EIB (2025) was listed back in July 2022, with an IPO price of RM0.30. The company is primarily involved in construction of palm oil mills and supporting facilities, as well as fabrication of equipment. Hence, the company is relatively sensitive to the overall development and expansion of the palm oil industry.

However, things seem to be a bit different with their partnership with a Netherland renewable energy firm, Maatschappij Wilhelmina NV (Wilhelmina) to build and manage Wilhelmina’s TG2 black pellet plant in Kuantan, Pahang.

What exactly is TG2 black pellet?  In layman terms, TG2 black pallet is a feedstock made from biomass as a drop-in coal replacement fuel. Basically, these pallets could just be used in coal-fired plants without major adjustment to the generator, hence significantly reducing the carbon footprint, as coal is not a renewable resource.

More importantly, the black pellets are made from empty fruit bunches (EFB), a common by-product of the palm oil industry. We will talk about this later on.

Wilhelmina is looking to invest $60 million or RM283 million to build the TG2 black pellet plant, which carries a production capacity of 15 tonnes an hour, a first of its kind in the world, where the plant is expected to begin construction by Q4 2024, with an expected completion timeline of 16 to 18 months.

According to the CEO of Wilhelmina, Malaysia produces approximately 20 million tonnes of EFB waste every year, where these could be transformed into clean energy and as a coal replacement that could reduce 12 million tonnes of methane gas release, equivalent to 300 million tonnes of CO2.

Wilhelmina would outsource the operation, maintenance and management of the TG2 black pellet plant to EIB, given the strong network of EIB to palm oil millers in Malaysia, which could assist them in terms of sourcing the feedstock.

This would significantly change the landscape of EIB, from a palm oil industry supporter, to a possible pioneer in the renewable energy space. Could this be a time for us to invest in EIB?