20100915 Malaysia Corporate News.

ACE buying Jerneh unit for RM654m
US-based ACE INA International Holdings Ltd, a member of the ACE group of companies, is buying Jerneh Asia's general insurance outfit for RM654m cash. The Finance Ministry has given the nod to Jerneh Asia and Paramount Corp to dispose of their respective 80% and 20% stakes in Jerneh Insurance (M) to ACE INA. Both the sellers made separate filings on the sale to Bursa Malaysia yesterday. ACE and the sellers are expected to execute a definitive agreement shortly. ACE already has a presence in Malaysia through its 51% stake in local general insurer ACE Synergy Insurance. Advance Synergy Capital holds the remaining 49%. (BT)

Genting Malaysia gets final nod for NY racino
Genting Malaysia (GenM)’s wholly owned subsidiary, Genting New York LLC (Genting NY), has cleared the final hurdle to develop and operate a video lottery facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York following the green light given by the New York State Controller. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, GenM said the Office of the New York State Controller had on Monday announced its approval for Genting NY to be selected as the developer and operator of the video lottery facility. The company said that upon the receiving the memorandum of understanding from the state of New York, Genting NY would pay the upfront licensing fee of USD380m to the state within 10 business days. (Financial Daily)

Gamuda to replace Tanjong on FBM KLCI
Gamuda will replace Tanjong plc on the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) from 20 Sept. Bursa Malaysia said in a statement that following the unconditional takeover announcement on Tanjong plc by Tanjong Capital SB, the former (Tanjong plc) would be deleted from the index and that Gamuda would be added to the index with shares in issue totalling 2.013bn and an investability weighting of 100%. The stock exchange said with the inclusion of Gamuda in the FBM KLCI, the company would be deleted from the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Mid 70 Index and replaced by TA Global. (StarBiz)

Hock Seng Lee bags Sarawak job
Hock Seng Lee (HSL) has won a RM83.30m job from Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp to build road, drainage, electrical & telecommunication infrastructure at the Tanjung Manis palm oil industrial cluster in Sarawak. In its filing to the stock exchange, HSL said the work is scheduled to complete by October 2012. (BT)

Guan Eng confirm Boustead’s land reclamation deal
Penang’s Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng confirmed reports by The Edge Financial Daily that Boustead Holdings would be allowed to reclaim land as part of a compensation for having to scale down its Royal Bintang Hotel project from 12 floors to five. The reclamation is part of the compensation for Boustead due to the hotel project having to scale down in accordance to Unesco requirements for naming George Town as A World Heritage Site. It is learnt that Boustead is planning to develop the reclaimed area into an integrated township with upscale housing and commercial components. (Financial Daily)

Mida evaluating 5 foreign carmakers for ops in Malaysia
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) is evaluating five foreign carmakers which have shown interest in setting up assembly and manufacturing facilities here. Mida director-general Datuk Jalilah Baba declined to name the companies, but said the agency has received a lot of interest from carmakers in India, China, Japan and South Korea. She added that the applications were to assemble and manufacture cars below and above 1,800cc. "Above 1,800cc is no problem, but below 1,800cc is a policy matter," she said. With the recent review of the National Automotive Policy, foreign carmakers can now wholly own facilities that produce luxury vehicles with an engine capacity of more than 1,800cc, and costs more than RM150,000 per unit. Mida is expected to make a decision on the entry of the carmakers, in the next few months. (BT)

Media Prima owns 97.86% of NSTP
Media Prima, the country's leading media group, said it now owns 97.86% of The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) (NSTP). The takeover offer finally closed at 5pm yesterday after numerous time extensions. (BT)
Khazanah: To collaborate with Apollo Hospitals. India's Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd is said to be in talks with Khazanah Nasional Bhd for possible collaborations in "healthcare delivery and medical education in India and the rest of Asia", according to wires reports yesterday. Khazanah already owns a 12.2% stake in Apollo, which it acquired in August 2005. Apollo is India's largest private hospital group. Khazanah also owns the International Medical University which is based in Bukit Jalil. (Source: The Star)

Manufacturing: RM16.6b manufacturing investments in Jan-July. MALAYSIA saw RM16.6b worth of approved direct investments in the manufacturing sector in the first 7 months of the year. Out of the amount, RM9.6b was foreign direct investment (FDI) and RM7b was domestic direct investment (DDI). Last year, Malaysia saw RM32.6b worth of investments, out of which RM22.1b was FDI and RM10.5b DDI. (Source: The Star)

MAS: To fly from Sabah to Perth, offers online booking for KL-Fukuoka, Nagoya. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will introduce three weekly non-stop flights from Perth to Kota Kinabalu from January 15 next year, complementing the 10 non-stop flights from Perth to Kuala Lumpur. Separately, MAS now offers easier online booking for passengers travelling from KL to or from Fukuoka and Nagoya in Japan. (Source: Business Times, The Star)

Plus: RAM reaffirms PLUS SPV's AA1 rating. RAM Rating Services Bhd has reaffirmed the AA1rating of PLUS SPV Bhd's issuance of up to a nominal value of RM2.8b under its RM4b sukuk musyarakah programme (2008/2026) with a stable outlook. RAM said given the strong credit link between PLUS SPV and PEB, the special vehicle's rating reflected PEB's credit risk. It said PEB possessed healthy debt-servicing ability as its company-level funds from operations debt coverage ratio came up to 0.55x as at end-December 2009. (Source: The Star)

SunCity: RAM upgrades SunCity's Murabahah commercial papers. RAM Ratings has upgraded Sunway City Bhd's (SunCity) RM500m short-term Murabahah commercial papers/medium-term notes programme from P2 to P1 and reaffirmed the long-term rating at A2, with a stable outlook. The upgrade was to reflect the significant improvement in SunCity's liquidity profile, pursuant to the successful listing of the Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on July 8, the ratings firm said in a statement. (Source: The Star)