KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, the world’s largest palm oil producer by acreage, said on Tuesday (April 30) that it plans to change its brand name to SD Guthrie Bhd.

The company will seek shareholders’ approval for the new name at an extraordinary general meeting on a date to be announced later, Sime Darby Plantation said in a statement. The necessary legal and regulatory approvals for the rebranding will be obtained, the statement also said.

The decision to rebrand, Sime Darby Plantation said, was made after several months of discussions with experts in the fields of law, intellectual property and brand identity.

"We believe it is the prerogative of any large company with ambitions for sustainable growth to own and control its brand and identity. With this change to SD Guthrie, we will be able to assert full control over our identity and explore opportunities that will best serve the interests of our shareholders,” Sime Darby Plantation group managing director Datuk Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha said in the statement.

Sime Darby Plantation explained that the “Sime Darby” brand is owned and controlled by its former parent company Sime Darby Bhd. In 2017, Sime Darby Plantation demerged from Sime Darby and was listed as a separate entity on Bursa Malaysia. Since then, Sime Darby Plantation has operated under a licence, subject to the terms of a brand and trademark licensing agreement, paying an annual fee for the use of the “Sime Darby” brand.

"This situation imposes significant constraints on Sime Darby Plantation’s ability to make its own strategic decisions for the brand and business," it said.

In proposing “SD Guthrie” as the new brand, the company aims to present itself as a fully integrated player in the industry, with interests and potential beyond upstream plantations.

The new brand name pays homage to its recent past as part of the Sime Darby group, as well as its origins more than 200 years ago with Alexander Guthrie, who founded Guthrie & Co in Singapore in 1821, starting out as a trading house.

Over the years, through multiple corporate exercises, Guthrie & Co grew into one of the largest plantation companies in the world and later merged with Sime Darby and Golden Hope Bhd in 2006 to form the world's largest plantation company.

"To us, however, our commitments to sustainability, innovation and quality are as important as our scale, reach and capacity. This is why we continue to explore new technologies and invest in continuous improvement. We understand the changing needs of the world, and we are looking forward to an exciting future," Mohamad Helmy added.