SD Guthrie settles Byram land fight with PDC for RM241m

SD Guthrie Bhd, formerly Sime Darby Plantation, has settled its five-year court fight with the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) over the compulsory acquisition of 18 plots totalling 380.195 acres in Byram, Mukim 11, Seberang Perai Selatan. PDC will pay an extra RM68.01 million, lifting the total compensation to about RM241 million, The Edge reported on 8 October 2026. Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said in 2023 that Sime Darby owned part of the Byram land PDC acquired and later branded Batu Kawan Industrial Park 2 (BKIP2).

The settlement

• Original award: RM173.15 million, set by the land administrator
• Top-up: RM68.01 million from PDC, for a total of about RM241 million
• Released: RM37.52 million of the compensation, held back by the land administrator under Section 29A of the Land Acquisition Act 1960, is unfrozen
• Cases closed: SD Guthrie's judicial review of the acquisition, settled by a consent judgment on 25 September 2026, and 32 land reference cases on the amount, settled on 6 October. SD Guthrie filed 17 of them saying the award was too low, and PDC filed 15 saying it was too high
• Confirmed by: SD Guthrie's lawyer, Rosli Dahlan. SD Guthrie has not announced the settlement on Bursa Malaysia

What it works out to

The final RM241.16 million on 380.195 acres (about 16.56 million sq ft) is about RM14.56 psf, or RM634,000 an acre, up 39% from the RM10.46 psf in the original award. For comparison, Scientex paid about RM15 psf in 2024 for 708 acres of agricultural land elsewhere in Seberang Perai Selatan (our report).

Where it is

EdgeProp's EPIQ map shows the main block south of the Batu Kawan industrial area, beside the Pulau Burong landfill, with a smaller separate lot to the east near Changkat.

How it got here

• 2014: PDC first moved to acquire the land, then dropped it after the two sides signed a collaboration agreement, according to Sime Darby Plantation in 2021
• 2015: a proposed RM1.8 billion high-tech industrial park between the Sime Darby group and PDC never went ahead
• 2020: the state compulsorily acquired the 18 plots
• June 2021: Sime Darby Plantation won leave for a judicial review and an interim stay. It said it was made to give up the land at "a very low value" and that PDC had blocked sales to other buyers at more than double PDC's offer
• October 2023: PDC ended its BKIP2 joint venture with UMECH Land, and Chow said PDC had spent RM500 million acquiring the Byram land
• July 2026: PDC decided to develop BKIP2 itself after three failed tenders, releasing about 200 acres a year (our report)

Cover map: EPIQ, via EdgeProp.