Time dotCom lines up RM339m acquisitions
Time dotCom plans to buy three companies in the telecommunications (telco) industry for RM339m in a bid to become a regional player. The three are Global Transit Communications (GTC) for RM106m, Global Transit Ltd (GTL) for RM105m and AIMS Group for RM128m. The acquisitions, for which it will pay RM90.9m in cash and the rest in new shares, are expected to be completed in six months, chief executive officer Afzal Abdul Rahim said at a briefing late yesterday. GTC is the region's leading wholesale Internet service and backhaul provider, while GTL owns 10% in the much-coveted trans-Pacific submarine cable, Unity North Cable System. AIMS Group, meanwhile, owns one of the region's leading network-neutral data centres. All three are profitable and are expected to enhance TdC's earnings immediately upon purchase. Meanwhile, TdC clarified that it isn't interested in applying for 4G spectrum. (BT)
MAS expects lucrative returns from Eastern hub
Malaysia Airlines expects its newly launched Eastern hub in Kota Kinabalu to contribute between RM60m and RM100m to net profit by June 2011. The hub will be developed over three stages from 15 Nov 2010 to 3 June 2011. A total of six aircraft, two new B737-800 and four B737-400 as well as 150 pilots and 250 cabin crew will be based in Kota Kinabalu by June 2011. Musa also announced the start of three weekly flights to Perth effective 15 Jan 2011. Yesterday also marked the new B737-800's inaugural flight to Haneda airport in Tokyo out of Kota Kinabalu. By June 2011, Kota Kinabalu will have daily flights to Taipei and Hong Kong, four weekly to Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Seoul, three weekly to Haneda and Perth and twice weekly services to Osaka. Kuching will also enjoy 25 weekly flights, up from 14 weekly, to Kota Kinabalu which facilitates access to these international destinations, making Sarawak more accessible to tourists and supporting Sarawak's economic growth programmes. (StarBiz)
Foreign interest continues to circle P&O
Pacific & Orient’s insurance business is believed to still be on the radar of other foreign parties despite Prudential Holdings dropping out of the acquisition talks for the local general insurer because both parties could not agree on the pricing. Sources say that one of the interested parties eyeing the insurance business is from the North Asian region. (Financial Daily)
Kencana clinches RM275m jobs
Kencana Petroleum’s wholly owned subsidiary Kencana HL has secured contracts worth RM275m from Sarawak Shell for the fabrication of compression modules and tie-in modifications. The contracts were one-off construction contracts and expected to be delivered within the first quarter of 2012, it told Bursa Malaysia yesterday. (StarBiz)
France’s Casino buying Carrefour Thai stores for US$1.2bn
France’s Casino is buying the Thai stores of rival Carrefour for 868m euros (US$1.2bn), including debt, to step up the challenge to Britain’s Tesco in the fast-growing South-Aast Asian country. Casino said yesterday the deal for 42 stores would help Big C Supercenter, in which it owns a 63% stake, to become co-market leader in Thailand, with an estimated turnover for 2010 of about 2.4bn euros. Bernstein analyst Chris Hogbin said the price, at about 1.2 times net sales, appeared a little high, although that would depend on the value of the real estate assets being acquired. He also said it suggested Tesco’s international businesses were not being valued highly enough by analysts. A source with knowledge of the matter said a deal to sell Carrefour’s assets in Malaysia and Singapore would take another two or three weeks. Bidders for these assets included Singapore’s Dairy Farm, which is backed by Jardine Mathseon Holdings Ltd, Tesco, Japan’s Aeon and Malaysian private equity fund Navis Capital, sources close to the matter had said. (Reuters)
CEO: TMC could turn around next year
TMC Life Sciences newly elected chief says the company could return to the black faster than previously anticipated, that is by next year, helped largely by higher contributions from foreign patients and new operations. When chief executive officer Lim Poon Thoo took over as head honcho of the medical group in September from Datuk Dr Colin Lee Soon Soo, he had said that TMC, which owns two hospitals and a few branch clinics nationwide, would return to the black by 2012. (StarBiz)
CIMB: CIMB Niaga to raise RM527m. PT Bank CIMB Niaga expects to raise 1.5t rupiah (about RM527m) via a rights issue of 1.4b shares at 1,065 rupiah (37.4 sen) per share next month. (Source: The Star)
Media Prima, YTL Comms: Hybrid TV gets content boost. YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms) will host RTM and Media Prima group channels on its hybrid television slated for launch in November 2011. The hybrid TV would cost RM1b to RM2b to roll out. (Source: The Star)
IPO: China firm Sozo Global to list on Bursa. Another China based company, Sozo Global Ltd, is expected to make a debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. Agro Treasures which is an outsourced fund initiated by Khazanah Nasional Bhd is the company's anchor investor, holding 10.4% equity stake in the food maker from northeast China's Shandong province. Sozo entered into an underwriting agreement with AmInvestment Bank Bhd and JF Apex Securities Bhd in conjunction for its IPO offer. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)
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