Former British Prime Minister Sir John Major commended Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for his candour and being straightforward with foreign fund managers here in outlining the state of the Malaysian economy and listening to their concerns.
- "Malaysia is in very good hands indeed, based on what the Malaysian Prime Minister has been telling foreign fund managers at the Credit Suisse Asian Investment conference here Tuesday and his commitment to change Malaysia into a truly developed economy," he said.
- Major, a special adviser to Credit Suisse, was addressing a dinner function hosted by CIMB and the financial services group where Najib was guest of honour after the highlevel conference which brought together some 100 top-notch regional fund managers.
- Najib had back-to-back meetings with fund managers as well as captains of industry and delivered a keynote address at a luncheon which was moderated by Major.
- Najib said he took cognizance of what changes fund managers wanted to see in the Malaysian capital market. The Prime Minister said that after intense deliberations with the fund managers, he had a good sense now of how they perceived Malaysia.
- He said it was crucial to make them understand why Malaysia needed to be more competitive, stronger economically and thereafter emerge as an attractive investment destination. "This is what the New Economic Model (NEM) is all about, which will set the future direction in terms of the economic transformation of Malaysia," he said.
- Najib said that the NEM, to be unveiled on March 30, should be nothing short of a transformation and should not be merely an incremental change. "I believe we should move right across the board so that there is a massive transformation of Malaysia in due course," he said.
- To this end, he called on foreign fund managers to invest in Malaysia for the long haul and expressed confidence that the country would emerge as an exciting prospect for them and the investors. (Bernama)
- It will target buying opportunities in South-east Asia, especially Indonesia and Singapore, as well as in China, India and the Middle East, Mr Azman said outside a Credit Suisse Group AG-sponsored conference.
- Khazanah currently makes 12% of its investments outside Malaysia, rising from zero five years ago. International operations of companies it has stakes in, such as the country's second-largest bank CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, will take the percentage to about 20%, he said.
- 'It's a gradual approach,' Mr Azman said. 'It will continue to rise.' Khazanah as 'a sovereign development fund' and its international investments will be more geographically focused because of the company's mandate, he said. (SBT)
The resignation of EON Capital's chairman Tan Sri Syed Anwar Jamalullail and Yeo Kar Peng is now official with the central bank's clearance. Bank Negara's has only approved only two out of four independent directors who resigned last week to leave.
- This is to meet Bank Negara Malaysia's ruling that at least a third of the company's board is made up of independent directors. Meanwhile, Datuk Dr Mohd Shahari Ahmad Jabar and Rodney Gordon Ward will stay, probably until the new independent directors recently appointed by EONCap's shareholders are approved by Bank Negara. It is understood that the central bank has left it to the four to decide who will stay for the moment, just to ensure a functional board at all times.
- In a separate statement, EONCap said it was unaware of any discussions concerning the sale of a stake in the company by any of its shareholders to a group of private investors from Abu Dhabi.(BT)
- "We decided on Sabah because we find that many foreigners are interested to buy properties there." The group is on track to meeting its RM1bn sales target for the year through several property developments in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor.
- We are on track to achieving our sales target, based on our performance in the first three months of this year during which we hit RM516m. That is 3x more than the RM170m sales achieved in the same period in 2009," Leong said.
- The group also plans to acquire at least 405ha in prime areas in Selangor and Johor Baru. "We have bought two pieces of land since the beginning of the year and are looking for more land to buy, especially in prime locations in Selangor." Mah Sing has a GDV and unbilled sales of RM6bn, which provides earnings visibility for about six to eight years. (BT)
- He said local construction-based professional services companies have also shown remarkable performance globally, whereby out of 361 firms registered with the ministry's Professional Services Development Corp, 109 have started to make inroads, being involved in 412 overseas projects. "Of these, 208 projects that the local professional service providers are involved in have been completed," he said. (BT)
Globetronics will spend between RM60-70m as part of plans to boost the group's presence in the global light-emitting diode (LED) market. The company is spending on technology investment, capacity expansion and research and development (R&D) this year.
- This is part of the company’s plans to boost its presence in the global light-emitting diode (LED) market, said CEO Heng Huck Lee. This is also in line with Malaysia's aim to replace all traditional light bulbs by 2014 to LED, compact fluorescent lamps and fluorescent tubes due to their energy-efficient and environment-friendly nature.
- Globetronics sees LED as its main source of growth, as it already supplies to the world's top five multinational light bulb companies. It ventured into LED in 2000 when it bought over ISO Technology S/B. Today, the LED business contributes about 20% of the group's revenue, or about RM100m a year, and it is slated to grow by 15% annually. By 2012, the global LED market is projected to reach a value of US$10bn with an average annual growth of between 20-25%. Countries such as Australia and Japan are already putting a ban on incandescent light bulb beginning this year. (BT)
- "Once finalised, it will take us about 15 to 18 months to set up our plant," he added. He said the plant would assemble CKD Volkswagen models for the local as well as the Asian markets. (Bernama)
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