I refer to the letter Plantations merger: Pak Lah must be held responsible .

What is the rationale for merging three independently profitable enterprises which have strong growth, consistent profits and hence good dividends for their shareholders? If the simple reason is to be 'big' then it is a poor reason. A big corporation need not translate into an efficient enterprise. In fact, it can be just the contrary.

When three different corporations with three different goals merge, the results can be conflicting. Among the three, perhaps only Golden Hope and Gurthrie Corp can be deemed to be similar. But Sime Darby is a different kettle of fish. It is a conglomerate with diversified interest in plantations, a distributor of heavy machinery, a distributor of cars, an assembler of motor cycles and cars and a host of other different businesses that vary from one extreme to the other.

Under such circumstance it would be foolish to assume that any synergistic effect can be derived from such a union. Then what is the true reason for the proposed merger?

First let us examine the players behind the merger. CIMB, which heads the merger, is led by Nazir Abdul Razak. Permodalan National Bhd which owns majority shares in the three entities is led by our Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who sits as one of the trustees on the board of PNB.

The fact that one party is the initiator of the proposed merger and the other is a party related to the proposer should create enough suspicion.

In the end, one should just look at the principal beneficiary of the merger. What is the obvious motive for taking a path that is going to be messy and full of obstacles? If anything, the first beneficiary would be CIMB which would perhaps collect a cool RM150 to RM200 million in consultancy fees.

And - as usual - the principal losers would be the shareholders who would see their investments being diluted.

Finally, the million dollar question is who will be the actual mysterious beneficiary of the merger? This will become evident when the merger is completed.