KUALA LUMPUR (March 23): Sime Darby Plantation Bhd and five of its subsidiaries are being sued for 5.88 trillion rupiah (approximately RM1.72 billion) over the disposals of two plantation units.

A civil claim has been filed by Indonesian company PT Asa Karya Multi Pratama (AKMP), which had wanted to acquire PT Ladangrumpun Suburabadi (LSI) and PT Sajang Heulang (SHE) from Sime Darby Plantation's units for 1.65 trillion (approximately RM483 million).

The plaintiff, AKMP, alleged that Sime Darby Plantation had snubbed the deal and "unlawfully offered" shares in the two subsidiaries to a third party.

Sime Darby Plantation said its lawyers advised that all the defendants "have sufficient legal basis and merits" to defend the claim.

Sime Darby Plantation said the claim was also misdirected at it because, among others, it did not have any contractual relationship with the plaintiff.

The plaintiff's suit was filed against Sime Darby Plantation, Guthrie International Investments (L) Ltd (second defendant), Mulligan International BV (third defendant), PT Anugerah Sumbermakmur (fourth defendant) and PT Minamas Gemilang (fifth defendant), a bourse filing by Sime Darby Plantation said.

The plaintiff alleged it had paid a down payment and had an agreement with the fourth and fifth defendants for the purchases of LSI and SHE.

However, the down payment was returned and a conditional sale and purchase agreement scheduled for Sept 1, 2021 was not executed, AKMP said.

AKMP further alleged that the fourth and fifth defendants "acted in bad faith by denying the existence of an agreement for the sale and purchase of shares".

As a result, AKMP is seeking a material compensation of 882.5 billion rupiah (approximately RM258 million) and immaterial compensation of five trillion rupiah (RM1.46 billion) for loss of reputation and efforts spent, among others.

Shares of Sime Darby Plantation slipped one sen or 0.2% to RM5.06 at the time of writing, giving it a market capitalisation of RM34.99 billion.