail, as the position in Felda, Felda Holdings and FGVH currently belongs to a certain someone named Isa Samad, who sits as Chairman on all three boards. Now do not ask Tiger how that happened, because she is as confused as the next cat on how Isa Samad managed to score the Felda position to begin with.
You see, Tiger finds it curious to as how a man who was suspended by Umno his own political party for participating in money politics (Isa was suspended for six years initially, but succeeded in getting it reduced to three years), would be let even close to an organisation like Felda.
Tiger is all for forgiving, but she is not so sure about forgetting, after all Felda is ultimately a cooperative of all the settlers who toil the land and work extremely hard to earn a living, surely they are worthy of someone with an unblemished track record?
But at a much more basic level, with Isa sitting as Chairman of all three boards, what kind of check and balances are in place to ensure that all three companies are being developed to fully maximise its individual potential?
Over the past few months Tiger has read from the scraps of human newspapers that still litter the otherwise beautiful jungle, that Felda and FGVH have begun splashing the cash making interesting acquisitions both in terms of the choice of assets and their price tag.
FGVH recently made its second acquisition since its massive listing in the middle of last year, the first had been two purchases in Kalimantan, Indonesia for a collective sum of around RM44 milion. But it is its latest acquisition to acquire Pontian Plantations for RM2 billion which has raised eyebrows, with many analysts saying that the valuation is too high and hard to justify since it is lower than even FGV’s own valuation. As the size and scope of Pontian’s plantations are undisclosed, it is difficult to determine why FGVH would pay a premium for the company.
Then there is Felda itself, which has decided under the watchful eye of Isa Samad that the time has come to diversify its holdings so as to be less susceptible to the volatility of the crude palm oil market. To be fair, Tiger accepts and even welcomes the suggestion, after all every smart animal knows not to put all one’s eggs in the same basket.
So Tiger wondered where Felda would choose to branch out to, well it has chosen the tourism sector and has begun investing in properties both locally and abroad to grow this arm of its business.
Felda has already started snapping up properties it feels might have potential and in the past month is has spent over RM80 million on a hotel in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and close to RM500 million on a property in London, UK.
Will it succeed? Well that is hard to tell, for one, Felda has not indicated how or why it feels that the tourism industry is the best way to go. Secondly, no one in Felda has explicitly outlined a roadmap or a timeline for this diversification.
Tiger knows that technically, Felda has no obligation to explain anything to the general public, they do however have a duty to the Felda settlers, whose hard work contributes to its coffers. The board and management must present a well researched and comprehensive plan to justify its recent buying spree.
Also, Tiger think this will be a perfect time for Isa Samad to redeem himself by going above what is asked for and showing that he is a changed man, who is worthy of being custodian of the fruits of labour of the Felda settlers.
GRRRRR!
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