KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): FGV Holdings Bhd has confirmed today that it is in negotiations with seven interested buyers to sell its 50:50 joint-venture company with Lembaga Tabung Haji, Trurich Resources Sdn Bhd.

"Yes, Trurich is definitely one of the assets that we are planning to divest and monetise," its chief executive officer Datuk Haris Fadzilah Hassan told reporters today when asked to confirm a news report on the matter that came out last month.

"There are seven interested buyers at the moment and we are in talks with all of them," he added.

When asked about the reported US$1 billion (RM4.13 billion) valuation for the JV company, Haris said: "I think it is closer to a bit more than RM1 billion."

Without naming any parties, Haris shared that three of the seven interested buyers are planning to buy both estates owned by Trurich while the other four plans to buy only one of them. "Preferably, we would like to sell it as a whole," he said.

According to previous reports, Trurich controls 42,000ha of oil palm estates in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

If all goes well, Haris said today, FGV is targeting for the sale to be completed by September this year.

Besides Trurich, FGV has targeted RM350 million of proceeds from the divestment of non-core and non-performing assets as part of its three-year transformation programme.

Haris said in the first quarter of this year, the group has been finalising divestments of several non-core and non-performing assets amounting to RM150 million.

Most recently, FGV announced earlier this month that it is liquidating two companies by end-2019, namely Felda Engineering Services Sdn Bhd and Felda Properties Sdn Bhd, neither of which are part of its core business.