Panther Metals Regulatory News (PALM)

21 August 2013

Asian Plantations Ltd

("Asian Plantations" or the "Company")

Completion of Acquisition

The directors of Asian Plantations (the "Board") are pleased to announce that, further to the Company's announcement on 28 September 2012, its wholly-owned subsidiary, Asian Plantations (Sarawak) II Sdn Bhd, has completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Grand Performance Sdn Bhd ("GP") (the "Acquisition").

The total consideration for the Acquisition was RM24.7 million (circa. US$7.5 million) for 3,852 hectares. The Company now has in total 24,622 hectares (60,840 acres) of titled agricultural land. The total gross purchase price per hectare is approximately RM6,412 (circa. US$1,950). The Acquisition was completed with cash on hand, and the Company is now in discussions with its lending banks and is confident that it will secure funding on favourable terms as per previous land purchases.

Following completion of the Company's due diligence, it was established that a proportion of the land owned by GP provided unsuitable terrain for producing palm oil. The Company therefore agreed with GP that it would acquire 3,852 ha of the initially proposed 7,000 ha GP estate for a reduced total consideration. The corresponding price per hectare is approximately RM6,412 (circa. US$1,950), which is lower than the previously announced implied price per hectare. The Board believes that the Company has secured an attractive valuation of the GP Estate relative to other publicly announced land transactions in East Malaysia, at a time of increasing scarcity of agricultural land in Malaysia.

Graeme Brown, Joint Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are delighted to have completed the acquisition at favourable terms. Development works will commence immediately and we expect to have 200 hectares planted prior to year-end given the new estate's proximity to our Incosetia estate. The net plantable area for the Company exceeds 21,000 hectares pro forma for this acquisition of which we expect approximately 18,000 ha to be fully planted by year-end."

-ENDS-

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