Thursday, November 10, 2011

20111110 1117 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

IOI Corp Bhd and Dutaland's Pertama Land & Development Sdn Bhd have  mutually agreed to back out of a sale and purchase agreement that was earlier  disputed. Pertama Land had, vide its letter dated Oct 25 2011, disputed  IOI  Corp's termination of the SPA on October 25 2011. Sri Mayvin had initially  agreed to buy 12,000ha of oil plantation land from Pertama Land for RM830m.  The former terminated the deal with Pertama Land, however, saying  that it (Pertama Land) had failed to upkeep and maintain its properties,  besides there being discrepancies relating to the properties. IOI will be  refunded the RM83m deposit it had put up. (BT)

Meda Inc Bhd has proposed to buy over property developer Pesona Alfa Sdn  Bhd from its shareholder for RM35m.Pesona has a subsidiary which owns a 5.8ha parcel of commercial land within the township of Cyberjaya, Selangor.  (BT)

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has approved the  proposed merger of  Kencana Petroleum Bhd and SapuraCrest  Petroleum Bhd. (BT)

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) has revised the outlook on  Tenaga  Nasional Bhd to negative from stable. S&P also affirmed Tenaga’s 'BBB+'  long-term corporate credit rating, Tenaga’s 'axA+/axA-1' ASEAN regional scale  rating and its 'BBB+' issue rating on Tenaga's senior unsecured notes. S&P credit analyst Rajiv Vishwanathan said, "we revised the outlook to  negative because we expect Tenaga's weakened profitability and higher  operating costs to continue to weaken its risk profile. Our view is based  on our anticipation that higher fuel prices stemming from a shortage of  gas supply will continue to burden the company's cash flows. Moreover,  the company is likely to incur capital expenditure on its hydroelectric  and thermal power projects over the next 12 months." He added, “We assess the stand-alone credit profile of Tenaga to be  'bbb-'. The rating incorporates our opinion of a "high" likelihood that the  government of Malaysia would provide timely and sufficient  extraordinary support to Tenaga in the event of financial distress.  We believe that a more transparent and defined tariff regime could  improve the company's financial risk profile”. (Standard & Poor’s Rating  Services, Reuters)

Proton, Group Lotus, 1Malaysia Racing Team (1MRT) and its owner Tan Sri  Tony Fernandes announced that the legal dispute in the English Courts relating  to the Lotus and Team Lotus brands has now ended amicably with the parties  agreeing to the settlement terms earlier this month. The deal saw the Lotus  brand reunited under the sole ownership of Group Lotus. 1MRT would race in  the 2012 Formula 1 season under the name Caterham F1 Team and will use a  Caterham chassis. (Bernama, Financial Daily)

Top Glove Corp Bhd expects a better year ahead with a bigger profit margin  amid expectations of lower raw material costs and stronger a US dollar.  Chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai said latex prices had dropped from as high as  RM11/kg to RM7/kg and the floods in Thailand would not affect rubber  plantations in the southern region and the supply of natural rubber latex  production.  He said, “We expect our profit margin on sales to be back to normal,  about 8% next year. Top Glove will focus on organic instead of external  growth because of cost  efficiency and the lower risk involved.”  (Financial Daily)

Benalec Holdings Bhd, which has requested for its stock to be suspended  pending an announcement, is close to securing a land reclamation project that  will cover about 5,000 acres in Tanjung Piai in the southwestern tip of Johor,  sources said. The contract was being awarded by the Johor government to  Spektrum Kukuh Sdn Bhd and Spektrum Budi Sdn Bhd, both of which are  70:30 JV between Benalec and certain individuals.  According to sources, Benalec will undertake a private placement soon  to raise funds for the project. The source said the parcel at the  southwest of Tanjung Piai was some 17km or 9 nautical miles from the  major petrochemical complex on Jurong Island in Singapore.  That part of Tanjung Piai is also suitable to be a deepwater petroleum  terminal facility, similar to what Dialog Group Bhd is developing in  Pengerang, Johor.  Meanwhile, the land to be reclaimed in the southeast of Tanjung Piai  may include a container port to serve  Petroliam Nasional Bhd's planned RM60bn refinery and petrochemical integrated development  complex in Pengerang.  Sources also said it was likely that Singapore's Jurong International, the  master planner for Jurong petrochemical complex, would be appointed  the master planner for the reclaimed land in Tanjung Piai. (Starbiz)

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd  (MAHB) has unveiled a new partnership  model with its concessionaires, aimed at uplifting the company's existing  commercial partnerships to a new dimension of growth as it prepares for new  and expanded commercial opportunities at the Kuala Lumpur International  Airport 2 (KLIA 2). Managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad said commercial  services will play an increasingly significant role for MAHB.  He said the airport operator is addressing all the factors such as sales  per passenger for concessionaires and passenger and revenue growth  for airports as an integral part of the partnership model. Additionally,  MAHB is expanding its commercial composition at its airports.  (Financial Daily)

The  proposed high-speed rail (HSR) project linking Kuala Lumpur and  Singapore is not driven by any proposal from the private sector. Instead, said  Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) CEO Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed  Kamal, the project would take  shape based largely on its needs and viability.  “This HSR plan will ultimately depend on the need to have such infrastructure,  although there have been a number of proposals received.  We are starting afresh this time around in terms of concept, alignment  and infrastructure plan,” he told StarBiz yesterday. In comparison, the  MRT project was first initiated and proposed by a joint venture between  MMC Corp Bhd and Gamuda Bhd that subsequently become the MRT  project delivery partner.  Mohd Nur confirmed that  pre-feasibility studies for the HSR project  had just been completed. He added that the tender for the feasibility  studies would be opened before year-end and work would start early  next year. There had also been an open tender for the pre-feasibility  studies.  On the cost of the project, Mohd Nur said it was too early to estimate at  this point, adding that it would become clearer after all the tender  exercises were done. It has been reported that the KL-Singapore HSR  could cost between RM8-14bn depending on the technology  used.(Starbiz)

Perwaja Holdings Bhd is expected to secure a sizeable iron ore mining  concession from the Terengganu government “anytime soon”, according to  industry sources. To enable economies of scale, sources said, Perwaja's unit  Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd should ideally be given about 500ha in Bukit Besi to  mine iron ore with a mining lease running for at least 10 years, which later will  be subject to renewal. The 2,400ha Bukit Besi area is believed to hold 50m  tonnes of iron ore reserves, which has the highest quality in Malaysia at 70% Fe  (iron). (Starbiz)

Malaysia Airlines System Bhd (MAS), which will be relocating its  headquarters (HQ) from Subang to KL International Airport (KLIA) in February  next year, will cut several routes including those to Dubai, Johannesburg,  Buenos Aires and Cape Town, in a bid to reduce costs, sources said. The sources  added that MAS would no longer rely on Kota Kinabalu as a hub and would cut  flights out of the Sabah capital to destinations such as Haneda, Seoul and  Osaka.  The sources claimed that the airline might add Abu Dhabi as a  destination in place of Dubai, a route served by Emirates several times  weekly, but whether it was a wise move would remain to be seen as Abu  Dhabi is an equally competitive route. (Star Biz)

Malaysia Airlines System Bhd (MAS) disposed off 70% of its shares in MAS  Catering Sdn Bhd (MCSB) in 2002 as part of the airline company's financial  restructuring strategy, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said. Najib  who is also Finance Minister said the move was to enable MAS to concentrate  on its core activities of providing domestic and international flights and cargo  services.  "It was to also provide MAS much needed funds at that point while  retaining its 30% equity in MCSB to take care of its interest," he said in  a written reply at the Dewan Rakyat. (The Star)

On 8 Nov 2011  Plus Express Berhad (PEB) received a letter from  UEM  Group Berhad (“UEM”) and the  Employees Provident Fund Board (“EPF”) confirming that all conditions precedent pursuant to the proposed  acquisition have been fulfilled. The completion of the proposed acquisition is now subject to UEM and  EPF confirming that they are satisfied with the revised terms and  conditions of the existing concession agreements held by the Malaysian  concession companies under PEB, which is still pending. The  completion shall take place on the fourteenth business day after  receiving the above confirmation letter. On 4 November 2011 UEM and EPF have also agreed to allow PEB to  pay a dividend of approximately RM106.6m to PEB’s shareholders as of  an entitlement date to be determined by the Board.  (BMSB)

RM135m plan to enhance Northport container terminals
Northport (Malaysia) will invest RM135m in new facilities and equipment at its container terminals. Northport hopes to enhance its capacity and efficiency of the container-handling facilities operated, in particular that of Container Terminal 1. Container Terminal 1 and Container Terminal 3 service the larger range of container vessels calling at Northport. (BT)

Masterskill says won’t be affected by PTPTN proposal
Masterskill Education Group says it will not be affected by the National Higher Education Fund Corp’s (PTPTN) proposal to restrict loans if it is approved. “Masterskill University College of Health Sciences is not involved and this we will not be affected by the PTPTN move to stop providing loans for the expenses of students,” the group said. (Financial Daily)

SEGi sees strong 2011 after profit hit RM55m in nine months
SEG International (SEGi) is optimistic it can achieve strong results for 2011 after its cumulative profit after tax for the first three quarters hit RM54.7m, exceeding the previous year’s full year result of RM42.1m. At a media briefing, SEGi CEO Lee Kok Cheng revealed that the company was slated to open a new campus in Ipoh that would commence operations around 2014. (StarBiz)

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