22/12/06 KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian plantation firm Golden Hope has accepted a merger offer that is expected to create the world's largest listed palm oil planter worth $8.6 billion, it said on Friday.

Three Malaysian state-controlled plantation firms announced plans last month to join forces, creating a palm oil planter accounting for 6 percent of global production.

Conglomerate Sime Darby , property and plantation firm Kumpulan Guthrie and Golden Hope plan to put their assets and liabilities into a new entity, Synergy Drive, adviser CIMB Investment Bank has said.

Sime and Kumpulan Guthrie had earlier announced their acceptance of the merger plan.