New Britain Palm Oil NBPO ACQUISITION OF LAND HOLDING COMPANY

  New Britain Palm Oil (NBPO) - ACQUISITION OF LAND HOLDING COMPANY

RNS Number : 2336I
New Britain Palm Oil Limited
23 July 2012
 



                                       

23 July 2012

                         New Britain Palm Oil Limited

                   ("NBPOL", the "Group" or the "Company")

           ACQUISITION OF LAND HOLDING COMPANY IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

 

New Britain Palm  Oil Limited (LSE:  NBPO), one of  the world's largest  fully 
integrated producers of sustainable palm oil, today announces the  acquisition 
of 100% of  Vitroplant Orangerie  Bay Limited ("Vitroplant"),  a land  holding 
company in Papua New Guinea, for a cash consideration of USD4,432,500.

 

Vitroplant, to be  renamed Orangerie  Bay Plantations Limited,  holds 99  year 
state leases located in Central Province, adjacent to the Company's estates in
Milne Bay, covering a total area of 5,351 hectares with environmental  permits 
issued from  the  Department of  Environment  and Conservation  for  oil  palm 
plantation development. In addition to  the state leases, Vitroplant has  also 
signed agreements with various incorporated land groups holding customary land
of approximately 6,000 hectares. Following the Roundtable on Sustainable  Palm 
Oil  high  conservation  value  land  assessments  and  all  other  regulatory 
requirements, the Company  hopes to start  to develop these  areas over a  3-4 
year period commencing in 2013.

 

ENQUIRIES:

 

New Britain Palm Oil Limited      Tel: +44 (0)20 7074 1800

Nick Thompson

Alan Chaytor

 
Kreab Gavin Anderson (PR Adviser) Tel: +44 (0)20  7074 1800

James Benjamin                    Email: nbpol@kreabgavinanderson.com  

Clotilde Gros

Georgia Lewis

 

Website: www.nbpol.com.pg

 

Notes to editors:

 

New Britain Palm Oil Limited

NBPOL is a large scale integrated industrial producer of sustainable palm  oil 
in Australasia, headquartered in  Papua New Guinea (PNG).  It has over  78,000 
hectares of planted oil palm estates, over 7,700 hectares of sugar cane and  a 
further 9,200 hectares of grazing pasture, (some of which will be converted to
oil palm); twelve oil mills; two refineries, one in PNG, and one in Liverpool,
UK; and a seed production and  plant breeding facility. The Company is  listed 
on both the Main Market of the  London Stock Exchange and on the Port  Moresby 
Stock Exchange in PNG.

 

NBPOL is fully vertically  integrated, producing its own  seed (which it  also 
sells globally),  planting,  cultivating  and harvesting  its  own  land,  and 
processing and refining palm oil (both in  PNG and the UK). It also  contracts 
directly with  its  end customers  in  the EU  and  arranges shipping  of  its 
products.

 

NBPOL has high regard for the importance of its sustainability credentials and
is active in proving  its performance through its  certification to ISO  14001 
and its close involvement  and support of the  Roundtable on Sustainable  Palm 
Oil ("RSPO"). The Company is a certified supplier of sustainable palm oil from
its entire production base  in West New  Britain Province in  PNG, at RAIL  in 
PNG, and from its entire Solomon  Islands estates, under the RSPO  guidelines. 
NBPOL is targeting having  its remaining sites audited  under RSPO as part  of 
NBPOL's commitment to  have all  units and  supply chains  certified as  fully 
sustainable and traceable by the end of 2012.

 

In September 2011, the World Economic Forum ("WEF") identified NBPOL as one of
16 out of a study of 1,000 companies from across the developing world that are
best showing  how  to grow  profits  at the  same  time as  actively  tackling 
environmental and social  challenges. Describing  NBPOL, the  WEF report  says 
that "the company has developed new ways to engage small farmers, who  provide 
one-third of  the company's  supply. These  close ties  have not  only  helped 
reduce poverty, but  also enable  the company to  develop one  of the  world's 
first fully traceable palm oil supply chains."

                                   - ENDS -

                     This information is provided by RNS
           The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
END
 
 
ACQQXLBLLDFEBBX -0- Jul/23/2012 07:00 GMT