14/7/2005 Business Times (Malaysia) - GOLDEN Hope Plantations Bhd willbuy a portion of Germany's Cognis Deutschland GmbH & Co KG global oils andfats business in a deal believed to be worth almost RM300 million.

In a released statement, Golden Hope said a memorandum of understanding(MOU) will be signed today with Cognis in Kuala Lumpur without revealingsalient details of the deal.

A formal agreement will be signed at a later date.

For the MOU signing, Golden Hope will be represented by its group chiefexecutive officer (CEO) Datuk Sabri Ahmad and Cognis by its CEO Dr AntonioTrius. Witnessing the event will be its chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji AbdulHamid.

Cognis, a refiner of vegetable oils and supplier of innovative specialtychemicals and nutritional ingredients, employs about 9,000 people.

It operates production sites and service centres in 30 countries withbusinesses in 100 countries chalking up a combined annual revenue of aboutEuro3.1 billion (Euro1 = RM4.64).

Golden Hope already owns a 50 per cent stake in Cognis Oleochemicals (M)Sdn Bhd in Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor.

Of late it has been expanding its downstream operations aggressively withplans to set up bases in the US, India and Morocco.

In April this year, Golden Hope struck a partnership with Saudi Arabia'sSavola Edible Oils Co Ltd to market various oils and fats products in WestAsia.

A few days earlier, Golden Hope bought two Unilever brands - Crispa andHolsum - in South Africa through its wholly-owned South Africansubsidiary, Hudson & Knight (Pty) Ltd, and launched a new refinery inVietnam a month before that.

In the past four years, Golden Hope has also bought Hudson & Knight's RM69million edible oil refinery in South Africa and Europe's second largestrefinery, Unimills, for RM200 million.

Malaysia's second largest palm oil company in terms of landbank currentlyhas a downstream presence with seven refineries in six countries - two inMalaysia and one each in Bangladesh, Vietnam, South Africa, theNetherlands and China. It also owns a trading company in Germany.