Equatorial Palm Oil appoint Siva representative Varadharajan

Equatorial Palm Oil (LON:PAL) (EPO) has appointed Shankar Varadharajan, a representative of its strategic partner the Siva Group as non-executive director.

Siva, a major Indian conglomerate, is supporting the company’s expansion in Liberia.

Varadharajan is being appointed as Siva’s representative on the board, as agreed under the group’s initial £5m investment back in May. The relationship between EPO and Siva has grown further recently, with a menorandum of understanding to create a significant US$60m joint venture.
"We continue to build upon our already exciting relationship with The Siva Group, and this appointment will solidify our relationship with them,” EPO chairman Michael Frayne commented.
“The Siva Group has recognised the huge potential of our operations, and is keen to work closely with us to substantially de-risk our project financially and advance our land position.”

Last week, in the company’s upbeat interim results, Frayne emphasised that “Siva seeks to invest in growth opportunities and has identified the palm oil industry as having high expansion potential”.

The chairman believes that the joint venture puts EPO in a strong position. “Our potential JV with the Siva Group provides us with a strong funding position and a supportive partner with synergistic objectives to advance the scale of our plantations quickly and responsibly.”

EPO has a large 169,000 hectare land position, covering three distinct areas - Palm Bay, Butaw and River Cess County. The company intends to plant 50,000 hectares of oil palm over the next ten years, taking production to 250,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).