20091230 1028 Malaysia Corporate News.

Malaysia’s CPO prices are expected to stabilise at RM2,300-RM2,700/MT next year, supported by steady global demand, lower supply and new advances in oleochemicals research. MPOB chairman Datuk Sabri Ahmad said 2010 will be a good year for CPO prices as output is not expected to be as good as this year due to tree stress, pricey fertiliser as well as robust demand from the US. Palm oil production is expected to touch 17m-17.5m MT this year compared with 17m MT last year. (BT)

The board of EON Capital is expected to meet tomorrow to decide if it wants to be engaged in a takeover talk with Hong Leong Bank (HLB), sources said. EON Cap's seven-member board must now decide because it will also need the central bank's approval if it wants to talk to HLB, industry sources said. Primus, EON Cap’s major shareholder with a 20% stake, can potentially block the deal by voting against the decision to discuss with HLB. Yet, sources said the Hong Kong-based fund may have to let HLB present its offer and allow shareholders to decide. (BT)

Primus Pacific Partners Ltd, the major shareholder of EON Capital (EON Cap), is said to have made a last minute attempt to mount a counter bid to Hong Leong Bank’s proposed  takeover. However, sources indicated that Primus’ invitation to Temasek Holdings was not likely to materialise as Temasek had declined the offer for a joint bid. Temasek is widely known to be deliberate and not ad-hoc in its decisions. It already has a 29.3% stake in the Alliance Bank and may want to tread carefully if it wants to enlarge that footprint. (Starbiz)

CIMB Islamic Bank has listed a RM2bn Islamic bond programme on Bursa Malaysia to promote the growth of Islamic finance in the country. This makes it the first ringgit sukuk to be listed on the local bourse. "The listing of our Islamic sub-debt on Bursa further strengthens our commitment to the development of the Islamic finance industry, in this case, the Islamic debt capital market," CIMB Islamic CEO Badlisyah Abdul Ghani said. 

• Bursa registered its first sukuk listings by Petroliam Nasional and Cagamas MBS in Aug this year, followed by GE Capital's US$500m (RM1.7bn) sukuk listing in Nov. (BT)

DRB-Hicom and General Motors have mutually agreed to discontinue their two-year-old joint venture to import and distribute Chevrolet vehicles in Malaysia, effective 1 Jan next year. No reasons were given for ending the partnership. (BT)

Perodua is confident that its car sales will not be affected following the implementation of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) in Jan. Its MD Datuk Syed Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar said based on the present situation, orders for its latest model, the Alza, have reached 15,000 units this month. "More than 50% of Malaysians have an income of less than RM3,000 monthly. Even with the implementation of the Afta, I do not expect the price of a foreign car to fall, as its manufacturing cost is increasing. Apart from that, local cars are still able to fulfill local consumers' preference," he said. (Bernama)

Linear Corp has won a RM1.7bn project from Global Investment Group Inc of Seychelles to build a district cooling plant in Manjung, Perak for the King Dome project. Linear will start work on the project 24 months from the approval of the development plan by the Manjung District Council. (BT)

Green Packet has fixed the issue price of its proposed private placement of 59.75m shares at RM1.15 per share. The issue price represented a discount of 5.57% to the weighted average market price of RM1.2178 from 21 Dec to 28 Dec. (Financial Daily)

Parkson’s six department stores in Vietnam posted the fastest sales growth this year, jumping 30% compared with 10% in China and 15% in Malaysia, the Saigon Times Daily reported. Parkson plans to open three more department stores in Vietnam next year. (Bloomberg, Financial Daily)

Ta Ann Holdings’ unit, Multi Maximum, will buy plantation firm Europalm for RM20.5m. Europalm owns 1,500ha of plantation land at Jemoreng Land, Sarawak, and has been awarded another 1,113ha at Seredeng Land. (BT)

Handal Resources has bagged a RM17.5m contract from Petronas Lubricants International for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of 22 new storage tanks for the Malacca lube blending plant capacity improvement project. Work will start in early Jan 10 for 14 months. (BT)

YNH Property plans to launch two luxury projects, Fraser Residence in Jalan Sultan Ismail and Kiara 163 in Mont'Kiara, which are worth a combined RM1.6bn, next year. Its head of corporate services, Daniel Chan, said the company was optimistic of good response, given the product offering and location. (BT)

Hiap Teck Venture has entered into a share sale agreement with Datuk Law Tien Seng, Lau Chin An and Lee Ching Kion for the proposed acquisition of a 55% stake in Eastern  Steel for RM110m. The purchase is to be funded via internally generated funds. The proposed acquisition will enable Hiap Teck to become an integrated player in both upstream and downstream operations in the local steel industry. (Bernama)

Technodex, a software developer, plans to move its shares to the Main Market next year to woo more investors. MD and CEO Nigel Lee Siew Tat said Technodex is in the midst of processing the application. "This would also enable us to attract bigger market players and help us raise more funds. It is a normal thing to do for such growing companies," he said. Technodex aims to register a 20% increase in revenue and profit for FYE6/10, largely to be driven by its online business community. (BT)

Majuperak Holdings has sold several parcels of industrial land and buildings in Penang to Alliance Contract Manufacturing for RM13m cash to pare debt and pay retrenchment benefits. (BT)

Seacera Tiles has proposed a private placement of up to 5.3m shares representing 10% of its existing paid-up capital. (Financial Daily)

Pan Malaysia Capital’s failed bid to convert its universal broker (UB) status to a standalone investment bank (IB) was due to the firm’s failure to comply with the prerequisite conditions outlined under the stockbroking consolidation plan introduced almost four years ago. A source said the only route now for stockbrokers to become an IB is to acquire an existing IB status player. (Starbiz)

Ho Hup Construction had instructed an independent firm to conduct a valuation of the parcels of land it planned to dispose. It said the market value for the first plot of land in Balakong was valued at RM30 psf while the parcel of land at Bukit Jalil was valued at RM50 psf. With the disposal of the lands, Ho Hup is expected to realise an estimated gain of RM9m. It was reported that there was a growing rift between the company’s management and a major shareholder over the valuation of the two plots of land. (Starbiz)