Sime Darby Plantation, a prominent player in the palm oil sector, is now officially known as SD Guthrie Bhd.

The rebranding was announced at a gala dinner featuring Malaysia’s pop queen Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin, who got the party going with her music, and comedian Douglas Lim, who portrayed his funny side as the emcee.

Guests were also taken on a musical journey of SD Guthrie’s 200-year history, with several acts to highlight important events.

SD Guthrie group chairman Nik Norzrul Thani Nik Hassan Thani said the rebranding was a strategic move to reflect the company’s evolution into a fully-integrated industry player, with significant downstream businesses and potential growth in the property development segment.

“We have growth opportunities that extend beyond the plantations sector and we want to control our own brand. This makes the move away from the Sime Darby brand necessary,” he said at the event last night.

While Nik Norzrul emphasised that it was time for the company to move forward, he also expressed his gratitude to all those who have played a role in SD Guthrie’s success so far.

But, he said, moving up to the next level “requires a fundamental paradigm shift for SD Guthrie”.

“We used to be a technology-driven company. Now, we are a digital company focussed on plantations in the upstream segment, while in the downstream business, we have renewable energy and industrial development at the core,” he said.

The “Sime Darby” brand is owned and controlled by Sime Darby Bhd, its former parent company. Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) is now SD Guthrie’s controlling shareholder with a 55.1% stake followed by EPF with 15.2%.

The company started out as Guthrie and Co, a trading house in Singapore, in 1821. Over the years, through multiple corporate exercises, it grew into one of the largest plantation companies in the world as part of the Sime Darby group.

“This is a significant milestone in the company’s 200-year history and comes at a pivotal time for us as an organisation,” Nik Norzrul said.

He said qualities such as ambition, enterprise and resilience that have driven SD Guthrie’s rise over the two centuries continue to be important characteristics of the company today.

“This is our way of paying homage to our past as part of the Sime Darby Group as well as our birth more than 200 years ago under the leadership of Alexander Guthrie,” he said.

“As Malaysians, we take pride in what Guthrie (continues to) represent in our corporate history.”

The rebranding also serves as a tribute to those behind a historic event – PNB’s lightning-fast acquisition of Guthrie in the London Stock Exchange in 1981. The exercise took just four hours.

The event has been famously dubbed the “Guthrie Dawn Raid”.

This pivotal moment highlights Malaysia’s competitiveness in the business world, marking a significant milestone in the nation’s corporate history.

Nik Norzrul said the decision to rebrand Sime Darby Plantation to SD Guthrie was made after months of discussions with experts in law, intellectual property and brand identity.

A total of 99.99% of shareholders who attended an extraordinary general meeting on the rebranding plan voted in favour of the change.

As Nik Norzrul pointed out, the time now is for the company to look ahead.

“We want to hit the ground running, to move forward quickly after this rebranding exercise,” he said.

Nik Norzrul said SD Guthrie will be engaging with all key stakeholders to ensure they are aware of the name change.

“(More importantly) they must understand that this name change will not alter our core identity. Our purpose and core values will remain the same,” he added.

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