28/12/06 KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Three of Malaysia's biggest plantation firms have begun moves to combine into the world's largest listed palm oil company ahead of signing a 8.86 billion US dollar merger deal next month.

Synergy Drive, a vehicle set up for the deal, said a conditional sale and purchase agreement merger will be signed in January joining Sime Darby, Golden Hope Plantations and Kumpulan Guthrie and a number of their units.

It said an eight-person merger integration committee with executives from the three firms, as well as a former auditor general, and other business leaders had been formed to advise Synergy Drive on the deal.

The committee "will now be the key driver to execute the merger and ensure smooth integration of businesses and post merger success," Synergy Drive said in a statement released late Wednesday.

The announcement follows the acceptance by the three companies of acquisition offers from Synergy Drive last week.

Investment giant CIMB, via Synergy Drive, last month proposed the merger between the government-linked firms and will provide seed financing.

The move is aimed at boosting Malaysia's status as a top palm oil producer amid growing regional competition.

CIMB has said the merger will create a global leader in oil palm with plantations amounting to about 600,000 hectares (almost 1.5 million acres), the new firm will control about six percent of the world's crude palm oil supply.