Sime Darby

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By: BankTrack Created before Nov 2016 Last update: Mar 15 2021

Contact: TuK Indonesia

Sectors Agriculture for Palm Oil

Headquarters

Ownership listed on Sime Darby Berhad, incorporated in Malaysia and listed on the Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia) has a market capitalization of USD11.74 billion (June 2016). Sime Darby is controlled by the Malasian Government as its major shareholders are government controlled companies. The majority shareholder is Permodalan Nasional Berhad which ownes 50,40% of the shares (August 2016). Two other major shareholders are the Employees Provident Fund which ownes 9,86% of the shares and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan which ownes 5% of the shares (April 2017).

Subsidiaries PT Mitra Austral Sejahtera - PT MAS – Indonesia

Website http://www.simedarby.com/

About Sime Darby Sime Darby is a Malaysian multinational conglomerate that has operations in the plantations, property, healthcare, energy and utilities sectors. It was founded in 1910 by two British businessmen involved in the rubber industry, and later encompassed the oil palm and cocoa business as well.

Sime Darby Plantation is the plantation and agri-business arm of the Sime Darby Group. It is involved in oil palm and rubber plantation management cultivation and downstream activities, agribusiness and food, as well as Research & Development (R&D).

The merger of Sime Darby Berhad, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad and Kumpulan Berhad (completed on 27 November 2007) established Sime Darby Plantation as the largest listed plantation company in the world. It produces about 2.44 million tonnes of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) or 4% of the world's annual output.

Sime Darby has been a member of the RSPO since 7 September 2004.

Latest developments

Press Conference at the RSPO Nov 8 2016

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts In Indonesia, Sime Darby is involed in a longstanding land grabbing conflict with the Indigenous communities of Kerunang-Entapang in the plantations of its subsidiary PT. MAS, in West Kalimantan. The communities have filed a complaint at the RSPO in 2012, which as of April 2017, is yet to be resolved. NGOs raised serious concerns about the impact on forests and local communities of its operations in Liberia. Lack of consultation during initial agreement has resulted in continued tension between Sime Darby and local communities. Unresolved issues remain six years after community negotiations started. Full concession development would require negotiations with an additional 55 communities. This could entail decades of negotiations with uncertain outcomes, and could result in significant delays to project development.

Environmental and climate impacts There has not been any recent public evidence of large-scale deforestation by Sime Darby in Asia, and Sime has made significant progress in achieving RSPO certification for its Southeast Asian operations. However, NGOs have raised serious concerns about the impact on forests and local communities of its operations in Liberia. The company has signed a 63-year concession agreement in 2009 for 220,000 ha of land to be developed into oil palm and rubber plantations in Liberia. An additional 44,000 ha are to be developed under an outgrower scheme. To date, Sime Darby has planted 10,411 ha palm oil and 107 ha rubber under this agreement. Sime Darby’s undeveloped land bank in Liberia contains high-density forest; thus 45% cannot be developed responsibly.

Other impacts Sime Darby led resistance to industry adoption of a "No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation" policy. Instead, Sime Darby has led an initiative to create a so-called palm oil manifesto that would attempt to change the definition of what forests merit protection under palm oil industry forest conservation policies. It was only after significant pressure that Sime Darby announced in September 2014 an immediate moratorium on the clearance of high carbon stock (HCS) forests, whilst a study that aims to establish a threshold for defining what constitutes HCS forests was being carried out.

Governance

Applicable norms and standards

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

Updates

Press Conference at the RSPO Nov 8 2016 At a press conference in Bangkok, during the yearly meeting of the RSPO, indigenous community leaders from the Kerunang-Entapang villages, West Kalimantan, urged Sime Darby to solve its open RSPO complaint. The communities complained that they have submitted a proposal for solution to Sime Darby in May 2015, to which Sime Darby has still not responded.

Financiers

Data from ForestsAndFinance.org identifies USD 1,103 million in finance raised by Sime Darby in the period 2010-2016, including USD 625 million in corporate loans, USD 155 million in revolving credit and USD 323 in bond issuances. Sime Darby has not issued any new shares between 2009 and 2016, but has issued new bonds several times. For a full list of financiers, see ForestsAndFinance.org.