Thursday, July 5, 2012

20120705 1008 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

The secured creditors of Asia Petroleum Hub Sdn Bhd (APH), whose rights to develop a petroleum hub on an island off Johor are up for grabs, are seeking a 30-year tax break in a bid to make the project commercially viable. APH's concession is over a 30-year period. "Initially, the project was estimated at RM1.5bn. Now to complete the job, another RM1bn is needed. It will be tough without a tax break to recover investments in the project," said a source. In a related development. the receivers and managers of APH, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), placed an advertisement to sell APH's conditional rights to development a petroleum storage, blending and distribution terminal. The advertisement is to solicit expression of interest, with prospective bidders needed to make a full-fledged offer at a later date. ZAQ Construction and Muhibbah Engineering are opposed to the sale of APH's conditional rights, as it would leave the two with little recourse to recover the amounts owed to them. The parties said to be interested in APH include Swiss group Mercuria Energy Group Ltd, Petrofac Ltd and Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary's Port of Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd. The shareholders of APH are KIC Oil & Gas, controlling 90% equity interest in the company, while the remaining 10% is held by UMNO-linked Trek Perintis Sdn Bhd. (Financial Daily)

MMC Corp Bhd plans to submit next month a proposal on the privatisation of national railway company Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) to the government. Group managing director, Datuk Hasni Harun said the proposal is subject to the result of due diligence study conducted by the company which is expected to be completed by the end of the month. KTMB suffered some RM1.45bn in accumulative net losses up until 2008. It is further believed that the national railway company cannot "afford" to pay back its own operational costs and loans. However, MMC will not have to absorb KTMB's debt of over RM1bn because the fixed assets comprising 11 depots, land, building and equipment will remain with the government. (BT)

Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) is considering inviting tenders for 31 packages of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang mass rapid transit line in the current quarter. Strategic communications and public relations director Amir Mahmood Razak said 85 contracts have been made available, 33 worth RM15.5bn have been awarded, 21 are being evaluated and 31 have yet to be called. Amir said MRT Corp is confident that all the tenders can be awarded by year-end and the massive project can be completed within the given timeframe. (Financial Daily)

Ambank Group has teamed up with Travelex Global, the world's largest foreign exchange specialist, to introduce a suite of foreign exchange products and services offerings called AmBank-Travelex money changing services. AmBank Group chairman, Tan Sri Azman Hashim said the service offers local customers a strong international connectivity proposition. Travelex CEO Peter Jackson said the company will offer its foreign currency services via selected AmBank branches in a unique co-branded agreement. A total of 81 currencies will be available for exchange. AmBank-Travelex money changing service is already operational at eight selected AmBank branches in the Klang Valley. (BT)

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will add another international destination to its flight network service by introducing the commencement of thrice weekly services between Kuala Lumpur and Kathmandu effective Sept 1. The national carrier said the flights would be operated with a two-class configured Boeing 737-800 aircraft comprising 144 economy class and 16 business class seats. (Bernama, BT)

Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has maintained that construction cost for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) will remain at RM3.9bn as previously announced, refuting remarks by an AirAsia Bhd top official that it is set to go up to RM5bn. "Whatever we have announced, we stick to that," and MAHB official said. (Malaysian Reserve)

Tricubes Bhd will appeal against Bursa Malaysia's decision to reject its regularisation plan, said its CEO Khairun Zainal Mokhtar. "We plan to seek clarification from Bursa the soonest possible," he added. The company pointed out the rejection by Bursa would only affect the "listing status" but did not impact the company's ability to carry out its business as usual. (Financial Daily)

No comments: