Golden Agri-Resources plans expansion in Liberia

The palm oil plantation continues to explore investment opportunities worldwide to expand its businesses, both upstream and downstream.

Golden Agri-Resources Ltd (GAR) on Tuesday confirms it is looking at investment opportunities in Liberia and the prospect of utilising its expertise to pioneer large scale cultivation of sustainable oil palm plantations and related downstream activities, a media release from GAR said.

GAR said the move is in conjunction with company’s intention to continually explore investment opportunities worldwide to expand its businesses, both upstream and downstream.

“The company is in the process of actively evaluating this investment opportunity through a potential investment in the Verdant Fund LLP (Verdant), a private equity fund. Apart from GAR, Verdant is expected to receive funding from other investors. Presently, Verdant is the sole shareholder of Golden Veroleum (Liberia) Inc (Veroleum),” the statement from GAR said.

Veroleum is a company incorporated in Liberia, West Africa, and is in the process of being granted a concession by the Government of Liberia (the GoL) to develop approximately 220,000 hectares of land on which to cultivate oil palm over a period of 20 years. The release said the initial development will commence with 15,000 hectares.

GAR said it believes the current market environment validates its business model and competitive strengths. As part of its value creation efforts, GAR regularly evaluates all investment opportunities. While the Company expects to focus its business in Indonesia, GAR is open to any geographic expansion opportunities.

“Through this strategic discussion with Verdant, GAR hopes to build shareholders value by utilizing its expertise in large scale cultivation of sustainable oil palm plantations and contribute positively to GoL’s poverty reduction strategy,” the GAR statement said.