20111104 1041 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

MMHE secures RM1.4bn ExxonMobil contract
Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings has secured a RM1.4bn contract to build an offshore platform deck and two inter-platform bridges. MMHE said on Thursday its unit, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering SB, had signed a contract with ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc. The contract was part of the Tapis enhanced oil recovery project with ExxonMobil and was expected to be completed by end-2013.(Financial Daily)

RM6bn Integrated Healthcare IPO
Integrated Healthcare Holdings SB is planning an initial public offering (IPO) that may raise up to USD2bn (RM6.3bn) after completing the purchase of a Turkish hospital chain, said two people with knowledge of the matter. The company, controlled by Khazanah Nasional, asked banks to submit proposals for the IPO by today. The sales would take place in the first half of 2012 in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. (StarBiz)

Gas Malaysia listing gets Bursa nod
MMC Corp said Bursa Malaysia has approved the proposed listing of its subsidiary, Gas Malaysia, on the main board of the exchange, according to a filing to the exchange by the utility and infrastructure company yesterday. The initial public offering of the gas reticulation company is likely to be priced at RM2.20 a share, according to informed sources. (Malaysian Reserve)

Malaysia, China firm ink RM983m underground sewage plant deal
The Malaysian government and Beijing Enterprises Water Group Ltd (BEWG) have signed an agreement for the construction of the RM983m Pantai 2 Sewage Treatment Plant, the country's first underground sewage treatment plant. Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui, said yesterday the job was awarded to Beijing Enterprises on a design-and-build basis following the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the sewerage services industry here on 11 Nov, 2009. Chin said the new sewage plant, with the application of green technology, would have a capacity of 1.423m population equivalent (P.E) or equal to 320,000 cubic meters per day .It will cater to the sewerage treatment needs of the 1.8m residents within the Klang Valley until 2035. (Financial Daily)

Iskandar, Zhuoyuan unit in RM2.5bn Medini foray
Iskandar Investment Bhd (IIB) and Qingdao Zhuoyuan Investment Holdings will embark on a RM2.5bn mixed development project tin Medini Iskandar Malaysia. Zhuoyuan's unit, Zhuoda Real Estate Group, will be developing an 18.14-acre plot in Medini North with IIB on an 80:2 basis. Medini is IIB's flagship development within Johor's Iskandar administrative region."This joint venture with Zhuoyuan to develop a residential project in (BT)

Sime, Sunway: To jointly develop townships in Iskandar. Sime Darby Bhd and Sunway Group's property division are likely to jointly develop townships in Iskandar Malaysia in Johor. It was said the government was allocating land for the joint development and that the companies were buying the concession land at a good rate. (Source: The Sun)

MAS, AirAsia: SC, Bursa probe MAS-AirAsia shares swap. SC and Bursa Malaysia are investigating the swap deal between Khazanah National Bhd and Tune Air Sdn Bhd in MAS and AirAsia shares for the possibility of insider trading. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

Proton: To tap Chinese billionaires for Lotus sales. Proton Holdings Bhd hopes to tap the strong appetite of Chinese billionaires for luxury brands, and sell up to 400 units of the Lotus sport car in China. Group MD Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said with the Lotus turnaround plan that focuses on producing better cars in the future and improving volume, not being in China would be wrong. (Source: Malaysian Reserve)

Green Packet: P1's WIGGY 39 for light surfing. P1 has launched the lowest-priced post-paid mobile broadband plan, known as WIGGY 39, which will be available from today. P1 said the plan will suit broadband users who desire an affordable plan for light surfing and keeping up with social networks when they are out and about. (Source: The Sun)

Oil & Gas: Petronas lauded for bringing projects to Sabah. The Sabah Oil and Gas Contractors Association (SOGCA) said the states oil and gas industry has been energised by Petronas' plans to develop RM45b worth of long-term key projects in Sabah. (Source: The Star)      

AirAsia sees minimal impact on its flight operations in Thailand despite  Bangkok facing the worst-ever flood disaster in its history. The carrier had  received some booking cancellations and postponements as a result of the  weather conditions but the impact is minimal as holidaymakers travelling to  Bangkok took advantage of the service recovery options offered to divert their  holidays to other destinations including Malaysia. Part of the service recovery options, customers may change their travel  dates up to Dec 15. The date change fee will be waived. The second  option is that customers can keep their seat value as a credit shell which  will be valid for up to three months from the issued date. (Star Biz)

Khazanah Nasional is tight lipped on speculation that it is planning to raise  up to US$2bn (RM6.3bn) by selling shares in Parkway Pantai Ltd. Reports have  indicated that merchant banks had been asked to submit their proposal by today  for the listing exercise. "We won't comment on any market speculation,"  Khazanah spokesperson Mohd Asuki Abas said yesterday. Khazanah owns 70%  of Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn Bhd, which in turn owns 100% of  Parkway Pantai.  Last month, Parkway Pantai chairman Datuk Mohammed Azlan  Hashim was reported as saying that it was looking to relist, just a year  after being taken private. Nevertheless, it is understood that a decision  on the IPO exercise will only be made after its talks to acquire a Turkish  hospital chain is completed. A Bloomberg report yesterday said that the company was in advanced  talk to buy a majority stake in Turkey's Acibadem Saglik Hizmetleri &  Ticaret AS for US$1bn (RM3.15bn) and that a deal could be reached by  as early as next month. (BT)  

The Malaysian government and Beijing Enterprises Water Group Ltd (BEWG)  have signed an agreement for the construction  of the RM983m Pantai 2  sewage treatment plant, the country's first underground sewage treatment  plant. Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Datuk Seri Peter Chin  Fah Kui, said on the job was awarded to Beijing Enterprises on a  design-and-build basis following the signing of a MOU on cooperation in the  sewerage services industry 2009. He said the new sewage plant would have a  capacity of 1.4m population equivalent (P.E) or equal to 320,000 cubic meters  per day. It will cater to 1.8m residents  within the Klang Valley until the year  2035. He said that the government would close down more than 100 small  sewage plants by 2020 as the cost of operation of these plants was high. (Edge)

Lingui Developments Bhd, plans to reforestate between 10,000 and 15,000  hectares of forest land in Sarawak next year . Lingui has a gross area of 721,000  hectares of forest concession in Sarawak and about 35,000 hectares of forest  plantation in New Zealand.  "We are focusing on reforestation here (Sarawak), because the maturity  period for the trees in Malaysia is shorter, which is only 10 years  compared with our forest plantation in New Zealand, which takes 27  years to mature," said Group Managing Director Yaw Chee Ming. The cost of reforestation is between RM4,000 and RM5,000 per hectare,  he added. "So far we have planted about 30,000 hectares and we target  to plant between 10,000 and 15,000 hectares, in order to increase our  production," he said. Lingui remained cautious as demand for timber normalised and  consolidation was expected to take place among industry players.  "There is overstocking of plywood in Japan with the initial spike in  plywood imports with no major reconstruction activities taking place,"  said Lingui. (Bernama)

ARK Resources will be removed from the PN17 company list effective today.  The company said with the completion of its regularisation plan, it had  regularised its financial condition and no longer triggers any of the criteria  under PN17. (BT)

The iProperty Group has launched Asia-Pacific's largest dedicated  commercial and industrial property portal, CommercialAsia.com. iProperty said  the new website has the largest database of commercial and industrial property  listings in the region with over 150,000 current listings, a figure expected to  grow to over 500,000 by the end of 2012.  CEO Shaun Di Gregorio said data across Malaysia, Singapore, Hong  Kong and Indonesia between 2010 and 2011 shows an upward trend in  searches for commercial property. "With the government introducing  cooling measures across Asia-Pacific and the fear of possible recession  in USA and Europe and assumption of that impacting Asia-Pacific, the  residential sector is softening as investors adopt a 'wait-and-see  approach'. (Bernama)

Scicom (MSC) Bhd is set to start its business operation in Sri Lanka and  Indonesia by early 2012. Its Group CEO, Leo Ariyanayakam said the company  which offered its services to multinational companies in the Malaysia was going  into these countries as there was a rising demand for customer services in these  emerging markets. "We are going into these areas on the basis of confirmed business, we  are not being speculative," Leo said. He said the company had already  set up centres in the two countries, but full force operations will only be  realised within the next financial year.  "We have a whole series of products and services that allow us to  expand not only in Malaysia but also across these two geographies as  well. "We are setting up in Indonesia because it is a booming market  with 240m population and there is a huge expectation and demand for  customer services," he said. On its centre in Indonesia, he said Scicom  expected to leverage on its association there as Telkom Indonesia was  the company's largest shareholder. (Bernama)

Dayang Enterprise Holdings (DEHB) expects further growth after chalking  up successful quarters on strong order book of RM1.5bn until 2016. Its  executive chairman, James Ling, said the company recorded a strong second  quarter on Petronas Carigali deal. The primary enabler of DEHB’s success is  Petronas’ Vendor Development Programme aimed at providing local contractors  with incentives and the confidence to increase their capital base. (Bernama)

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana) has announced changes to  its Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The move is to further strengthen the  management team as the group prepares for the second phase of its  transformation plan.  With  effect from Nov 1, former General Manager of the My Rapid  Transit (MRT) project, Amiruddin Maaris, has been appointed the New  Group Director for Infrastructure Services Division. Announcing the  changes, Prasarana Group Managing Director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar  said Amiruddin, 42, takes over from Zohari Sulaiman, who has been  appointed the group director for the Bus Division. The position was  formerly held by Datuk Mohamad Hazlan Mohamed Hussain.  (Bernama)

Bursa Malaysia Securities has deferred the decision  to suspend and delist the  securities of Tricubes Bhd. M&A Securities Sdn Bhd, on behalf of the board of  directors of Tricubes, had on Oct 28 submitted an application to Bursa  Securities to extend the submission timeframe up to Dec 31. Late last year, the  company was an affected listed issuer pursuant to Guidance Note 3 of the ACE  Market listing requirements.(Starbiz)

Iris Corp is currently engaging in preliminary discussions with its Chinese  partners with regard to a “food waste to fertiliser technology” project. It has not  signed any MoU in relation to the project. Iris was denying a report in a Chinese  daily that it had formed a consortium with 65% stake holding in a waste water  treatment plant in China. (Star Biz)

The  Malaysian Iron and Steel Industry Federation (Misif) is opposing  Megasteel Sdn Bhd’s proposed reduction in import duty from 25% to 15% or  RM300/mt whichever is higher on all flat steel products combined with the  abolishment of duty exemption.  Misif has rejected Megasteel’s proposal and has conveyed its position to  Miti (Ministry of International Trade and Industry). The federation said  that the reduction in duty would be welcomed but the abolishment of  duty exemption would be detrimental to many sectors of the  downstream flat steel players. (Financial Daily)