Singapore’s Wilmar gains NZ clearance for Sucragen purchase

Singapore’s Wilmar gains NZ clearance to complete Sucragen purchase

By Paul McBeth

Dec. 15 (BusinessDesk) – Wilmar International Ltd., the world’s biggest palm oil trader, has won approval from the Overseas Investment Office for the local component of its bid to buy Australian sugar interests.

The OIO signed off on the Singaporean agriculture company’s A$1.75 billion offer for CSR Ltd.’s Sucrogen business. It needed New Zealand regulatory approval because CSR owns the Chelsea sugar refinery in Auckland.

Wilmar extended the deadline for its bid after the OIO held up the deal with its investigation. Outgoing CSR chief executive Jeremy Sutcliffe told the Australian newspaper the delay was costing shareholders up to A$300,000 in lost interest every day.

The deal is expected to be completed on Dec. 22.

Wilmar gathered a degree of local notoriety over its joint venture with Fonterra Cooperative Group’s subsidiary RD1. The JV’s palm oil businesses in Indonesia were criticised by environmental activist group Greenpeace, which claimed it was destroying rainforests and seizing indigenous land without due process.

Shares in CSR rose 3.2% to A$1.76 on the ASX today, and have dropped 5.5% this year. Wilmar shares fell 0.2% to S$5.95 on the Singapore Exchange today, and have declined 7% this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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