Thursday, August 5, 2010

20100805 0939 Malaysia Corporate News.

GenM wins racino bid, subject to more approvals
Genting Malaysia's (GenM) subsidiary Genting New York LLC (Genting NY) has won the bid to develop and operate a video lottery facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York with a proposal that includes a USD380m (RM1.2bn) upfront licensing fee. GenM said New York Lottery announced on 3 Aug that its evaluation committee had unanimously recommended to the New York governor that Genting NY be awarded the aqueduct racino project. “The recommendation will have to be approved by the New York governor, the temporary president of the New York State Senate and the speaker of the New York State Assembly before the video lottery license can be awarded,” the company said. GenM said Genting NY would work closely with the relevant parties, including the operator of the Aqueduct Racetrack, the New York Racing Association, and expected to open the preliminary phase of Resorts World New York six months after the award of the licence. (Financial Daily)

Malaysia's Affin buys Indon bank
Affin Bank is making a foray into the Indonesian market via the proposed acquisition of PT Bank Ina Perdana for RM138m. To be funded internally, the acquisition is Affin Bank’s maiden venture beyond Malaysian borders. With the acquisition and subsequent subscription of shares, Affin Bank will have a direct majority shareholding of 80% in Bank Ina, which has 22 branches, sub-branches and cash offices in major cities in Indonesia. For the financial year ended 31 Dec 2009, the Jakarta-headquartered bank made an after-tax profit of about RM4.75m, Affin Bank’s parent company Affin Holdings told Bursa Malaysia. Its net assets totalled RM39.74m as at 31 Dec 2009. (StarBiz)

AirAsia defers delivery of A320s
AirAsia has deferred the delivery of seven Airbus A320 to 2015 from the original delivery period next year as it foresees infrastructural constraints with the current airport facilities. The low-cost carrier said it had signed an amendment agreement with Airbus SAS for the revision of delivery dates. The seven planes are now due for delivery from April to November 2015 from the original March to October 2011. “With the deferment, the delivery of aircraft in 2011 shall be reduced to eight planes from the original 15. Also, the number of aircraft delivery in 2015 will increase to nine from the planned two,” it said. AirAsia said until the new low-cost carrier terminal was constructed, the present infrastructure at the terminal would not be able to accommodate AirAsia’s fleet expansion in the number of aircraft originally scheduled to be delivered in 2010 and 2011. (StarBiz)

Hwang-DBS rejects licence in Cambodia 
Hwang-DBS (M) told Bursa Malaysia that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) had vide its letter dated 2 Aug granted an approval-in-principle to HwangDBS Securities (Cambodia) Plc, a whollyowned unit of HwangDBS Commercial Bank Plc which in turn is wholly-owned by the company, to act as an investment advisory firm. However, the board of HwangDBS Securities (Cambodia) Plc has decided to turn down the approval-in-principle licence due to the limited activities permitted. “The application submitted to SECC was for a securities firm licence to undertake stockbroking, corporate finance, underwriting and investment advisory activities. With an investment advisory firm licence, HwangDBS Securities (Cambodia) is permitted to render advice to investors on investment in securities for a fee and publication of investment analysis on securities investment,” it said. (StarBiz)

Axiata to sell bulk of RM4.2bn sukuk to EPF?
Axiata Group is expected to sell the bulk of its planned RM4.2bn Islamic bonds to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), sources said. “There’s a signing ceremony with the EPF next week and the provident fund is taking up about RM3bn, There will be two other investors on top of the provident fund,” sources said. It was reported as saying that the sukuk, which will have maturities of five, seven and 10 years, would be privately placed out. (Financial Daily)

Ta Ann shutting down China venture
Ta Ann Holdings has notified authorities in China of its intention to withdraw from investing in Yang Zhou, the company told Bursa Malaysia yesterday. To recap, the company has formed Ta Ann Eco-Timber Industries Pty Ltd (TAET) for the setting up of a plywood mill in Yang Zhou. Tan Ann said the plywood market in China was adversely affected by the global financial crisis, making it not feasible to proceed with the plywood mill project. Ta Ann has invested USD4m in the China venture, mainly for the purchase of land and machineries. It said the Chinese authorities had approved its earlier application to partially return the land purchased in line with its downsizing proposal. “Now, we are applying to return to them the remaining land, to bring the machineries back to Malaysia and to repatriate to Malaysia the bank balance (4,721,523 yuan as at 30 June) and proceeds from the land returned,” it said. (StarBiz)

Zelan soars as US fund emerges
Zelan's shares soared 17.5 sen, or 28.9% yesterday, to a six-month high of 78 sen on news of the entry of a new substantial shareholder. According to an announcement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the US-registered Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co LLC acquired 28.28m Zelan shares, or a 5.02% stake in the company, on 2 Aug. According to its website, the Boston-based company, better known as GMO is a global investment management firm managing funds for endowments, pension funds, public funds, foundations and cultural institutions. (Financial Daily) 

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