PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA The Ministry of Enterprises has affirmed that subholding PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN), known as PalmCo, will not proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) in 2024. This decision stems from the recognition that there are significant challenges to address and a need for strategic solutions to enhance the company’s valuation.
According to Vice Minister of Enterprises, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, the focus is not on taking PalmCo to the stock exchange; instead, the emphasis is on the company’s improvement, particularly in increasing plantation productivity.
“Not yet (no 2024 IPO for PalmCo), because I think if it was just getting consolidation and we would get an IPO, the valuation would not be optimal,” Kartika said, as Palmoilmagazine.com recently quoted.
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She also said that replanting palm oil trees would be a solution because some plantations belonging to the PTPN Group were not too good. It is hoped that the replanting will make the plantation productivity of PalmCo standard at 20 tons per hectare.
“If we join an IPO, everything must be productive to get a higher valuation. If it is not clear, valuation would not be optimal. It is better if, in the first phase, we get strategic partners to get equal productivity, then we join the IPO,” she said.
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On the other hand, she also mentioned that PalmCo has the chance to be the biggest palm oil plantation company in the world for the next 2–3 years. She projected that PalmCo would have 600.000 hectares of palm oil plantations, which would be the same as those in the past, such as Sime Darby of Malaysia.
For information, by the early part of December 2023, the Ministry of Enterprises had merged 13 companies managed by PTPN III (Persero) into two sub-holdings: PalmCo and SupportingCo.
PalmCo was the merger of PTPN V, VI, and XIII into PTPN IV as the standing one, while SupportingCo was the merger of PTPN II, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, and XIV into PTPN I. (T2)
