AEP Plantations (LSE:AEP) shares surged, rising 9.0% to 1939.8p after completing the acquisition of Indonesian grower Pinago.
Pinago is an Indonesian agribusiness operating in South Sumatra with approximately 15,400 hectares of planted oil palm, 3,500 hectares of rubber, integrated processing including a 120 tonne-per-hour CPO mill, harvested c.161,000 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches in 2025, produced 105,000 tonnes of CPO, and reported 2025 revenue of roughly US$135 million and profit before tax of approximately US$24.5m.
The deal is immediately accretive, increases the Group's planted oil palm area and raises crude palm oil production by approximately 23-25%, and brings a high‑quality brownfield asset with experienced planting and engineering teams that AEP says will enable further performance improvements.
"The acquisition of Pinago represents an attractive opportunity to deploy part of the Group's cash surplus into a sizeable, producing plantation asset with established infrastructure and strong earnings contribution," Marcus Chan, Executive Director, said.
The transaction was funded from the Group's existing cash resources, completion has occurred, AEPNH must now conduct a mandatory tender offer at the same per‑share price with maximum additional consideration of approximately USD3 million assuming full acceptance, and the Group said it will maintain a strong balance sheet and its dividend policy.
