KUALA LUMPUR (April 4): FGV Holdings Bhd said it has received a fourth extension from Bursa Securities to comply with the minimum public shareholding spread by September 2023.

The plantation group’s public shareholding spread stood at 13.09%, compared with the minimum requirement of 25%.

The extension was provided soon after FGV said that its board of directors is exploring the issuance of new Islamic preference shares, as part of a rectification plan for the company to comply with the public spread requirement.

“If feasible, the corporate proposal is expected to take up to eight months to complete, barring unforeseen circumstances,” FGV said when revealing the plan on Feb 27.

FGV is 86.91%-owned by the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), which raised its stake from 36.61% amid a failed privatisation exercise in 2021 at RM1.30 per share in December 2021. The takeover exercise’s deadline was extended three times.

Extension to the deadline for FGV to comply with public shareholding spread was provided in March 2021 to August 2021.

It was postponed further to February 2022, and later to August 2022 before an initial rejection by Bursa Securities for another extension — until the preference shares proposal was mooted.  

Shares of FGV settled down one sen or 0.68% at RM1.45, giving it a market capitalisation of RM5.29 billion. Year to date, the counter has risen by 9.85%.