20100315 0946 Malaysia Corporate News.

Three top officials of Maybank have submitted their resignation, say sources. “The resignations were announced on last Friday at an internal meeting,” says a source. The three are believed to be Maybank Investment Bank’s (Maybank IB) CEO Mohammed Rashdan Yusof, chief credit officer Jamaludin Nasir and head of corporate banking Tracy Ong. Industry sources say the resignations were a coincidence and not coordinated. There are talks that Ong is one of the candidates for the post of CEO at Alliance Bank. (The Edge)

Sime Darby Property hopes to maintain its 28% profit margin for its current financial year, said MD Datuk Tunku Putra Badlishah. "The margin is among the best in the industry," he said, adding that lady luck has been with Sime Darby Property as all its launches have had good sales. "All our recent launches have been very successful, with 80% sales rate within three months of the launch," he said after unveiling its high-end property development in Ara Damansara named "Seri Pilmoor". (Bernama)

Expanding economies and rising population leading to a chronic shortage of oil and fats will continue to make Malaysia palm oil a highly sought after edible oil in the global arena. Although palm oil accounts for 34% of the global output of 160m tonnes oil and fats, it is still not enough to meet the high demand from importers, said Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) CEO Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron. He said the situation was made more acute by the fact that the only other major producers besides Malaysia was Indonesia followed by Argentina at a distant third to serve world oils and fats demand especially from the food sector. (Bernama)

Malaysia's palm oil has attained a high level branding internationally. This is not only as a top quality edible oil but also due to Malaysia's reliability in supplying to a global market that continues to face a severe shortage of oil and fats, a top industry official said. Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron, the CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), said Malaysia was recognised as a key supplier to food security globally. It includes, he added, some Muslim countries where food security is a major problem. (Bernama)

Soyoil is sold at a premium to palm oil owing to market-distorting agricultural subsidies given to US and European farmers by their governments, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC). It is not due to any inability of the Malaysian commodity to compete on the world stage, said MPOC CEO Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron. Yusof said it was difficult for palm oil to be at par with soyoil or other oils as these were being highly supported through their countries' subsidy systems. (Bernama)

Malaysian palm oil refineries should venture into more downstream value-added products to remain profitable, said Felda Vegetable Oil Products Sdn Bhd CEO Ismail Hasan. "It is important to produce and export more value-added products as it would help increase margins for refineries. "The prices of refined products do not move in tandem with the commodity's high price. "Therefore, with more value-added products produced such as margarine, soaps and cosmetics, refiners would be able to survive comfortably," he added. (Bernama)

The construction of a biomass power plant in Sabah will not be economically feasible and will have a negative impact on consumers if electricity tariffs soar. Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui said shortage of fuel resources like empty fruit bunches (EFB) would result in inconsistent output from the power plants. "To obtain 300 Megawatts of electricity, the biomass plants will annually need 6.6m tonnes of EFB as raw material to feed the plants. Chin said biomass was not the obvious choice for generating electricity, although there were three biomass plants in Sabah, with a combined capacity of 30 Megawatts, as power generation will be inconsistent because of irregular supply of raw materials. "Besides, building a small-scale biomass plant will require the installation of a new delivery line to supply electricity to the grid system. "This will not only be uneconomical but will also invite other problems," he added. (Bernama)

The first highly efficient and fuel-saving Frame 6FA gas turbine at the Ranhill Powertron II plant in Sabah has been commissioned by GE. Ranhill Power Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Norlian Abd Rahim said the 190 MW combined-cycle power plant will help Sabah meet its short-term energy needs and boost the region’s energy infrastructure. (BT)

Of the four mobile players in the country, DiGi.Com seems to have the least bandwidth, hence the company feels it should get more of the GSM 900 megahertz (MHz) spectrum so that it can reach out to a wider segment of the population. “We have a little bit of the 900MHz spectrum and we need more. The beauty of the 900MHz spectrum is that it is easier to have nationwide coverage with it, while with the 1,800MHz we can easily provide services in the city centre and that is why we need more of the 900MHz spectrum,’’ said DiGi chairman Sigve Brekke. The company is also one of four mobile players with a 1,800MHz, or 3G spectrum, which it got through a share-swap exercise with Time dotCom after failing to secure a spectrum directly from the Government.

• DiGi has only 4MHz of the 900MHz spectrum band while its rivals, Celcom Axiata and Maxis Communications, have 34MHz and 32MHz respectively. Celcom and Maxis got more spectrum as they had acquired other celcos. 
• Whether DiGi will get its wish is not known but telecommunications players are in constant dialogue with regulators over spectrum issues. (Starbiz)

DiGi's classified portal, mySimplifieds is teaming up with global online payment giant PayPal, and one of Malaysia's largest online payment system iPay88, to provide online payment convenience to Malaysians. "The agreement with these two well known online payment providers is an important step for mySimplifieds to make it easier for Malaysians to buy and sell online. (Bernama)

Hong Leong Bank (HLB) has launched its enhanced business online banking, called Hong Leong Online (Business), which sees account management functions such as current account, foreign currency accounts, loan accounts and fixed deposits balance inquiries being incorporated into it. (BT)

Bank Rakyat will open its ninth branch in Kedah in middle of this year, Bank Rakyat's Northern Region Head Mohd Azmir Mohd Nasurdin said. He said the branch in Kuala Nerang, which would also be the bank's 18th outlet in the Northern region, would provide banking convenience for local residents. (Bernama)

MASwings, which currently only serves the travel needs of Sabah and Sarawak, is banking on expanding its services to the BIMP EAGA region by October this year, said managing director Datuk Salleh Tabrani. (BIMP EAGA refers to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, East Asean Growth Area.) Some of the new routes being considered include Brunei, southern Philippines, and Kalimantan and Sulawesi in Indonesia. The move, it is hoped, will create a growth driver for the Malaysia Airline’s wholly owned and loss-making subsidiary. Some 75% of its routes under the Rural Air Services (RAS) are not commercially viable but are undertaken as a social obligation whereby the government subsidises the losses. (Star)

MISC has launched a dedicated liner feeder service to and fro Thailand, to capitalise on the growing demand for carriage of cargo within intra-Asia region, especially cargo from and to Thailand. MISC announced the introduction of a direct weekly liner shipping service called "Siam Singapore Shuttle Service" between ports of Bangkok and Singapore. A 500- TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) vessel will be deployed on the route, with a minimum of 60 reefer plugs that will present greater opportunity for MISC in the growing reefer market. The service commenced on March 8 with its inaugural voyage starting from Singapore. (BT)

China Shipping Container Lines Co Ltd (CSCL) will continue to make Westports Malaysia in Port Klang its mega transshipment hub in Southeast Asia. A Westports statement said Ma Zehua, CSCL vice-president, made the commitment to Westports' executive chairman Tan Sri G. Ghanalingam during a recent visit to the port. CSCL is Westports' second largest customer after French liner CMA CGM. (Bernama)

Scomi Group is scouting for investment opportunities in Egypt, especially in the transportation and oil industries and the manufacturing of trains and buses. Last week, a Scomi team led by chief executive officer Shah Hakim met with Egypt’s Investment Minister Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin to discuss cooperation in transport and logistics sectors. (BT)

Encorp announced a proposed renounceable rights issue of up to RM111.75m nominal value of five-year six per cent redeemable convertible secured loan stocks (RCSLS) at 100% of its nominal value together with up to 55.87m free detachable warrants.

• This is on the basis of two RM1 nominal value of RCSLS together with one warrant for every four existing shares of RM1 each in Encorp, the company said. 
• Encorp also announced a proposed placement of up to RM22.35m nominal value of RCSLS at 100% its nominal value together with up to 11.175m free detachable warrants to identified investors.
• It said proceeds amounting RM134.105m arising from the rights issue would be used for capital, project development and construction expenditures, finance working capital requirements and expenses related to the proposals. (Bernama)

Investigations into the financial irregularities in Maxbiz Corp Bhd's subsidiaries are expected to be completed in about four to five weeks, said its investigation adviser. Maxbiz, which is involved in commercial dyeing and knitting fabric, had last month appointed Ferrier Hodgson MH to conduct the probe into MKK Industries and Mayford Garments on missing assets and documents. Ferrier Hodgson partner Andrew Heng said the assets include machinery worth over RM40m at the two companies' garment and textile factories in Batu Pahat, Johor. Ferrier Hodgson is also investigating the transfer of Geahin Engineering's listing status to Maxbiz in 2004 and some missing documents. "We are going through the documents. There are some incomplete papers. We are trying to trace all the missing items," Heng added. (BT)