20100527 1110 Malaysia Corporate News.

Genting Malaysia announced that its earlier call option to acquire a 10% stake in related party entity, Walker Digital Lottery, has lapsed and the group did not exercise the option. (BMSB)
This latest development is positive and should clear earlier concerns of potentially another Walker Digital related-party transaction within the group. To recap, Genting Malaysia had, in Nov-08, acquired a 10% stake in Walker Digital Gaming from KHD, an entity owned by its chairman's family trust company.

Petra Perdana and its MD Shamsul Saad have requisitioned for an EGM to remove Tengku Dato’ Ibrahim Petra, Suhaimi Badrul Jamil and Lee Mee Jiong as directors of Petra Energy. Also, Petra Perdana and Shamsul are seeking the appointments of Francis Koh and Surya Hidayat Abdul Malik as directors of Petra Energy. The EGM is scheduled to take place on 24 June.

• “It is nothing personal against Tengku Ibrahim or anyone. We’re just acting for the business benefits of both Petra Perdana and Petra Energy,” said MD Shamsul Saad, adding that Petra Perdana wanted to re-establish the synergy of business alliance for both companies. He is looking at the positive growth of the synergy between the two companies. 
• Meanwhile, Tengku Ibrahim said he had always acted in the best interest of both Petra Perdana and Petra Energy and as such he questioned the true motives behind the requisition for the EGM. “I believe this attempt to remove me may be linked to the recent legal suit filed against Koh, amongst others, and interested parties to the suit may be seeking to influence its progress through the Petra Energy board,” he said. (BMSB, Star)

Malaysia ranks a lowly 102nd out of 152 countries in terms of its average download speed, according to analyses by leading internet speed testing website speedtest.net. Malaysia ranks behind 101st placed St Kitts and Nevis (1.89 Mbps), Albania (100th, 1.91 Mbps) and Mozambique (99th).

• Critics have long complained, however, that the lack of competition has hampered the nation’s broadband development. Incumbent broadband service provider, Telekom Malaysia, launched its high speed broadband service, UniFi, in March. 
• Random tests done by The Malaysian Insider, which subscribes to the 20 Mbps UniFi package, on speedtest.net showed download speeds ranging from as high as 67.86 Mbps for servers located in Singapore to as low as 0.93 Mbps for servers located in San Francisco, US.Other server locations tested by The Malaysian Insider include London (8.16 Mbps); Hong Kong (3.15 Mbps); Reston, Virginia, US (5.07 Mbps); and Balikpapan, Indonesia (1.89 Mbps). (The Malaysian Insider)

Mobile banking which allows one to perform everyday transactions like transfer money, pay bills via mobile phones - has yet to take off in a big way. "Today, the market is fragmented, where everybody is talking about their own solution. We should talk about an industry effort to provide a common infrastructure for payment. The banks already got it through the likes of MEPS.

• But, from the operators' perspective, we don't have yet. Everyone is still very individual in their approach ... I believe the industry will consolidate, it will happen, but it will take some time," said Maxis head of product development and infotainment services T. Kugan. Celcom Axiata Bhd head of mobile commerce Areehan Abdullah, said, "When it comes to customer experience, banks have their own mobile banking and Maxis, DiGi and Celcom have their own mobile banking. 
• MEPS, which sits in the middle, has its own mobile banking. So, if you count all the financial institutions that we have, as well as the mobile operators in the country, we could have 14 different types of mobile banking," he said.He said Bank Negara Malaysia is now spearheading an initiative to promote customers from any phones, any network, can perform mobile banking to any bank. "It has moved forward from a conceptual stage, and now everyone, the telcos, the banks and MEPS, are ganging up together to make this happen," said Areehan. (BT)

Asiaspace says Telekom Malaysia's backhaul charges are expensive and as such it is forced to build its own microwave facilities. "We are replacing all our metro-E link of backhaul with microwave link, which is much more cheaper and serves the same purpose, so why should we pay more to TM?" Asiaspace chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah. It is spending RM30m for the backhaul facilities and the vendor is Huawei.

• It has so far spent RM90m for its network build-up. Ghani had in March written to the Information, Communicatins and Culture Minister to complain about TM's backhaul rates. In April he wrote to the Government, urging it to be forceful in ensuring that the incumbent reduce the cost of backhaul charges to facilitate growth of broadband in the country. 
• On May 20, the industry regulator reminded players that access needs to be provided on reasonable terms and they should work towards concluding access agreements and not delay them any further. TM, in response, said, "As in all commercial arrangements with other service providers, the price was negotiated and agreed by both parties. 
• As the backhaul service provider, TM fulfilled its obligation as set out in the agreement. Unfortunately, Asiaspace failed to honour its obligation on payment to payment to TM." (StarBiz)

Celcom Axiata has introduced the first real-time online payment update application in the telecommunications and banking industries, following a tie-up with CIMB Clicks. Previously, Celcom customers had to make payment over the counter or via the payment kiosk at a Celcom branch or Blue Cube outlet in order to receive immediate billing updates. (Bernama)

The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) is asked to state its stand on the government's decision to allow football betting. "I am surprised why Jais has kept mum although this is a clear-cut, non-negotiable issue," Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad from PAS said. He said he was seeking an audience with the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah to ask for the ruler's consent to bring the issue of legalised football betting to the Conference of Rulers, scheduled to meet next month. (Bernama)

Becoming a major shareholder in Cardiff City Football Club is part of Berjaya Corp chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan's plans to expand Cosway to Europe. He had flown to London last Saturday to watch Cardiff City take on Blackpool in the Championship play-off final.

• Tan revealed that the jerseys of the Cardiff players will carry the name of Cosway and this will see the brand, which markets household, beauty, healthcare and other consumer products, get more exposure via television telecast, media coverage and matches at stadiums. 
• At a board meeting in Cardiff City, Tan's business partner, Datuk Chan Tien Ghee, is set to be named as chairman of Cardiff City FC. Tan and Chan bought a 36.7% stake at STG6m (RM29m), giving them the controlling shares in Cardiff City FC. (BT)

Neste Oil's 800,000 mt/year NExBTL renewable diesel plant in Singapore is 90% complete and commercial start-up is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2010, a senior company official said.

• "With the construction of our NExBTL renewable diesel plant in Singapore into its final stages, we are the world's leading provider of renewable diesel," Matti Lievonen, Neste's president and CEO said. 
• The Eur550m Singapore plant will be Neste's third renewable diesel plant. It currently operates two 190,000 mt/year plants in Porvoo in Finland.
• The company is building another 800,000 mt/year plant in Rotterdam, which is scheduled for startup around the middle of 2011. 
• The Singapore plant will primarily be using palm oil as a feedstock, but has the flexibility to use other feedstocks such as jatropha oil and animal fats.
• Neste has already sourced feedstock for the plant and has gotten into sales agreements for its output. The renewable diesel produced here will be shipped to Europe and North America, Lievonen said. (Platts)

Proton Holdings has officially confirmed talks with Volkswagen and the outcome would be revealed in two weeks time, its chairman Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh said. He, however, declined to provide further information on the matter. According to group MD, Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, Proton is expected to introduce a new model either in Oct/Nov this year. (Bernama)

Naza Kia, distributor of Kia vehicles in Malaysia, aims to sell 300 units of the limited edition higher-specification Citra II Rondo. The Rondo features 13 new aesthetic and practical enhancements that add a sporty and premium touch to the popular versatile CUV. However, Naza Kia will offer these higher specifications for only 300 units for a limited period. (Bernama)

The government has deferred the ban on 14-stick cigarette packets which was supposed to take effect on June 1, said sources. It is learnt that the decision was made during the Cabinet meeting yesterday. However, it is not known if a new deadline has been set. (Financial Daily)

AirAsia is giving away 10,000 free seats to Bangkok as part of its efforts to help revive the Thai capital’s travel and tourism industry. The promotion will be launched on Wesak Day on May 28, for travel between June 7 and Aug 31. Chief executive Tony Fernandes said AirAsia would aggressively market Bangkok as well as its other Thai destinations with low fares and attractive promotions. Besides free seats, 50 hotels in Bangkok were offering a free night stay with minimum of two nights’ stay and a half day free city tour. (Star)

Media Prima has implemented a state-of-the-art broadcast management application using Accenture's Integrated Broadcast System (IBS), replacing its legacy broadcast management system. Media Prima said it has streamlined and simplified its broadcast management process to achieve better time to market, higher productivity and efficiencies in its core broadcast operations. (Bernama)

IGB Corp is looking to aggressively expand its hospitality brand locally and abroad, this year. Group MD Robert Tan Chung Meng also said the group has changed its focus from property development to property investment, due to the strong recurring income. "We are reviewing several proposals and are in discussions for possible hotel projects in countries such as Japan, China, as well as the Indochina market," he said. (Bernama)

MTD Capital has signed a contract to build and operate the Yangshuo-Luzhai Expressway project in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The total project investment is expected to be RM1.8bn. (Bloomberg, BT)

Mamee-Double Decker will invest RM20m to plant oil palms in Central Kalimantan at the end of the year. It is part of the company's strategies to diversify its revenue base and produce enough palm oil for its own use in the future, says MD Datuk Pang Tee Chew. The investment will be split into three phases involving 10,000ha secondary land. Central Kalimantan in Indonesia was chosen because it is sparsely populated.

• On its products, Mamee has added two more products to its range: Mister Rice Crisps and Indonesia Instant Fried Noodle. The former is free of monosodium glutamate. The latter, made in Indonesia through contract manufacturing, is aimed at meeting growing demand, especially from the younger generation and Indonesians. (BT)

Far East Holdings has signed an initial pact with Rangkaian Delima Sdn Bhd (RDSB) to develop 2,145ha of land in Tebu Hitam, Rompin, Pahang, into an oil palm plantation. The Pahang state government has transferred 72% of the land to RDSB and the rest has yet to be approved, Far East said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia. Far East and RDSB will form a 70:30 joint-venture company, which will lease the land from RDSB. (BT)

Bintai Kinden Corp’s Vietnamese unit has won a US$32.4m (RM105m) contract to do mechanical, electrical and plumbing works for the proposed Indochina Plaza project in Hanoi, Vietnam. Work will take 16 months and is due for completion in 2011. (BT)