Friday, August 10, 2001 (The Star)- JOHORE Tenggara Oil Palm Bhd (JTOP) ison the lookout for more plantation land as it seeks to expand its oil palmplantation business.According to JTOP managing director Datuk Shahabudin Shafie, despite thesomewhat low price of crude palm oil (CPO) in the international market,the company is confident of the future prospect of the commodity."We have a lot of faith in palm oil and it remains our business focus. Infact, things are looking up for us as now the CPO price has risen toRM1,300 per tonne," Shahabudin told reporters after the company's EGM inKuala Lumpur yesterday.He said that as part of JTOP's expansion plan, it had acquired 21,000acres of plantation land in Gua Musang, Kelantan, of which 3,000 had beenplanted with oil palm.The purchase costing RM49mil was funded by proceeds totalling RM104milfrom the disposal of its 25% share in Gugusan Induk Sdn Bhd, awholly-owned unit of JTOP.A further RM30mil will be used to repay bank borrowings and the rest foroperational costs.JTOP has a landbank of 75,000 acres, mostly in Kota Tinggi and Kluang inJohor.The EGM had earlier approved a proposal for the disposal by Gugusan IndukSdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JTOP, of its 25% equity interest inNice Frontier Sdn Bhd, comprising 2.5 million RM1 shares for RM104.425milcash.