20100322 1133 Malaysia Corporate News.

Selangor Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim is spearheading a move to rehabilitate and develop the Klang River with the objective of raising the state’s economic and tourism profile. The plan is part of Selangor’s stimulus package which was unveiled in 2009.

• The 120km river runs through Selangor and Kuala Lumpur and towards the Straits of Melaka. The project will be undertaken in sections, beginning with the 21km stretch towards Port Klang. This is a private funding initiative (PFI) where the rehabilitation and development cost will be borne by the private sector while the state government leads the project. 
• According to the state economic development arm, the river banks of the 80km stretch in Selangor have as much as RM50bn development potential, i.e. GDV over 12-20 years and could create 150k jobs. The project development masterplan is being fine-tuned. Physical works is expected to start in mid 2010. (Edge Weekly) Please refer to our QT for details and comments.

Tengku Datuk Ibrahim Petra Tengku Indra Petra had ceased to be Petra Perdana's CEO effective 19 Mar. He was ousted from his position as chairman and director of Petra Perdana in an EGM on 4 Feb, along with three others. (Star) Please refer to our note today for comments.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Perbadanan Pembangunan Pulau Pinang Telecommunication Services Sdn Bhd (PDC Telco) has signed a five-year agreement which will help in expanding broadband services.

• The agreement would also enable the telco structures under PDC Telco to be connected to the TM Wholesale Ethernet and High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) Transmission networks through high-speed fibre-optic technology. PDC Telco, which started operations in Jun-05, currently owns 28 telco structures. 
• This year, 45 structures will be constructed and these will be rented and shared among the telco companies and WiMAX operators. (Bernama)

Axiata Group has set an indicative price range of 3,000-3,300 rupiah (1 rupiah = RM0.03) per share of its stake in Indonesian unit PT XL Axiata through an international private placement. “The final selling price for the offer shares can only be determined after the completion of the bookbuilding exercise, which will commence on March 22 2010,” it said. (BT)

Sabah’s palm oil industry produces enough waste to generate up to 700MW of electricity, an American energy researcher said. Dr Daniel M Kammen said biomass power generation plants were economically feasible and logistically achievable via a four-project per year ramp-up programme.

• Meanwhile, Abdul Nasir, who represented Sabah Electricity (SESB), insisted that the biomass approach to generate power was not viable to generate 300MW of electricity need in the state’s east coast. (The Star)

YTL Power’s Wessex Water is expected to start work on rehabilitating the highly polluted Klang and Gombak River in Selangor and treating the water to make it safe for drinking at the latest by early 2011. The RM15bn project will span 15 years. Wessex Water will be working in the lower reaches of the Klang River, between Puchong and Shah Alam. Its portion of the project will cost RM400m-600m, depending on where the state government wants to locate the water treatment plant, among other considerations. (BT)

The Securities Commission (SC) had received some 30 applications from both local and foreign companies for IPOs as at March 15. According to issues and investment executive director Eugene Wong, the SC received two applications this year while the balance was brought forward from last year. (Starbiz)

Three more companies from China have been approved to be listed in Malaysia while another four are being considered, the Securities Commission (SC) said. "Three have been approved but yet to be listed, while another four are under consideration," the regulator's chairman Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar said.

• These were part of 11 initial public offering (IPO) applications that the SC received from foreign-based companies last year. Of the 11, one was rejected and another three were listed on Bursa Malaysia. The three listed were Xingquan International Sports, Multi Sports Holdings and Xidelang Holdings, which together raised funds totalling RM421.8m. 
• The SC ED for issues and investment Eugene Wong said companies from other countries have also shown interest to list here, but this would only happen gradually. "What we have to do is ensure that their regulatory framework is sufficient for our listing requirements. We have to be cautious about these things because investor rights have to be protected," he said.
• The SC received 30 IPO applications as at 15 Mar, two of which came in this year while the rest were rolled over from the end of last year, he said. (BT)

MISC is one of eight companies that have expressed interest in bidding for PT Pertamina’s first offshore LNG import terminal in West Java. Pertamina is looking at having a floating, storage and regasification unit (FSRU) up and running by September 2011. An FSRU is usually an older LNG vessel converted for regasifacation.

• The West Java FSRU of 3mtpa is being sought, and will be located some 15km offshore. LNG for the West Java FSRU is likely to come from the Bontang LNG plant, which operates on the Badak field in east Kalimantan. (The Edge Weekly)

Local contractors are going as far as Taiwan and China to buy steel bars in bulk because steel millers in the country have raised prices by 10% to RM2,200 a tonne. "Before Chinese New Year, steel bars were around RM2,000 per tonne. Now, they are RM2,200 per tonne because local steel millers have raised prices," said Master Builders Association Malaysia president Ng Kee Leen.

• At current prices set by local steel millers, Ng said it is much cheaper for contractors to import steel bars from neighbouring countries. "We've been importing steel bars since March 2009, but now we need to ship in more from bigger millers in Taiwan and China," he said. (BT)

Perdana ParkCity, a subsidiary of Samling group, has shortlisted seven companies, including one from Japan, to build a RM250m hospital in Desa ParkCity in Bukit Menjalara, Kuala Lumpur. They are Sunway Construction, Crest Builder Holdings, Putra Perdana Construction, UEM Construction, Bina Puri Construction, Ahmad Zaki Construction and Japanese construction giant Obayashi Corp.

• Sources familiar with the plan said that tenders for the 10-storey, 300-bed hospital, to be known as Sime Darby Medical Desa ParkCity, will close this Friday. "Perdana ParkCity will award the contract in April or May based on merits, technical expertise and track record. Construction will start by May or June, and be completed in 2012," one source said. (BT)

Road Builder, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of IJM Corp, has won a RM600m contract from Besraya (M) to build an extension of the Sungai Besi Expressway (Besraya) in Kuala Lumpur. Construction is expected to take 36 months. (BT)

The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (REHDA) has proposed that all housing developers in the country, contribute 0.25-0.5% of the value of their projects, to a fund to ensure the interest of buyers is protected. President, Datuk Ng Seing Liong, said the move is to assist house buyers in the event, a developer fails to complete their dream home or if a project is abandoned. The proposal paper on the fund is being finalised while a working paper on it was submitted to the government last July. (Bernama)

Unisem (M) expects revenue to grow 44% this year to RM1.5bn, bringing performance back to pre-crisis levels, as demand for semiconductor equipment recovers. Chairman and MD John Chia anticipate the Asia-Pacific region to be the biggest market for the semiconductor industry, with Western economies and India lending strong support. "We intend to employ another 300-400 workers to sustain our production needs and meet maximum capacity. What a difference a year has made as 2009 was a difficult year during which stringent cost-control measures were placed. But we managed to get through the rough patch," Chia said. (BT)

PLUS Expressways is eyeing more highway concessions in the Asia Pacific region as part of its expansion plans. MD Noorizah Abd Hamid said the company is in talks with several countries in the region to build new highways or upgrade and maintain existing facilities. She did not name them.

• "We have the potential to go abroad either to be an equity holder of a concession, (participate) on a JV basis or start from scratch by building a new highway altogether," she added. Noorizah cited Vietnam as a country with great potential due to its burgeoning population and surging economic growth. (BT)

CI Holdings' Permanis is confident it will not suffer the same fate as its rival F&N, which will be parting ways with The Coca-Cola Co, as Permanis’ business strategy is in line with that of its franchise partner PepsiCo. Permanis president and CEO Erwin Selvarajah said the relationship between the company and PepsiCo is strong as both share the same business direction in terms of product range. (Star)

The Port Klang Authority's (PKA) move to reduce the free storage period for full container load containers at Northport and Westports from five days to three, looks set to be delayed again, despite assurances to the contrary.

• On December 31 2009, PKA had issued a directive that it would go ahead with the implementation of the decision to reduce the period in which containers can be stored at Port Klang for free to 72 hours. A three-month grace period, which ends on March 31, however, was given to help players in the shipping industry prepare for the transition phase. One possibility being discussed is to have the free storage period shortened to 96 hours, rather than 72 hours. 
• The implementation of the new law has been postponed several times in the last eight years, following objections from some players in the shipping community in Port Klang who feel they were not quite ready yet. (BT)

Westports Malaysia charted a new record number of crane moves in one shift this month, with 734 moves per hour on the CSCL Pusan, belonging to China Shipping. The 9,600- TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) vessel was off-loaded by nine cranes, doing a total of 5,244 moves. The feat beat the previous record of 665 moves per hour set in 2008.

• "The productivity achieved over such a large volume of moves across the vessel continues to boost the port's status as the world's best five for productivity and a leading mega transshipment hub in the region," said Westports executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam in a statement. (BT)

Lexus Malaysia is targeting to sell 400 units of new Lexus vehicles this year compared with 305 units a year ago. President Kuah Kock Heng said that some 20% of the sales would come from the northern region. “We will set up a showroom in Johor Baru at the end of this year. Subsequently, we will study the market in East Malaysia,” he said. (Starbiz)

Century Logistics is reviewing its business model in Thailand, after charting some RM2m losses there. "We want to go slow in Thailand and not put too much hope there. The risk is too big," MD Steven Teow Choo Hing said. While Vietnam was another target market for expansion for its total logistics and supply chain management division, Teow said the group has held off its plans to enter the market in view of the inflationary issues there. (BT)

Goldis expects three-quarters of its GTower building in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, to be occupied by Jan-2011. The 30-storey office building has a built-up of 1.4m sq ft and over 800,000 sq ft in nett lettable area. "We have confirmed occupancy of 48%," Goldis' head of corporate investments Colin Ng said.

• The tenants, mostly from the oil and gas and MSC-status companies, moved into the building in late Jan-2010. The rental at GTower including service charge is RM7.50 psf. Ng, who expects return on investment to take 7-8 years, said that among GTower's pull factor is the leasing flexibility which enables tenants to rent for short or long term. (BT)