Friday, May 20, 2011

20110520 1144 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

 KLCI chart reading :
little upside biased with possible pullback correction.

Sumitomo, Carlyle eye USD1.6bn RHB stake
Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and US private equity firm Carlyle are among the leading contenders to place first round bids for a stake in RHB, after bigger rival CIMB said it is not keen to buy the stake. CIMB chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir brushed aside market speculation that Malaysia’s second biggest bank could bid for Abu Dhabi Commercial bBank’s 25% RHB stake, which has a market value of about USD1.6bn. His comments came after sources told Reuters that US private equity firm TPG, which was partnering Carlyle for the bid, pulled out of the auction ahead of first round bids due yesterday. Carlyle is expected to bid for stake and is in discussions with other potential partners.(Financial Daily)

RM6.5bn offer for Selangor water bonds?
The federal government is poised to make a RM6.5bn offer today to buy over the Selangor water debts from bondholders. It is understood that the offer will be made through the federal government and Pengurusan Aset Air (PAAB), the government's water asset management company. The offer is a RM200 million discount to the value of the outstanding water bonds of RM6.7bn. "The federal government is stepping in to buy over the bonds with a slight discount to what the lenders want. The lenders will have to mark the losses in their book," an industry sources told Business Times. Lenders include Maybank Investment Bank and CIMB Group, which hold about RM1bn of the outstanding water bonds. Insurance firms and pension funds hold about RM2bn each while the rest is held by fund managers such as AmInvestment, CIMB Principal, RHB Asset Management and Public Mutual. A source said the government is dealing directly with the lenders and has been in heavy discussions following the recent approval from the Minister of Finance Inc to take over the bonds. (StarBiz)

Star Publications buys Capital FM for RM15m
Star Publications has proposed to acquire a 80% stake in Capital FM SB for RM15m cash. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia Thursday, the group said the acquisition was in line with its business strategy to acquire more media assets to add to its existing portfolio. Currently, the group owns three radio channels -- 98.8, Red FM 104.9 and Suria FM -- via its subsidiaries, Star Rfm SB and Rimakmur SB. (Bernama)

No MyEmail proposal yet from Pos Malaysia
Pos Malaysia has not committed to coming up with its own proposal for MyEmail project, despite Pemandu saying that it is open to new proposals. In an advertorial in mainstream media on 6 May 2011, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Idris Jala had welcomed other parties with new proposals to offer the service to apply. The advertorial clarified that MyEmail-type services are not exclusive to Tricubes Bhd, and that government agencies can use other existing vendors, or other vendors in the future that offer similar services. Despite this statement, Pos Malaysia managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Syed Faisal Albar said the group still needs clarification from Pemandu and the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) on the "drive of the project". (StarBiz)

AirAsia Passenger traffic up 19.2% In April 2011
AirAsia Bhd said it carried 1.45m passengers in April 2011, up 19.2% from last year's 1.22m passengers in the same month last year. In a statement Thursday, it said the capacity increased 9.4% to 1.79m from 1.64m previously, while load factor was up seven percentage points to 81% from 74%. On the operations in Thailand, AirAsia said passengers carried in April this year grew 26.1% to 596,877 passengers from 473,240 in the same month last year. The capacity improved 20.5% to 730,800 from 606,240 previously while load factor increased four percentage points to 82% from 78%. Meanwhile, AirAsia's Indonesia recorded 31.3% increase in passenger carried during April this year to 385,739 from 293,742 in the same month last year. Load factor improved five percentage points to 76% from 71% while capacity was up 22.5% to 507,352 from 414,064 previously. (Bernama)

PPB to start bread business in Q3
Expanding on its downstream business, PPB Group will start its own bread business in the 3Q of this year and will leverage on its existing 36,000 retailers to distribute its bread. PPB Group chairman Datuk Oh Siew Nam said there were eventual plans to build more bakeries in other parts of Malaysia, although he cannot ascertain the timing yet. PPB is now in the process of conducting a due dilligence for the acquisition of a 20% stake in select flour mills in China owned by associate company Wilmar International Ltd. As for PPB's Indonesian operations, the group intends to double its milling capacity in Indonesia from 1,000 tonnes to 2,000 tonnes over the next two years. Due to the competitive nature of Indonesia, its market share is still less than 5%. (StarBiz)

PPB: Eyes Indonesia's flour market. PPB Group Bhd is eyeing at least 10% of Indonesias flour market that currently dominated by his former business partner, Salim Groups Liem Sioe Liong. This sets the stage for a professional rivalry between the two powerhouses as both groups allocate more resources to capture a larger slice of the burgeoning consumer business at the populous islands. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

UOA: RM10b projects in the pipeline. UOA Development Berhad, which is scheduled to list on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on June 8, has property projects worth RM10b in total gross development value (GDV) over the next 10 years. Moving forward, the company plans to retain its focus in the Klang Valley, especially its Bangsar South development poject, before considering other geographical locations. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

TDM: To invest RM120m in Indonesia. TDM will inject RM120m into its Indonesian operations at Kalimantan within the next eight to 10 years to build four oil palm mills in the area. They expect to see contributions from the Kalimantan operations by 2013 after they had initially invested RM44m in Kalimantan. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

Ramunia, Coastal: Agree to abort MoU. Ramunia Holdings Bhd and Coastal Contracts Bhd have aborted a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the proposed collaboration, bidding and fabrication in relation to structures for the oil and gas industry. The MoU was entered into between both companies in January 2010, but had lapsed on May 18 this year as both parties have mutually agreed not to proceed with it. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

AirAsia: AirAsia X inks USD600m deal to buy General Electric engines. AirAsia X has signed a contract worth RM1.8b with General Electric to purchase jet engines for its new aircraft. Under the agreement, the long-haul low fare affiliate of AirAsia Group will purchase CF6-80E1 engines to power its three new A330-200s (with the option of two additional aircraft). (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)     

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