A Malaysian government-owned palm oil company, whose products include ingredients for biodiesel fuel, is set to hold the year's second biggest initial public offering, after Facebook, The Wall Street Journal reports.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian palm oil giant Felda said Thursday its initial public offering in June could raise up to 10.5 billion ringgit ($3.3 billion), making it the world's second-biggest IPO this year after Facebook.
State-owned Felda Global Venture Holdings said the estimated proceeds were based on a 4.55 ringgit ($1.4) per share price for retail investors. The IPO, which has met resistance from farmers, comes amid turmoil in financial markets that prompted London-based jeweler Graff Diamonds to Thursday shelve its $1.5 billion IPO in Hong Kong.
The Hill reports that the palm oil industry has hired heavy-hitting law and lobby firm Holand & Knight in its fight against an EPA preliminary finding that palm-based fuels don't qualify as greenhouse-gas-reducing renewable fuels.
The New York Times reports that palm tree plantations in Indonesia are potent emitters of globe-warming greenhouse gases, perhaps even more than the EPA figured in its recent proposal to exclude palm oil from inclusion in new biofuel blends.
The Hill reports on industry opposition from Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere to an EPA finding that palm oil-based biofuels do not meet the greenhouse-gas emissions requirements for renewable fuels.
The Hill reports that EPA has determined palm oil should not count as a base for renewable fuel because palm oil plantations are part of the deforestation crisis in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The man known as Indonesia's "green governor" chases the roar of illegal chainsaws through plush jungles in his own Jeep. He goes door-to-door to tell families it's in their interest to keep trees standing.
That's why 5,000 villagers living the edge of a rich, biodiverse peat swamp in his tsunami-ravaged Aceh province feel so betrayed.
Their former hero recently gave a palm oil company a permit to develop land in one of the few places on earth where orangutans, tigers and bears still can be found living side-by-side — violating Indonesia's new moratorium on concessions in primary forests and peatlands.
The Energy Information Administration said coal's market share for electricity generation rebounded since March 2012 on higher natural gas prices, MarketWatch reports.
Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe switched his position on offshore drilling of the state's coast, supporting a pro-drilling bill introduced by Virginia's Democratic senators, The Washington Post reports.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer urged NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane to complete an investigation and hold a public hearing before allowing the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to restart, Southern California Public Radio reports.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., called for a GAO report on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's procedures for determining the costs of new regulations, Platts reports.
FracFocus, an industry-backed registry for hydraulic fracturing chemicals, will update its system to allow regulators to search through a database of chemicals next week, Bloomberg reports.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent four staffers to assist Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts Senate special election, Roll Call reports.
A group of two dozen Senate Republicans urged President Obama against making Keystone XL pipeline approval contingent on "unrelated" climate change policies, The Hill reports.
The American Petroleum Institute issued a white paper projecting new federal rules could increase gasoline prices by as much as 25 cents a gallon, The Washington Examiner reports.
California Jerry Brown contended news media inadequately report on climate change and give too much coverage climate skeptics, The Sacramento Bee reports.
