Friday, June 22, 2012

20120622 1021 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

Bumi Armada: Has RM7.7bn jobs firmly in hand, targets more deals
Bumi Armada, whose orderbook now exceeds RM10bn, is hopeful of winning more jobs in servicing the global oil and gas industry. CEO Hassan Assad Basma said of the RM10bn jobs, RM7.7bn of them are firmly in hand while the remaining ones are optional. Hassan expects a bright outlook for Bumi Armada and said in the next 5 years, there'll be demand for between 120 and 150 units. He added that Africa is a major FPSO market and they aim for US$1bn(RM3.17bn) worth of jobs there. (Business Times)

Sunway: Division inks partnership with spun pile manufacturer
Sunway Group's building materials division, Sunway Spun Pile (Zhuhai) Co Ltd, has inked a memorandum of agreement with spun pile manufacturer Concrete Engineering Products Bhd to strengthen their combined market presence in Asia. Sunway Group said the partnership would provide a sustainable competitive advantage for both companies through an improved and wider range of products, while promoting and developing new markets such as Vietnam and Myanmar. Sunway Spun Pile owns the largest market share in South China, having the single largest production line for pre-stressed high strength concrete in the area. It is also the only manufacturer with a Grade 2 Production Licence from the China Construction Bureau to produce super large pipe piles there. (StarBiz)

Property: AP Land and partner to build more than 14,000 homes for ex-soldiers
AP Land Development Sdn Bhd and  its South Korean joint-venture partner Taeseung Construction Co Ltd will build 14,000 landed homes with total GDV of RM2bn for ex-military servicemen. AP Land chairman Datuk Nazrul Arsad said the indicative prices of these homes would range between RM85,000 and RM185,000 and would be located in Pahang, Perak and Terengganu. Nazrul said the developer could sell the homes at these prices because their costs of construction would be lowered with the use of industrialised building systems (IBS) technology. Nazrul  added that the IBS system is able to lower costs as it uses a standard mould which can be used for the building of many houses. Tauseung's role in the JV includes introducing building methods that could cut construction time from  2 years to about 18 months. (StarBiz)


MAS: Delays turnaround by another year. Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) has tweaked its business turnaround plan and delayed its target to return to profitability by another year to 2014, said MD and CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, who also hinted at the possibility of layoffs. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

TNB: May pay MYR1.2b for the undersea cable project. Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is expected to take up the full cost of building the proposed MYR1.2b undersea cable across the Straits of Malacca. (Source: The Malaysian Reserve)

HSL: Bags Sarawak govt contract. Hock Seng Lee Bhd (HSL) has secured a MYR26m contract from the Sarawak state government to build infrastructure at Demak Laut Industrial Park, Kuching. The scope of works includes earthworks, sandfilling, water reticulation, drainage, road and associated works. The project is due to be completed by January 2014. (Source: Bursa Malaysia)

IOI Corp: Issues USD600m senior notes. IOI Corp Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary, IOI Investment (L) Bhd, has priced a guaranteed senior notes due to 2012 at USD600m (MYR1.9b). The transaction was oversubscribed by nearly nine times with an order book aggregating USD5.2b. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

O&G: MYR16.5b investment for North Malay Basin project. Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) expects USD5.2b (MYR16.5b) to be invested in the North Malay Basin project, a new integrated gas development in Peninsular Malaysia, over the next five years. (Source: The Star)

Wah Seong wins bid for stake in Petra Energy
Wah Seong has emerged as the winner in the bid to acquire Perdana Petroleum’s 26.9% stake in Petra Energy. In its filing with Bursa, Perdana Petroleum said its wholly–owned subsidiary Wasco Energy, has won the bid following the close of submission on 15 June. However, both companies did not reveal the value of the share sale, pending the execution of a definitive agreement. (Financial Daily)

Mass Rapid Transit awards RM13.8bn jobs in 31 packages
Mass Rapid Transit Corp SB (MRT Corp) has awarded 31 out of the total 85 Klang Valley MRT packages for Line 1 to date, valued at RM13.83bn. MRT Corp director of strategic communications and PR Amir Mahmood Razak said: “23 contracts are currently being evaluated, while the remaining 31, we have yet to issue tenders for.” He added that the total 85 packages for Line 1 would be awarded by December this year. Line 1, which is the Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line, is made up of two phases. The first is from Sungai Buloh to Semantan, and the second coming from the south of the Klang Valley from Kajang to Taman Maluri. Amir expects the first phase to be operational by Dec 2016, and the second phase by June 2017. (StarBiz)

Construction: MRT Corp awards MYR13.8b in 31 packages. Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) has awarded 31 out of the total 85 Klang Valley MRT packages for Line 1 (Sungai Buloh - Kajang) to date, valued at MYR13.8b. The total 85 packages for line 1 would be awarded by Dec 2012. (Source: The Star)            

KUB to sell A&W stake in Thailand
KUB Malaysia will be selling its entire stake in A&W Restaurants (Thailand) Ltd Co by the end of the year. The group is also putting up A&W (Malaysia) SB for sale to help it become profitable again in the year ending Dec 2012. KUB, which has operations in plantations, construction, information technology (IT), property and energy, made a net loss of RM58.8m in 2011 on the back of a RM708.5m revenue. Group MD Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Wan Ahmad said it planned to sell its entire stake in A&W Malaysia to a strategic partner. It might exit the local business for good or buy a stake in the new owner of A&W Malaysia, Wan Mohd said. He declined to name the buyer for A&W Thailand as well as the prospective buyer for A&W Malaysia. (BT)

AirAsia management to propose yearly dividend
Budget airline AirAsia may soon start handing out dividends to its shareholders on a regular basis. AirAsia CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the management will recommend to its board to adopt a yearly dividend policy. "The shareholders were really talking about dividends and AirAsia has reached a position where we could be a constant dividend payer. The management is going to recommend to the board the dividend policy," Fernandes told reporters after AirAsia's AGM yesterday. He also clarified that the RM7m airport tax it owed to Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) is due to wrong invoices. He added that MAHB will resend the right invoices to AirAsia. (BT)


A consortium led by George Kent Bhd is now tipped to win the systems contract worth RM960m for the Ampang light rail transit (LRT) line extension project. Sources with knowledge on the matter said the winning bidder for the job is expected to be announced by the government within the next few days. Other members of the George Kent consortium include China Railway Construction Corp and Tewet GmbH, a project management consultant firm. (BT)

UMW Holdings Bhd expects revenue contribution from its oil and gas (O&G) division to increase to 25% this financial year. "Currently, O&G contributes about 15% to revenue. We are confident it will increase to at least 20% to 25% this year. This is because we have full employment of rigs and the additional contribution from Garraf power plant project," said president and group CEO Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir. (Financial Daily)

Bumi Armada is optimistic of buying more vessels under its newbuild programme, 'Steel On Water 2', given its increasing focus on deepwater and harsh environments and positive leading indicators in the industry. Its executive director/CEO, Hassan Basma, said there maybe some more purchases subjected to price and market conditions. Hassan said the company would continue to look at a combination of buying and building vessels to expand and optimise its deepwater offshore support vessel (OSV) fleet. "Although the OSV sector is still in recovery mode and there's an oversupply in shallow waters, it's still a good idea to expand fleets as we are in deeper and further end," he told a media briefing. (Bernama)

DRB-HICOM said it was not aware of any legal suit filed by Dany Bahar, the former chief executive of Group Lotus plc, against the company, but was prepared to face him in court. "I am not aware of any suit being filed by Bahar against DRB-HICOM. Nevertheless, we are fully prepared should Bahar wish to take action against Lotus plc or DRB-HICOM. We had anticipated this when Lotus dismissed him," said Sulaiman Yahya, head of corporate communications at DRB-HICOM. "Bahar was dismissed based on the results of Lotus' investigations into his conduct. We shall rely on this evidence should he wish to take legal action. In fact, in doing so, he must be prepared for the truth to be out in the open for all to see," added Sulaiman. (BT)

Petronas has signed three production sharing contracts (PSC) with US firm Hess Corp, kicking off the US$5.2bn North Malay Basin gas project on Malaysia’s east coast. Petronas is looking to commercialise 1.7 standard trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the area, part of a drive to bring on marginal domestic fields and secure gas with high CO2 content. Petronas and its partners are aiming for first delivery of 100 mmscfd of gas per day by 2013 and 250 mmscfd by 2015. It was not immediately clear if Petronas would export some of the gas. (Reuters)

The new renewable energy (RE) quota under the feed-in-tariff programme (FiT) scheduled for released in the middle of 2012 has been delayed to 4Q this year. The Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (SEDA) said it has received a directive from the Energy Ministry to review the degression rates especially of solar photovoltaic (PV) in view of the recent drastic drop in prices of solar PV modules. The delay is also due to the need for SEDA to consider amending some of the rules and regulations to ensure the RE stakeholders understand their roles in the FiT mechanism. The delay will not affect existing FiT approved applications. (Financial Daily)

The panel of ministers' on spectrum, headed by Finance Minister and Presidential candidate of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Pranab

Mukherjee, deferred its crucial meeting to decide on the spectrum reserve price for the upcoming airwaves auction, raising concerns that the government may not be able to meet the August 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court (SC) to complete the sale process. A telecom ministry official also told that 'Mukherjee's office had not indicated if the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) would meet before he steps down as finance minister on June 24'. "The ball is not in our court - we are hopeful of meeting the deadline set by SC. The government can act quickly whenever needed," this official added. Sector regulator Trai was slated to make a presentation on the impact of spectrum costs on tariffs. "With the meeting being cancelled, Trai submitted its analysis to the Department of Telecomm," the official quoted above said. The EGoM meeting was deferred despite the Prime Minister's Office telling the finance ministry that the panel of ministers on spectrum should take a decision on the reserve price for airwaves and other policy issues related to the auctions before Mukherjee's exit. The delay in fixing the reserve price will add to the uncertainties faced by companies such as Idea Cellular (19.1% owned by Axiata), Telenor, Sistema and Videcon among others whose licences were cancelled by SC earlier this year. (Economic Times India)

Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGVH) is undertaking an internal reorganisation to streamline its downstream operations in North America.The exercise also involves a proposed repayment of external debts by TRT-ETGO Inc via the conversion of preferred shares and injection of funds by FGVH. (Financial Daily)

SP Setia wants to expand its landbank across the Penang channel to leverage on the Second Penang Bridge. SP Setia property division (north) GM Datuk S. Rajoo said Batu Kawan is the preferred site to establish the company's footprint in Seberang Prai. "We are anticipating a population growth on the mainland once the second crossing is completed and think it would be prudent to establish a landbank there." (NST)

BLD Plantation, which has 25,100ha of oil palm estates representing 52% of the group's total land area, plans to develop the remaining landbank in five to seven years. Executive chairman Datuk Henry Lau Lee Kong said the group could fully cultivate the undeveloped land within that timeframe if the conditions were right. “Planting an average 3,000ha a year is reasonable. It costs about RM15,000 to develop one ha,” he said after the company AGM. Lau said the group's total plantation area would increase to about 27,000ha by December (this year), of which about 90% would be in maturity stage. Most of the estates are in Miri and Sibu Divisions. BLD, through wholly-owned subsidiary Kirana Palm Oil Refinery Sdn Bhd, is investing RM51m to expand its palm oil refinery in Bintulu with the installation of a second plant. The new plant, which would double existing capacity to 2,400 tonnes per day, is expected to commence operation in the fourth quarter this year. The products from the refinery are exported mostly to China and India. (Starbiz)

Hock Seng Lee Bhd (HSL) has been awarded the Demak Laut Industrial Park, Kuching Division infrastructure works contract worth RM26m. The company said its board had received the letter of acceptance from the Ministry of Industrial Development Sarawak for the project, which is expected to be completed by January 2014. The scope of work involves earthworks, sand filling, water reticulation, drainage, road and associated works. (Financial Daily)

KNM Group Bhd plans to raise up to RM200m from a rights issue to repay borrowings and as working capital. The final repayment amount for bank borrowings and working capital requirements for KNM Group has yet to be finalised, KNM is proposing to undertake a renounceable two-call rights issue of up to 500.5m new shares at an indicative issue price of RM1.00/share. ( BT)

Eversendai Corp Bhd’s unit Shineversendai Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd has been appointed as a supplier for the iron ore distribution project worth RM45.9m at Teluk Rubiah, Manjung, in Perak. The contract is for 12 months. (BT)

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