CHGS founder gets 99% votes to end oil palm scheme

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): An overwhelming majority of Country Heights Growers Scheme (CHGS) shareholders adopted resolution to terminate a failed oil palm scheme early after a long drawn heated debate and voting today. 

The resolution was passed with 98.98% votes cast in favour of the move at an extra-ordinary general meeting today. This was equivalent to RM57.26 million worth of shares being cast. 

After the results were announced, founder of the investment scheme Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew said, "I'm happy that everyone happy. This is not about my reputation, but about my responsibility to the growers." 

Lee said that he will put CHGS PLANTATION land up for an open tender to sell it as soon as possible. He added that his goodwill ” offer would be an outright net loss for him. 

"As far as investors go, they are unhappy that the scheme did not work in the long term. Nevertheless, they are happy they can get back their money quickly. It is a fair deal," said J.D. Menon, representative for the shareholders at the EGM. 

Many shareholders were also eager to take Lee ’ s "goodwill" offer and cut their losses. 

Immediately after the meeting, founder Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew sent a letter of undertaking to the media to state that he will honour his verbal promise on the “ goodwill ” offer. 

Lee's “ goodwill ” offer is to return 90% of shareholder's capital to them within six months, as well as a RM25 million payout which works out to be 11.6% yield. 

Lee's offer was seen by many shareholders as an easy way out of the failing scheme. But many did not get to know what they came for – an answer on the scheme's failure. 

Earlier at the meeting, Lee had evaded questions calling for him to explain the failure of the scheme at Gua Musang, Kelantan. After the results were out, he maintained silence on this when approached by theedgemalaysia.com. 

"I don't want to talk about why the yield is so bad. I just want to establish that the bad yield is the trust, so shareholders can determine if they want to terminate the scheme," said Lee amid a tensed meeting with disgruntled shareholders. 

In the morning, Lee also encountered resistance from a small pocket of shareholders who were dissatisfied with the last minute nature of Lee's offer. They called for the vote to be postponed to a later date so that Lee's offer could be included the circular. 

Lee however noted that his offer was made strictly in his personal capacity and not part of the resolution today. On top of that, his “ goodwill ” package is conditional upon the resolutions being passed today. 

Some shareholders said that they felt bullied into making the decision, but were contented with the offer as it would allow them to get their money back sooner. 

After a long three-hour meeting peppered with emotionally charged discussions, more than 1,500 shareholders cast their votes.   

"If I can recover all my capital, it is enough for me. Including the RM25 million sweetener and the yield I have been collecting since the scheme started, my investment has returned about 60%," one shareholder told the Edge. 

Some other shareholders were skeptical about Lee's personal guarantee to return the funds promptly, but Lee insisted that he would be able to pay the monies back to shareholders.

Plentiful Gold Class chairman Lee extends olive branch to MSWG

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 7): Plentiful Gold Class Bhd (PGCB) chairman Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew has relented to the demands made by the MSWG in their letter earlier this week in relation to Country Heights Growers Scheme's (CHGS) proposed voluntary termination.

The MSWG had on Monday sought for a postponement of a general meeting by PGCB with investors of the Country Heights

Growers Scheme (CHGS), an oil palm farm-sharing investment scheme.

The MSWG had presented counter-proposals on behalf of the investors, asking, among others, for a postponement of the meeting to give it more time to iron out "pressing issues".

Speaking at a press conference today, Lee said that he would fork out RM25 million to the voluntary termination scheme on condition that the resolution passes through tomorrow.

This RM25 million comes on the back of MSWG's demand that PGCB pays its growers a 12% dividend by Feb 14.

"We don't pay out dividend because this scheme is a trust. But out of goodwill, I will fork out RM25 million if the resolution

pass through tomorrow and the growers will have to convene a meeting to decide whether to take this money," explained Lee.

He also told the media that he will ensure that the growers will receive the money due from the termination of the scheme within six months, as requested by MSWG.

"In my personal capacity, I will ensure that the growers will be compensated within six months instead of the two year timeline stipulated in the circular.

"If the company cannot come up with the money within the six months, I will find ways to repay them myself," he said

Country Heights Grower Scheme investors unite and call for general meeting to be postponed

PETALING JAYA: Disgruntled investors of Country Heights Grower Scheme (CHGS) are rallying together to demand for the adjournment of a general meeting to be held early next month on the eve of Chinese New Year in relation to the proposed voluntary termination of the investment scheme.

Taking their concern to the social media space, this group of disgruntled investors have called for urgent meetings among themselves in several locations nationwide, including Penang, Ipoh and Petaling Jaya, to discuss their course of action against the proposed voluntary termination of the investment scheme. A Facebook page had also been created under the name “CHGS Group” in the hope of getting more disgruntled investors to voice their opinion.

“Our intent is firstly to gather enough proxy support to call for the adjournment of the general meeting,” Michael Khor told StarBiz over the telephone.

“To get the adjournment, we need 50% of the vote We hope investors can give their proxies because we feel that the date of the meeting is purposely timed to push through the resolution to terminate this pioneer scheme,” he added.

Khor is from Ipoh. He has been an investor of CHGS since early 2008.

To recap, Plentiful Gold-Class Bhd, the management company of CHGS, last week issued a circular notifying investors of a plan to terminate the grower scheme, and a general meeting to be held on Feb 8 in relation to the proposal.

Plentiful Gold-Class is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bee Garden Holdings Sdn Bhd, a company in which Puan Sri Tan Bee Hong, wife of Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew, is a shareholder. (Lee is the founder of property development and management company Country Heights Holdings Bhd. He also sits on the board of Plentiful Gold-Class.)

According to the circular, the rationale for the proposed voluntary termination is that the scheme had encountered various challenges that had severely affected the development and operation of the plantation. These included unpredictable weather conditions, incursions of wild elephants into the plantation, poor soil fertility, shortage of key personnel and manual workers, and uncompromising terrain.

CHGS was established in March 2007 with a supposed maturity period of 23 years. The scheme involved selling plots of oil palm to retail investors. It guaranteed a return of 8% for the first three years (or planting phase). Subsequent return for the remaining 20 years would depend on the market price of crude palm oil (CPO). The scheme also claimed to provide capital appreciation to investors at the end of the maturity period.

Under the proposed voluntary termination of CHGS, the board of Plentiful Gold-Class had said it would refund in full the grower's fee to the respective grower or investor in cash over a period of two years. The first tranche of refund involved 10% of the grower's fee within 30 days upon approval of the proposed voluntary termination of CHGS, while the remainder 90% would be paid out within a period of two years from the date of approval.

According to Khor, disgruntled investors are not only unhappy with timing of the general meeting, but they are also dissatisfied with the terms of refund.

“The terms of repayment are very unfavourable,” Khor said, pointing to the “long” period of repayment for the remaining 90% of grower's fees to investors.

“We prefer an adjournment (of the general meeting) for better terms to be given or negotiated,” Khor added.

Meanwhile, the proposed voluntary termination of CHGS had also caught the attention of the Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG). In her commentary last week, MSWG chief executive officer Rita Benoy Bushon asked: “Why the rush to terminate when the prevailing average CPO price is still hovering around RM2,300 per tonne, which is above the minimum RM800 per metric tonne?”

Rita also questioned the timing of the general meeting, saying: “What was the reason for fixing the general meeting date a day before the Chinese New Year's celebration, given the expected long holiday?”

Rita also pointed out that there was doubt over the recoverability of the grower's fee, considering the fact that there was a shortfall between grower's fee payable of RM215mil (contributed by the subscribers) and the underlying value of the land at RM129mil as highlighted by independent adviser Ferrier Hodgson.

建议现金回退2·08开大会 李金友终止绿野种植计划

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2013-01-23 07:39


李金友控制的PGC建议回退现金给参与者， 全面终止“绿野种植计划。

（吉隆坡22日讯）丹斯里李金友控制的Plentiful Gold-Class有限公司（简称PGC），建议通过回退现金给参与者，全面终止“绿野种植计划”（Country Heights Grower Scheme，简称CHGS）。


该公司声称，多种不利因素，使该公司无法满足“绿野种植计划”承诺期限内的最低净回酬。

“董事部经过精密审核，决定献议自愿终止这终止计划，这么做也是为了避免投资者进一步亏损。”


PGC的公司秘书为此刊登广告，通知投资者“绿野种植计划”


将在今年2月8日（周五）上午10时，在The Mines Resort City的国际会展中心召开种植者大会，以寻求“绿野种植计划”参与者批准，终止这计划的献议。


在PGC发给投资者的通知书中阐明的议案，包括建议通过资本回退来终止这项计划，以回退方式分为两阶段进行：

（一）议案批准的30天内，PGC先以现金回退10%资本。


（二）议案批准后的2年内，PGC或其控股公司Bee Garden控股私人有限公司将支付其余90%资本给种植者。



恐7年没现金流
Bee Garden持有PGC99.99%股权的控股公司，李金友是其创办人兼主席。


据PGC针对这项终止计划献议发出的通知书称，种植顾问Elaeis Crop Care透过最新报告建议说，在未来5至7年内，这园丘不大可能带来正面的现金流量。


通知书引述报告称：“在最好的情况及产量高峰期，园丘最高产能或可达每公顷大约15至16吨；惟以现有情况来看，未来5至7年内，不大可能达到每公顷超过10吨的产量。”


“绿野种植计划”投资者大会



日期：2月8日（周五）

时间：上午10时

地点：The Mines Resort City

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