Malaysia's Felda says to rely on debt to fund Eagle High stake purchase

KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd said it plans to rely mostly on debt to fund its $680 million purchase of a 37 percent stake in Indonesia's PT Eagle High Plantations, adding that its debt-to-equity ratio would remain at a reasonable level.

"The cost of debt is cheap at the moment. If you're doing business you make sure you take it at the cheapest rate," CEO Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah told Reuters in an interview.

Shares in Felda have fallen as much as 13 percent to record lows after announcing the plan on June 12, with analysts and opposition lawmakers voicing concern that the proposed price was too high.

The world's third-largest palm plantation operator had said earlier it planned to pay for 30 percent of Eagle High in cash and would issue new shares to acquire the other 7 percent.

The deal will raise Felda's debt-to-equity ratio from 0.72 times to 1.1 times if it relies solely on borrowings, but Emir said the level is reasonable for a growing company and still lower than its rivals.

Felda will keep its cash reserves of 2.9 billion ringgit ($767 million) intact so it can keep paying dividends to shareholders, Emir added.

($1 = 3.7800 ringgit) (Reporting by Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)