KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 17): Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Saturday said he had been formally entrusted with oversight of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) and FGV Holdings Bhd, marking a new ministerial responsibility as Felda consolidates control over FGV after its recent delisting.
Zahid, who is also a deputy prime minister and the minister of rural and regional development, said he had received a letter from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirming that he will be the minister responsible for Felda and FGV.
“I received a letter from the prime minister yesterday (Friday) stating that my new responsibility is officially as the minister in charge of Felda and FGV,” Zahid said during his winding-up speech at the Umno General Assembly 2025.
He said he had requested for Deputy Works Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan to assist him in overseeing the authority and the plantation group.
“The deputy minister is very hardworking,” Zahid added, drawing applause from the delegates.
Felda is an agency under the Prime Minister’s Department.
FGV was delisted from the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on Aug 28, 2025 following a successful privatisation exercise by its parent, Felda.
Felda launched its takeover offer for FGV on May 26, 2025 at RM1.30 per share, the same price as its failed 2020 bid, despite an independent adviser valuing the shares at RM1.83 to RM1.99.
The offer closed on Aug 15 with Felda and its persons acting in concert holding 3.46 billion shares, representing a 94.97% stake in FGV, well above the 90% threshold required to trigger delisting.
Felda’s wholly owned subsidiary, Felda Asset Holdings Company Sdn Bhd, led the takeover together with the Pahang government, with other parties-in-concert including Koperasi Kakitangan Felda Malaysia Bhd (Felkop).
FGV was listed in 2012 at RM4.55 per share in what was then one of the world’s largest initial public offerings (IPOs), raising about RM10.5 billion, of which about RM4.5 billion went to the company and RM5.5 billion to Felda.
The group was intended to serve as Felda’s commercial arm, expanding across upstream and downstream palm oil and agribusiness activities, but a series of underperforming acquisitions weighed on earnings and pushed it into losses in 2018 and 2019.
The stock lost about two-thirds of its IPO value by the time of its delisting.