Anglo-Eastern Plantations Regulatory News (AEP)

30 November 2023

Anglo-Eastern Plantations Plc

("AEP", "Group" or "Company")

Consolidation of AEP's Holdings in Its Indonesian Subsidiaries

AEP is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisitions of the minority interests in the following Indonesian subsidiaries, from PT Marison Nauli Ventura ("MNV") for a total cash consideration of US$60 million.

· 20% of the issued share capital of PT Tasik Raja ("Tasik"),

· 20% of the issued share capital of PT Hijau Pryan Perdana ("HPP"),

· 20% of the issued share capital of PT Bina Pitri Jaya ("BPJ"),

· 10% of the issued share capital of PT Alno Agro Utama ("Alno") and

· 25% of the issued share capital of PT Musam Utjing ("MU").

Following these transactions, the Company now wholly-owns Tasik, HPP, BPJ, Alno and MU.

The purchase of the minority interests in these five subsidiaries is in line with the Group's stated strategy of consolidating AEP's holdings in its Indonesian subsidiaries with the Group's cash resources, as reported in our 2022 Annual Report.

The acquisitions of the minority interests in Tasik, HPP, BPJ, Alno and MU is expected to enhance future earnings per share as it no longer has to apportion retained profits to MNV going forward.

As at 31 December 2022, the gross assets of each of the following subsidiaries were approximately:

· Tasik US$170.9 million

· HPP US$34.7 million

· BPJ US$156.6 million

· Alno US$102.5 million

· MU US$44.6 million

The profits before tax of the following subsidiaries for the year ended 31 December 2022 were:

· Tasilk US$25.9 million

· HPP US$6.0 million

· BPJ US$24.5 million

· Alno US$20.4 million

· MU US$3.7 million

Under the FCA Listing Rules, the acquisition of shares of the non-controlling interests in Tasik, HPP, BPJ, Alno and MU constitute a Class 2 transaction and, as such, this announcement is made in accordance with AEP's disclosure obligations pursuant to Chapter 10 of the FCA Listing Rules. 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

The person responsible for this announcement is Dato' John Lim Ewe Chuan, Executive Director.

For further enquiry, contact:

Anglo-Eastern Plantations Plc

Dato' John Lim Ewe Chuan +44 (0)20 7216 4621

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited

Dominic Morley / Amrit Mahbubani +44 (0)20 7886 2500