Guthrie sells land to fund acquisition

Guthrie sells land to fund acquisition

KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones): Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd., a Malaysian
plantations and property company, Friday said it plans to sell
land in Malaysia to pay for recent acquisitions in Indonesia.

Ghazali Bin Awang, executive director for finance and
corporate service, said Kumpulan could sell by the year-end as
much as 1,000 hectares of land in Malaysia, some of which is
still under cultivation.

Proceeds from the sale could bring in an estimated 700 million
to 900 million ringgit (US$23.6 million) since some of it is in
the Klang Valley outside Kuala Lumpur, he said. Land in the Klang
Valley is relatively more expensive compared to the rest of the
country.

The move is aimed at reducing debt stemming from the purchase
earlier this year of 25 oil palm plantations in Indonesia spread
over 203,000 hectares. Guthrie paid $368 million for the estates,
for which it borrowed 1.4 billion ringgit.

Ghazali, who was speaking at an investors' conference at the
Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, said the company plans to transform
the ringgit loan into dollar loans, but declined to provide
details.

He said Guthrie is currently in talks with potential buyers of
about 1,300 acres of land near the capital worth about 500
ringgit million. The sale could go through in the next few
months, he said.

Kumpulan Guthrie last month reported a net loss of 24.5
million ringgit for the first half, from a net profit of 15.9
million ringgit a year earlier.