IMPORTANT NOTICE
The RLU loan has been fully repaid as of 18 August 2022. An evaluation report of the exit can be accessed below.
01 / PIONEERING SUSTAINABLE RUBBER
PT ROYAL LESTARI UTAMA (RLU)
In early 2019, &Green financed the development of three sustainable natural rubber concessions in Jambi and East Kalimantan, operated by PT Royal Lestari Utama (RLU), through the purchase of 15 and 7 year Notes. The Notes were organized by the Tropical Landscape Financing Facility (TLFF), a platform conceived by UNEP, BNP Paribas, CIFOR-ICRAF and ADM Capital. TLFF’s inaugural financing transaction involved the creation of a special purpose financing vehicle established in Singapore named TLFF I Pte. Ltd. (TLFF I). In February 2018, TLFF I issued several classes of Notes to extend a loan of USD 95 million to RLU to refinance existing loans and to expand their rubber plantations. &Green purchased approximately 25% of the issued Notes in February 2019, following the completion of its due diligence assessment.
In 2022, the two shareholders of RLU, Michelin and Barito Pacific, agreed that Michelin would purchase 100% control of RLU. Following that decision, RLU informed TLFF I that it would prepay the entirety of the outstanding USD95 million loan, which included the Notes held by &Green.
Project summary
| COUNTRY | Indonesia |
| PROVINCIAL JURISDICTION | Jambi |
| INVESTEE COMPANY | PT Royal Lestari Utama (“RLU”) |
| PROJECT SPONSORS | Barito Pacific Group and Michelin Group |
| SUPPLY CHAIN | Rubber |
| DATE OF NOTE PURCHASE | 26/02/2019 (trade date) |
| PROJECT REQUIREMENT | ~ USD 400 million |
| &GREEN CONTRIBUTION | USD 23.75 million (face value of Notes purchased). |
02 / blended finance
INVESTMENT RATIONALE
RLU’s ambition to create an inclusive and sustainable rubber plantation, with a positive impact on the local landscape and surrounding communities, were well aligned with &Green’s vision and mission to de-link commodity production from deforestation. The RLU project vision was to deliver ambitious environmental and socio-economic benefits, where the plantation could be an example for other existing rubber operations to protect the landscape and the people in that landscape. RLU has publicly committed to continuing their environmental and social impact ambitions following the prepayment of the loan. However, &Green will no longer have any direct influence or leverage over RLU’s sustainability commitments and reporting obligations.
03 / the action plan
ENVIRONMENTAL RETURN & SOCIAL INCLUSION
&Green takes an active role in advising companies such as RLU on how to define their role as a key stakeholder within and surrounding their concession areas.
LPP – The Landscape Protection Plan is a fundamental document for &Green’s investee companies. RLU’s LPP was designed to guide RLU’s long term vision for sustainable development across the wider landscape of its concessions.
ESAP – The ambitions laid out in RLU’s LPP were translated into concrete actions, listed in the Environmental and Social Action Plan.
ESAB – During the loan period, &Green attended RLU’s Environmental and Social Advisory Board, a governance body for RLU senior management and independent experts to evaluate progress and effectiveness of the ESAP and LPP, and other sustainability ambitions.
ENVIRONMENTAL RETURN
At the heart of RLU’s ambition was the establishment of a wildlife conservation area on the company’s Jambi concessions as a buffer to the Southern border of the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (BTNP) in Jambi, which is a habitat for critically endangered megafauna such as tigers, bears and elephants, among other terrestrial wildlife, birds and tree species. This approximately 9,700 ha area, which includes the Mandelang Forest Reserve, was set aside in 2017 and put under active patrol by RLU in 2018. The premise of this was that it would protect the southern border of the National Park from encroachment in a landscape with high population pressure and severe degradation of other existing forest conservation areas.
In addition, RLU committed to setting aside all High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas, as well as riparian areas, for protection on both the Jambi and East Kalimantan concessions.
RLU committed to team up with other actors in the landscape to reduce encroachment pressure on all protected areas in the landscape as well as the incidence of human-wildlife conflict around the Mandelang Forest Reserve and border of the BTNP.
SOCIAL INCLUSION
Beyond the direct environmental conservation and restoration efforts, &Green’s investment in RLU set out to generate a positive impact for smallholder farmers and communities living in and around the concession area, offering direct employment, expanded livelihood opportunities, improved welfare (housing, healthcare and education) and access to markets.
RLU has committed to work with several partners towards the expansion of its Community Partnership Program (CPP), targeted at the inclusion of local, small-scale farmers in the rubber supply chain.
As part of their Indigenous Peoples Engagement and Livelihoods Framework, RLU has set up several agroforestry programs with the indigenous Orang Rimba group living in the RLU Wildlife Conservation Area (WCA). RLU provided regular health checks, ongoing education support and facilitates national ID Card issuance in partnership with the government, as part of the WCA program. The WCA-led programs are supported by Partnerships for Forests (P4F).
