{"id":1049,"date":"2015-04-15T13:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T06:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tuk.or.id\/?p=1049"},"modified":"2018-12-28T17:59:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T17:59:05","slug":"joint-statement-briefing-to-banks-and-potential-investors-on-the-ongoing-risks-and-outstanding-social-conflicts-in-the-palm-oil-agribusiness-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuk.or.id\/en\/2015\/04\/joint-statement-briefing-to-banks-and-potential-investors-on-the-ongoing-risks-and-outstanding-social-conflicts-in-the-palm-oil-agribusiness-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"[Joint Statement] Briefing to banks and potential investors on the ongoing risks and outstanding social conflicts in the palm oil agribusiness sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

Briefing to banks and potential investors on the ongoing risks and outstanding social conflicts in the palm oil agribusiness sector: Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) bond offering<\/strong>
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\nCredit Suisse, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities are acting for Golden Agri-Resources – part of the Sinar Mas Group – in a new bond offering worth up to USD 400 million, according to a Debtwire report last week.[i]<\/a> The syndicate has begun meetings with credit investors this week in Hong Kong and Singapore.
\nBanks and investors must examine the full range of environmental, social, reputational, legal and market risks prevalent in the palm oil sector and ensure that they undertake enhanced, robust due diligence procedures to identify, understand and screen these risks prior to any financing.
\nEffective bank policies and due diligence systems would ensure banks and investors avoid providing any financial support to companies that lack adequate palm oil policies or are involved in tropical deforestation, plantation expansion on carbon-rich tropical peatlands, failure to respect and uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples and communities to provide their free, prior and informed consent to activities impacting their customary lands, or on-going violations of human and labor rights.
\nA strong palm oil commitment is an important first step towards being a responsible company, but banks and investors should not assume that companies with strong palm oil commitments in place are free of environmental, social, reputational, legal and market risks.
\nGAR’s 2011 Forest Conservation Policy and recent sustainability efforts indicate GAR’s commitment to become a more responsible business. However, there remain some major issues in GAR’s policy implementation at this time. Banks and investors must ensure that GAR actively addresses these problems prior to providing financial services or investment.
\nThe following grievances between GAR and communities in Indonesia and Liberia must be resolved to the satisfaction of the communities impacted as a matter of priority:<\/p>\n