KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 26): Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) rose as much as 10 sen or 5% after its president and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad said it was no longer in talks to buy a 37% stake in Indonesia-listed PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk for US$680 million (about RM2.83 billion).

At 11.10am, plantation group's shares rose to their highest so far today at RM2.26 to become Bursa Malaysia's fifth-largest gainer. FGV saw some 10 million shares traded.

At RM2.26, FGV has a market value of RM7.88 billion.

Over the last one year, FGV shares closed at their highest at RM2.50 on Sept 22 this year after the company confirmed it was no longer eyeing the stake in Eagle High.

FGV's latest closing share price of RM2.16 is still a remarkable jump of nearly 70% from the stock's lowest close of RM1.30 in May.

The Edge Financial Daily (Edge FD), quoting Zakaria, reported today that FGV had not resumed talks to buy the Eagle High stake from Rajawali Group, which owns 65.5% of Eagle High.

"Mergers and acquisitions are not a priority. At the moment, FGV is focusing on its core business by maximising returns from the existing assets, reducing the administrative costs and building internal capabilities," Zakaria told Edge FD via text message. Edge FD reported that he was abroad and did not elaborate.

Zakaria refuted Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim's recent claim that FGV was still in talks to acquire the Eagle High stake.