Former Sime Darby CEO Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid was arrested yesterday and will be charged tomorrow for alleged criminal breach of trust (CBT) over a RM80m land deal in a case that may open a can of worms for the government conglomerate’s operations. Ahmad Zubir surrendered himself to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at its headquarters in Putrajaya earlier this afternoon and had his statement recorded. MACC’s director of investigations, Datuk Mustafa Ali, confirmed the arrest but declined to elaborate, English-language daily The Star reported. Ahmad Zubir was subsequently released on bail, the paper reported. He had been expected to be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court earlier yesterday but an MACC official who declined to be named told The Malaysian Insider the prosecution would be delayed until today as the case had not been registered yet. (Malaysianinsider)
Golden Plateau Sdn Bhd has signed a service agreement with Telekom Malaysia Bhd for the latter to supply, deliver, install, test and commission internal cabling equipment at StarzValley in Bandar Baru Nilai. The equipment is to satisfy High Speed Broadband services requirement at Starz Valley’s Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) block and residential blocks. Golden Plateau’s MD, Choo Yoke Cheong commented that the agreement is the first partnership between both parties and will enhance the adoption of ICT in Bandar Baru Nilai in line with the government’s efforts to increase broadband usage, establish an ICT-literate nation, and narrow the digital gap among Malaysians. Starz Valley is a four hectare mixed commercial and residential development area at Nilai educational township. It is slated for completion in three years and comprises 38 units of shop lots, eight units of retail, 104 units of SOHO, and 1,270 units of service apartment. (Bernama)
DRB-Hicom Bhd has appointed Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh as the Chief Operating Officer-Finance, Strategy & Planning, effective immediately. The former chief of Tenaga Nasional Bhd, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (United Kingdom), is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants. (Bernama)
Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM), a wholly-owned unit of Tan Chong Motors, is optimistic the market share for Nissan cars will recover to 5.6% from 5.3% in the first five months of the year. Executive director, Datuk Dr Ang Bon Beng, said ETCM was on track to outpace the total industry volume (TIV) 2012's estimated growth of 2.5% for Nissan sales. "In the first five months, we dropped 0.3% compared with 5.6% last year. So, we are going to recover this market share in the next two quarters. There's a surge in the whole market after June and July, so we are maintaining our challenge to grow more than the estimated 2.5% for Nissan sales," he said. (Bernama, BT)
Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (AZRB) has awarded a RM600m contract to Advance Pact Sdn Bhd to provide hospital facilities management services. The contract, awarded through Ahmad Zaki's wholly-owned Peninsular Medical Sdn Bhd (PenMedic), is for more than 20 years. Advance Pact is a company under Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera's (Teraju) Teras initiative. Under the agreement, Advance Pact will provide hospital facilities management services to the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) teaching hospital in Kuantan, Pahang, for 21.5 years from 2015. In Sep-2011, the Higher Education Ministry and IIUM signed a 25-year concession agreement with PenMedic to build IIUM's teaching hospital under the design, build, lease, maintain and transfer basis. The hospital is expected to be completed by mid-2015. (BT)
Virgin Group's divestment of its 10% stake in AirAsia X is the result of a portfolio realignment, said an executive with Virgin Group. "We now prioritise resources where we can have the most impact and also use the Virgin brand," he said in an email reply. "While AirAsia X had been a very successful investment for us, it did not use the Virgin brand and we felt it was the right time to exit and focus on our branded portfolio," he added. (Financial Daily)
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof has quashed market talks that Ahmad Jauhari Yahya would quit the national carrier. Md Nor added that Ahmad Jauhari had been given a tremendous lift following the arrival and entry of the A380 aircraft. The aircraft has been deployed on the KL-London-KL route and has been experiencing high load factor since. (Star Biz)
Digistar Corporation Bhd will acquire the remaining 40% equity interest in Seni Pujaan Sdn Bhd, a property developer, for RM13m. Upon completion of the proposed acquisition, Seni Pujaan will become its wholly-owned subsidiary, Digistar said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday. (BT)
Karex Industries Sdn Bhd, the world's biggest condom maker, is looking to float its shares on Bursa Malaysia and tighten its grip on the global market, one of its top executives said. "We want to further expand our factories, including the one in Thailand," said Karex executive director Goh Miah Kiat. All in, we are producing three billion pieces now. We want to double our capacity to 6bn pieces by 2015," he said. With factories in Pontian, Klang and Thailand, Karex Group churns out about 3bn pieces of condoms a year. This works out to a 15% share of the world's condom market of 20bn pieces a year. (BT)
Sports shoe maker, Maxwell International Holdings Bhd hopes to negotiate with top labels like Nike and Adidas to manufacture shoes for them directly. Maxwell, which has OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and ODM (original design maker) capabilities, is investing RM150m in a new 150,000 sqm factory in Henan province, China. The new factory, about 8x bigger than its current factory in the Fujian province, would have more than 20 production lines producing more than 30m pairs of shoes a year, said Maxwell's CFO, Tan Swee Song. The factory in Henan province will be built over 3 phases. Phase one, with 60,000 sqm of space, is targeted to be completed by the end of next year at a cost of RM70m. Maxwell is using its internal funds to build the factory on a 17.5ha plot of land it acquired for RM17.2m. Tan said the new plant would start contributing to its earnings in 2014. (BT)
Lion Group’s founder and executive chairman Tan Sri William Cheng has lashed out at his critics claiming the group’s loss making steel operations would have been profitable had it not been for the influx of imports. He said the government’s plans to restructure the steel industry would not work if the surveillance on the import of flat steel is not addressed. Megasteel is operating at 30-40% of capacity as the local market was flooded with imported flat steel. (Financial Daily)
Axis-REIT Managers has issued RM110m in sukuk via its unit, Axis-REIT Sukuk to facilitate the establishment of up to RM300m under its sukuk programme. The proceeds from the sukuk will mainly be used to refinance the fund's existing financing facilities. (Malaysian Reserve)
BTM Resources' major shareholder and managing director Datuk Seri Yong Tu Sang has reduced his shareholding by over 10% in the past two months, shoring up the possibility of a new substantial shareholder at the loss-making timber company. (Financial Daily)
IPP: Fate to be known in September. Energy Commission chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Hasan said the government is in talks with the IPPs to come up with a more competitive power purchase agreements (PPAs). The extension of the licence to operate will be allowed based on the IPPs' willingness to reduce the PPAs under a new PPA agreement with new rates and new terms. However, the reduction will differ from one IPP to another. The restricted tender offer for the first-generation IPPs will close at end of the month. (Source: Business Times)
No comments:
Post a Comment