Here's the bigger picture behind Wilmar's stalled stake buying deal

Who will be largely affected?

Wilmar's deal to buy a stake in Noble Plantations has fallen through as it failed to get approvals from the relevant authorities.

But it could have wider implications for the Indonesian palm oil industry if approval was not granted because of the proposal to limit plantation companies’ ownership of estates to 100k ha each.

Here's more from CIMB:

This may affect the expansion plans of large-cap planters with over 100k ha of planted estates. Wilmar has been forward-looking and has started to expand to Africa.

Noble Group’s planned sale of its 53.74% stake in the JV entity, Noble Plantations, to Wilmar has been  called off as conditions have not been satisfied before a deadline.

The venture holds a majority interest in PT Henrison Inti Persada, which owns around 23k ha of land in Papua. It was reported that the group failed to obtain certain merger clearances.