Kossan Rubber Industries will ramp up production by 20% to 10.8bn pieces to meet strong demand this year. MDLee Kuang Sia said the company has received orders to last the first half of this year as countries with rapidly growing populations boost healthcare expenditure to guard against the H1N1 flu pandemic. “We want to grow and meet that extra demand but it has to be done in a sustainable manner,” Lim said. “Usually we will spend RM60m yearly to boost production but this time there will be a focus on automating the process,” he said. (Reuters)
We gather that the 10.8bn pieces are the target for total gloves to be sold this year which is in line with our expectation of 11.1bn pieces. The company is planning to expand its annual production capacity progressively from 11.1bn pieces currently to 14.5bn pieces p.a by the end of 2010. However, the expansion figure is based on a base-case scenario of powdered natural rubber gloves. Should the company produce more nitrile gloves, the total annual production capacity will fall as nitrile lines runs slower. Nevertheless, margins could improve as nitrile gloves generally command higher margins than natural rubber gloves.
Alliance Bank Malaysia group CEO Datuk Bridget Lai has been given seven days by the bank board to answer certain questions as part of the bank’s internal probe. Chairman Datuk Thomas Lee, who confirmed that Lai was being investigated, said the questions were given to Lai on Monday. “The CEO has been asked to answer some questions and we are waiting for her reply. We have given the usual seven days but according to our lawyers, it is normal to ask for an extension,” he said. Lee said the questions for COO Shim Kon Teck were being prepared and would be sent when they were ready. The Alliance Bank board has confirmed that Lai and Shim were being investigated in an ongoing internal probe, concerning operational matters, which were historical in nature. (StarBiz)
EON Bank’s operation is not affected by the potential takeover bid of its holding company,
EON Capital, by
Hong Leong Bank. EON Bank group CEO Michael Lor said as far as the management and the business was concerned, the impact was zero. “It doesn’t matter to us as running the business is still more important,” he said.
- On EON Bank’s business development, Lor said the bank was looking to expand its investment banking advisory, treasury and bancassurance businesses. Besides, the bank had committed to spend about RM180m in upgrading its branches and services, he said, adding that it was also looking at upgrading its credit card system. (StarBiz)
YTL Cement, through Singapore unit YTL Cement Singapore, has offered to buy the cement assets of Jurong Cement Ltd for S$50m. YTL said that the asset, Jurong Cement Bulk Terminal, was worth more than the price offered by Holcim Investments Singapore. Holcim had previously made a takeover offer for Jurong Cement at S$2.10 per share. YTL said it was making the offer because it felt the takeover offer by Holcim "significantly undervalues the company, its business and its assets." YTL added that the net book value of the target acquisition on Dec 31, 2009 was "in the region of S$11m, which is, we believe, not a true reflection of its fair value."
- YTL also noted that if the Holcim's takeover was successful, the company would no longer be listed on the Singapore Exchange.
- "This would be detrimental to the minority shareholders who invested in the company because they believed in its business," YTL said. "As a substantial shareholder of the company, we continue to believe in the positive outlook for the company and would like to see it continue its listing status.
- Holcim controls about 55% of Jurong Cement, while YTL Cement Singapore has a 22% stake. (Starbiz)
Petra Perdana said the operations of the group will be handled by its experienced supervisors and managers who will report directly to the CEO following the suspension of its senior management. It also announced the appointments of Suhaimi Badrul Jamal and Captain Abdul Halim Ahmad Said as management consultants and Ferrier Hodgson MH as independent consultant.
- Suhaimi, who is a brother-in-law of executive director Datin Nariza Hajjar Hashim, will take charge of Petra Perdana’s finance and accounts department and its subsidiaries from 13 Jan until 3 Feb. Suhaimi is a non-independent non-executive director of Petra Energy.
- Abdul Halim will take charge of the the company’s daily marine operations and its subsidiaries during the same period.
- Ferrier Hodgson’s role is to review the management and operations of Petra Perdana and its subsidiaries for FY09. (Star)
Dialog Group expects to increase its profit after tax by 20-30% in the current financial year. Chairman Ngau Boon Keat said the group has forecast a bright future for the
oil & gas industry despite the global economic slowdown as well as the recent Dubai financial crisis. In a related development, Ngau said the group is negotiating with relevant quarters on the group's global network expansion plan. Currently, the group has base offices in eleven countries. (Bernama)
Suria Capital and its partners will submit a proposal for the RM1.2bn power plant in Kimanis, Sabah, by Apr. Suria Capital has been qualified to make a bid and is preparing a proposal to submit to the project owner by Apr. Group MD Datuk Dr Mohd Fowzi Mohd Razi said the company is working on the proposal with its partner from Taiwan, a major engineering, procure and commissioning (EPC) contractor, as well as a local firm. A consortium, comprising the three companies, has been formed and it will be led by the EPC contractor, he said.
- The project owner is Kimanis Power S/B, a 60:40 JV between Petronas Gas and NRG Consortium Sdn Bhd, the business arm of Yayasan Sabah Group. 12 companies including Muhibbah Engineering, Gadang Holdings and Zelan have been shortlisted to make a bid for the project. It is understood that Petronas is planning to award the contract by Aug. The planned capacity of the 300MW Kimanis power plant will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will have a capacity of 100MW, which will be increased by another 200MW in the second. The power plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2013 and fully operational by early 2014. (BT)
Cahya Mata Sarawak’s (CMS) sale of its long-held substantial interest in
UBG to PetroSaudi International Ltd for RM466m is crucial to meet its funding needs for the multibillion ringgit aluminium smelter project, Sarawak Aluminium Co (Salco), said a source. “It is selling because of the smelter and, of course,
Score (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy; a regional development corridor) as it is ploughing a lot more investments in there. It needs the money,” said the source, adding that the company was also planning to issue bonds for this purpose. (Starbiz)
East Timor may ask
Petronas, not Australia's Woodside Petroleum, to develop the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field. The government had rejected a plan by Woodside and its partners as there were doubts about the commercial viability of Woodside's proposal to pipe gas from the field to either an existing LNG processing plant in Darwin or to a floating LNG plant. Petronas is qualified to develop the field, said a government official. (Reuters)
Naim Holdings JV company, Sinohydro-Naim JV has on 12 Jan received a letter of award for Package B Part I and II of the 275KV Overhead Transmission Line Projects for Bakun- Similajau Transmission System from Sarawak Energy for RM209.1m. with a contract period of 24 months. Save for Datuk Abdul Hamed Bin Sepawi who is the Chairman of
Sarawak Energy, none of the Directors or Substantial Shareholders or persons connected with them has any interest, direct or indirect, in the transaction. (BMSB)
Ho Hup Construction has filed a police report against former MD Datuk Low Tuck Choy, alleging that he committed a criminal breach of trust involving some RM15m.The report by a Ho Hup employee on behalf of the company, was made following findings of a third-party audit. It alleged that Low had, among others, made several payments via cash cheques to certain parties for a purported project in Sri Lanka without the board's knowledge of such a project. He was also alleged to have made a fictitious claim in relation to certain phases of The Jalil Sutera housing project in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. It is believed that Low was given until 24 Jan this year to help assist the police in its investigation.(BT)
India's GTL Infrastructure will buy the tower assets of Aircel, a unit of
Maxis Communications, for US$1.8bn (RM6bn), three sources said, making GTL one of the largest independent mobile mast firms in the country with about 32,000 towers. It will pay the amount for about 17,500 towers. The deal would be the largest so far in the Indian telecom tower sector. (Reuters)
India will auction four slots of
3G airwaves to private telecom operators if the communications ministry can solve the interference issues between the airwaves or radio frequencies held by BSNL/MTNL and the armed forces, the nine-member empowered group of ministers (EGoM). If the Department of Telecom (DoT) fails to address this factor, the upcoming 3G spectrum auctions, will be restricted to only three private GSM operators. (Economic Times of India)
MARC has revised its outlook on
Tenaga to stable from developing to reflect expectations of more certainty with regard to electricity demand and cost recovery in the coming year. (Financial Daily)
Tradewinds Plantation, which has investments in
palm oil and rubber, hired Oversea- Chinese Banking Corp Ltd to help it sell RM50m worth of bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tradewinds, which in October agreed to buy natural rubber processor
Mardec for RM150m, will pay a coupon of 3.7% on the two-year bonds, the data shows. (Bloomberg)
Dreamgate has fixed the issue price for the second tranche of its proposed private placement of 38.54m shares at RM0.16/share. (BMSB)
AXA Affin Life Insurance hopes to grow its share of the local life insurance market from 1.5% to 8% by 2012, as it undertakes a AXA global branding exercise. Its CEO Loke Kah Meng said the insurer will look to grow organically or via acquisition to achieve its target. “We are backed by the AXA group, a company that is a market leader, has the financial strength and is trusted by people,” said Loke. In Malaysia, the insurer plans to increase its agency force and strengthen its product portfolio. With some 400 agents currently, it will grow the force to some 1,200 by year-end and to 3,000 by 2012.
- On whether it will acquire another insurer or look at partnerships to grow its local presence, Loke said both options are possible. “We are open if the opportunity presents itself for the right partnership at the right price,” he said. (BT)
Tanjung Offshore, through subsidiary Tanjung NewEnergy Services Sdn Bhd (TNE), has won a RM4m contract from Murphy Sarawak Oil Co Ltd to supply operation spare parts for gas engine generator package for SK309/311 production operations. TNE is expected to complete the contract within the next six months. (BT)
Tomei Consolidated is proposing to undertake the private placement up to 12.6m new shares, representing not more than 10% of the company's issued and paid-up share capital as at Jan 12, 2010. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday, Tomei said the proposed private placement will allow the company to raise funds expeditiously to be utilised for its working capital. (Bernama)
