20100218 0955 Malaysia Corporate News.

Primus Pacific Partners, a key shareholder of EON Capital (EONCap), is hoping that the regulator will step in to declare invalid a special shareholder meeting planned next week to add directors to the board of the banking group. The 22 Feb meeting was planned by Singaporean businessman Rin Kei Mei, who exercised his rights as a shareholder with more than a tenth of EONCap to call for the meeting under the Companies Act.

• The meeting will seek to appoint eight new directors to the board of EONCap, but a financial industry observer has raised doubts about the meeting's validity since nobody can accept the role to be a financial institution director without Bank Negara Malaysia's prior written consent. 
• Chances of the eight proposed directors being approved by Bank Negara in the next few days before the EGM is also getting slimmer, especially since the process usually takes at least a month.
• Although getting a court injunction to block the meeting is still an option for Primus, it is understood that the fund wants to avoid a court action if possible and it is hoping that the central bank will step in instead. (BT)

Amid the turbulence in the boardroom of its parent company, EON Bank is looking optimistically to the future with a three-year transformation plan and new products such as bancassurance for its customers. Emphasising the need to move forward, EON Bank Bhd group CEO Michael Lor said the vision is to enter the bancassurance market and at the moment, there are ongoing talks with three potential partners on this. "We hope to make a positive announcement by the third quarter of this year," he said.

• "We are not in a hurry to merge. The journey we have embarked on with regards to the transformation aspirations will keep us busy over the next three years," said Lor. "The Hong Leong Bank proposal has caused a certain amount of distraction to both employees and the operations of EON Bank. But, the impact has not been significant," he said. (BT, Bernama)

At least three of the potential buyers of Dubai Group's 30.5% stake in Bank Islam are said to be from the Middle East. There are "six to seven" foreign financial institutions interested in buying Dubai Group LLC's 30.5% stake in the country's oldest Islamic bank, Bank Islam Malaysia, sources say. Investment bank Rothschild, hired by the Middle Eastern group to find potential buyers, is currently going through Bank Islam's books.

• "The due diligence is ongoing," one of the sources said, adding that the potential sale is still at a relatively early stage given that the interested parties themselves have yet to conduct a separate due diligence on the Islamic lender. "I would think a deal will probably happen only sometime in Jun or Jul this year," another source said. 
• At least three of the potential buyers are said to be from the Middle East. Qatar Bank and Saudi National Commercial Bank are among names speculated to be interested, although this could not be confirmed as at press time.
• Ultimately, Bank Islam will get to have a say in which party buys the stake, according to the sources. While not averse to getting a strong banking partner with deep pockets from the Middle East, it may prefer to rope in a conventional banking partner from the West that wants to delve into Islamic banking. "That way, both parties can bring something to the table. Each can add value to the other," one of the sources said. (BT)

PT Bank CIMB Niaga (CIMB Niaga) has posted a 131% jump in its net profit for FY12/09 to 1.6tr rupiah (RM580.7m) from 678.2bn rupiah (RM246.1m) in the previous corresponding period. The higher net profit achieved by its Indonesian unit was due to an increase in net interest income and fee income, as well as improvement in cost efficiency.

• The bank’s total assets as at 31 Dec 09 reached 107.1tr rupiah, up 4% from 103.2tr rupiah previously. It maintained its position as the fifth largest bank in Indonesia in terms of assets, CIMB Group said. 
• It added that total loans rose 11% to 82.8tr rupiah at 31 Dec 09 compared with the previous year despite the challenging business environment brought about by the global financial crisis.
• This can be witnessed from the profitability of the bank’s continuing business activities as well as in its success in consolidating the merged operations of CIMB Niaga and ex- LippoBank into a single unified bank. The bank’s financial ratios in 2009 improved, where ROA was 2.1% from 1.1%, ROE was 16.2% from 8.1%, and cost to income ratio from 58.5% (2008) to 49% (2009),” CIMB Niaga president director Arwin Rasyid said.
• CIMB Niaga said as part of the bank’s effort to ensure wider distribution to its customers, it had added 36 automated teller machines (ATMs) last year. Total ATM network for CIMB Niaga reached 1,271 at the end of 2009 compared with 1,235 in Dec 08. The bank’s distribution channels are supported by 659 branches and 224 self-service terminal network, which provides customers with an instant access to diverse range of services and financial information. (StarBiz)

AirAsia is offering a 20% price slash for all seats, to all destinations for a limited four days from 18-21 February 2010 for the travel period from 23 March – 31 May 2010. (Press release)

AirAsia X needs to win rights to fly to high traffic destinations such as Seoul and Sydney because it is crucial for its long-haul business model. “We are committing huge amount of capital - and we do need the routes," said chief executive Azran Osman-Rani. AirAsia X has equal share of profitable and non-profitable routes now.

• "Taipei exceeded our expectations, in barely six months it broke even. London, for example, will probably need between 12 and 18 months," Azran said. 
• In July last year, it was reported that the government was putting the award of rights for Seoul and Sydney to AirAsia X on hold, in a move to get its sister company AirAsia to pay around RM110m owed to government-linked company Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd for services rendered.
• After settling the bill late last year, however, it is understood that the rights are further delayed by a need to appease the national carrier, Malaysia Airlines. (BT)

The state government, through Sarawak Energy, is now carrying out technical studies on five proposed hydroelectricity dams with a combined generation capacity of 6,000 MW. Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the dams were Baleh (1,400MW), Pelagus (410MW), Baram (1,200MW), Limbang (245MW) and Lawas (1,000MW). "Apart from hydroelectricity, Sarawak is also focusing on coal-fired power plants to generate power for the state as well as for export," he said. He said two other hydroelectricity dams, the 944MW Murum Dam and the 2,400MW Bakun, would start operations in 2013 and at end of this year respectively. (Bernama)

MISC’s rights shares sale exercise was oversubscribed by 32.2%, with total applications received amounting to RM6.88bn against RM5.2bn worth of rights shares made available for subscription. MISC had, on Nov 23 last year, announced the plan to raise fresh funds by selling 744m rights shares at RM7 each. Proceeds from the exercise will be used for capital expenditure. Petroliam Nasional Bhd, which owns a 62.27% stake in MISC, had given its undertaking to fully subscribe to the rights issue. Other major shareholders of MISC are the Employees Provident Fund (11.1%) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (8.4%) through its various unit trust schemes. (Star)

The Malaysian Rubber Board has appointed Dr Salmiah Ahmad as director-general from February 9 2010. Salmiah, who is the first ever woman to hold the top post, replaces Datuk Dr Kamarul Baharain Basir who retired on February 6 2010. (BT)

KFC Holdings has re-organised its group structure with the transfer of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ayamazz Sdn Bhd, from Ayamas Food Corp Sdn Bhd to KFC Marketing Sdn Bhd, the marketing and distribution arm of Ayamas Malaysia. (BMSB)

DiGi.Com will spend at least RM350m to expand its mobile broadband coverage, said its chief executive officer Johan Dennelind. The company, which launched its mobile broadband services in April last year, has invested about RM400m to expand its highspeed wireless Internet network. So far, 29% of the population have access to its thirdgeneration (3G) and mobile broadband services. It wants to cover more than 60% in five years. (BT)

Axiata's Indonesian subsidiary, XL Axiata said it expected to overtake rival Indosat, as the second largest mobile phone operator in Indonesia driven by strong subscriber and revenue growth. XL Axiata's president director Hasnul Suhaimi said that dividend payments were likely to resume this year, following a return to profit in 2009, while any decision on increasing the free float was up to the shareholders. (Reuters)