In March 2011 Socfin SL obtained a lease of 50 years for 6500 ha of fertile land in Malen chiefdom, Pujehun district, south Sierra Leone. The company, a member of the massive French group Bolloré, intended to develop the land for oil palm and rubber plantations. The project promised local populations full compensation for lost land, development investments, and jobs. Yet eight short months after signing local leadership presented local authorities with a long list of grievances against the company, including lack of proper consultation, lack of transparency, and lack of compensation for land loss, as well as corruption, appalling working conditions, and pressure and intimidation to sign lease agreements. The Oakland Institute and local NGOs documented human rights violations and found the lease to be inconsistent with national laws and regulations. In early October over 100 dispossessed landowners staged a protest against the company, which resulted in 40 arrests and prolonged trials of those involved. Another protest over delayed paychecks on the 7th of December, 2011, was resolved by fining those protesting. An EIA was conducted, but due to lack of preexisting data the specific impacts of the project will be unclear. According to an Oakland Institute report: there will be no restriction on the volume of water extracted by SAC [Socfin] from rivers, other watercourses, wells and boreholes, and local citizens already complain of health impacts from working with fertilizers in the nursery. The lease in Malen chiefdom has the potential for an additional 21 year extension and an additional 5,000 ha. According to a Green Scenery report from May 2011, the company has signed an MoU for additional lands in the Bonthe District and is in consultation for more lands in the Bo District, which would bring its total landbank in the country to 12,000 ha. In 2013 SOCFIN sued Sierra Leone Green Scenery for reporting on the activities of the company, filing a defamation suit (SLAPP suit) against the NGO and its Executive Director, Joseph Rahall.

Socfin promised local investment of 19 million for hospitals, roads, schools, and housing, and the creation of 10000 jobs. Currently 1000 are employed in the nursery and the company claims it has only prepared 3600 ha of land for planting.