20091125 1101 Malaysia Corporate News.

The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is set to sell electricity to Tenaga Nasional (TNB) by end-2011 when Felda's biomass-powered energy plant at its land scheme in Jengka, Pahang, will be ready. Felda Holdings general manager and head of biomass division of corporate planning and biomass, Ahmad Nor Azman Jamin, said the plant's connectivity to the national power grid will be its first initiative to support the government's Small and Renewable Energy Programme (SREP). "The plant will generate 10 megawatts (MW) of power and we will sell it to TNB at 21 sen per kilowatt hour," he said. Ahmad said the biomass plant in Jengka will use 300,000 tonnes of empty fresh fruit bunches or oil palm waste (biomass) derived from its seven mills. It will also be modelled after the group's existing biomass plant in Sahabat. (BT)

The Sabah state’s electricity shortage has become even more acute, with power tripping unexpectedly at several stations. Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) said the tripping had forced power generation to drop by about 79MW. SESB’s corporate communications manager Chendramata Sinteh said load-shedding had to be implemented as they could not meet the peak demand of 730MW. (The Star)

Syarikat Prasarana Negara (SPNB) is evaluating 136 contractors, under a prequalification exercise, for the proposed extension of the Kelana Jaya and Ampang Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines which are estimated to cost RM7bn. "We have given them a month to fulfil the requirements. We have to pre-qualify them to determine if they can undertake the job," said its group managing director Datuk Idrose Mohamed. He said it was up to the contractors concerned to bid for the project via joint ventures or on their own. "Following the pre-qualification exercise, we will call for the actual tenders by early next year," he said.

• "There are lots of processes involved in the extension of the LRT lines. We have to do a final design and submit for approval to the local authorities. "Once everything is completed, we will start the actual construction which is targeted for early next year," he said. He also disclosed that the project will be completed in three years.
• Meanwhile, Idrose said Prasarana will be introducing a longer, four-car train for the Kelana Jaya LRT line, a key metro system in KL. He said the first batch of the four-car train, which is currently undergoing testing, will be operational by year-end, and a total of 35 trains will be delivered in one and a half years, with four being delivered quarterly. (Bernama)

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), hopes to put in place a liquidity management framework by next year, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said. As part of global efforts to enhance the efficiency of Islamic financial institutions in managing liquidity at the national level as well as across borders, a management task force has been set up to look into the matter, she said. (BT)

Melewar Industrial Group (MIG) hopes to secure as much as 20% of the estimated RM20bn water pipe replacement contracts on offer nationwide. Executive chairman Tunku Datuk Ya'acob Tunku Abdullah said the pipe replacement contracts are likely to be offered next year by the newly established Pengurusan Aset Air (PAAB). "With the formation of PAAB, I believe there is a strong possibility that the company will actually start renewing (the country's) water pipes next year," he said.

• Tunku Ya'acob also said that MIG's associate Mycron, which produces high quality cold rolled coil (CRC) for national carmaker Proton Holdings, is also in talks to supply the high quality CRC to Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd. CRC in the automotive sector contributes about 5% to Mycron's bottomline," said Tunku Ya'acob. (BT) 

Perodua says its new multi-purpose vehicle, known as the Alza, could help triple sales of the overall MPVs in Malaysia. Perodua outgoing MD Datuk Syed Abdull Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar said MPVs now account for about 10% of the total industry volume (TIV). A consumer study done by Perodua prior to the Alza introduction indicated that there was potential for the MPV segment to make up 30% of the TIV, Syed Abdull Hafiz said. This indirectly means that the Alza will soon control about two thirds of the segment now dominated by Proton Exora, Toyota Avanza and Nissan Grand Livina. Syed Abdull Hafiz expects the Alza to rake in monthly sales of 4,000 units next year. Since bookings were opened on November 13, Perodua received orders for about 3,500 units of the 1.5-litre MPV. (BT)

Edaran Otomobil Nasional's (EON) subsidiary Euromobil, the distributor of Audi vehicles in Malaysia, has awarded RM5.1m worth of construction works to Comtrac Builders, a 70% unit of DRB-HICOM. The construction works are for the Audi hangar at Glenmarie, Shah Alam, and three other branches located in Kuala Lumpur, Juru in Penang and Johor Baru. Construction work for the Kuala Lumpur branch is expected to be completed by next month, while the Audi hangar, Juru and Johor Baru branches have been completed. (BT)

AirAsia X has started flying five times a week from Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi, expanding its network into the Middle East. Abu Dhabi has the potential to become a hub for the carrier to expand its network into the Middle East. "I take it (Abu Dhabi ) as a priority market. We are now focusing on adding more capacity and working on the service's efficency. We will focus on Abu Dhabi first, before expanding our network further into this region," CEO Azran Osman-Rani said. (BT)

Tune Talk is in talks with two of its three Singaporean counterparts for a potential international roaming partnership. The talks, if they go well, will allow Tune Talk to offer customers significantly lower international direct dialling rates. "Roaming is a big business. Things that were discussed include technical issues as well as call flows," said CEO Jason Lo. The company, which launched its service in mid-Aug, currently has more than 200,000 subscribers. By year-end, it is confident to hit the 300,000 mark. (BT)

Kurnia Asia, the country's largest general insurer, said its overseas operations in Indonesia and Thailand will contribute 20-25% to the group's top line in the next three to five years. "We expect the overseas units to grow at strong double digits in the medium term," Kurnia Asia director of corporate planning and investor relations, James Tee said. To meet its goals, plans include expanding the group's distribution channels via bank tieups as well as beefing up its agency force.

• Overseas business now contributes 10%, or RM85m, to the group's gross premium income of RM1.05bn for FY6/09.
• Kurnia Asia acquired PT Kurnia Insurance Indonesia in 2007 and a 25% stake in Kurnia Insuran-ce (Thailand) Co Ltd in Dec 08. The group has invested about RM43m in both the foreign units (RM17m in Thailand and RM26m in Indonesia). Looi said there is no immediate plan to raise capital for both units. (BT)

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Johor branch is opposing a proposed port consolidation plan involving MMC Corp’s wholly-owned Johor Port and 70%-owned Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP). The plan would see Johor Port being dedicated to handling on bulk cargo while PTP would serve as a dedicated container port from 1 Jan 2010. FFM Johor said it had expressed “grave reservations” on the proposed move as it would cause serious repercussions and disruptions in the operations of manufacturers in the industrial estates (Financial Daily)

MMC Corp said that some foundation works for its multi-billion dollar JV project, Jazan Economic City, in Saudi Arabia has been completed. MMC believes that the tenders for the proposed refinery, aluminium smelter, water desalination and sewage treatment plants will be awarded over the next few months pending some adjustments involving possible equity involvement of Saudi companies or interests in some of the projects. (Malaysian Reserve)

British American Tobacco (Malaysia) plans to dispose of a parcel of industrial land in Sabah, which has been unoccupied since early this year, for RM1.9m to an individual. The disposal of the 0.806ha-acre land includes a single-storey leaf store with an attached double-storey office, one single-storey tobacco store and one single agriculture inputs (fertiliser) store. Proceeds from the disposal will be used for working capital. (BT)

AKN Technology, a provider of manufacturing and advanced technology products and services to the semiconductor industry, hopes its financial position will strengthen by 2HFY6/10. CEO Zakaria Merican said the group would now focus on its recovery plan. Zakaria also said the group had proposed to be involved in the manufacturing and trading of gloves and rubber products via the proposed acquisition of Nobel Gloves Sdn Bhd but the application was rejected by the Securities Commission, which among others, required the group to address the Regularisation Plan. (Bernama)

Rail would be a good option to help Malaysia increase public transport usage among its population from less than 16% to 25% by 2012, says Scomi Engineering SVP Mike Dickinson. Aware that rail investments need massive capital outlay, he said the government can ease such financial burden and associated risks by teaming up with companies under the public-private partnership or 3P. (BT)

QL Resources says it may be ready to build the first commercial scale biomass power plant on new technology it developed in the next FYE3/11. "We are going to build at least one plant. This will be the first of its kind. Nobody has done it on a commercial scale before," MD Chia Song Kun said. (BT)

New mobile operator XOX Com Sdn Bhd (XOX Com) is confident of reaching 1m subscribers by end-2010 from the 100,000 currently, said president, Ng Kok Heng. He also said that the introduction of postpaid and mobile internet services in two months will further support XOX Com's efforts to achieve the subscriber target. Ng said XOX Com is also planning to increase its dealer network to 10,000 nationwide by mid-2010 from the 7,500 currently to support the growing subscriber base. (Bernama)