Mudajaya Middle East Ltd, a 75% owned subsidiary of
Mudajaya has entered into an MOU with Modern Electro-Mechanical Projects Ltd (MEPCO) of Saudi Arabia, and Mr Mubarak Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Khafram, with the intention of setting up a specialist equipment procurement contracting company called Mudajaya Power and Water Ltd (MPWL). The purpose of the MOU is to allow MEPCO and Mr Mubarak to enter as active shareholders in MPWL. The MOU is valid for a period of six months. (BMSB)
This is a positive development but not a surprise. This move is in line with the group's strategy in exploring EPCC opportunities in Saudi Arabia.
Genting Singapore has issued a notice to the holders of its S$450m convertible bonds due 2012 for the mandatory conversion of the outstanding bonds into fully paid-up shares at the conversion price of S$0.95. As at 25 Jan, the outstanding Bonds amounted to S$321.1m. (SGX)
This mandatory conversion is not entirely surprising given that i) it satisfies the conditions of the conversion as stipulated in the terms of the bonds and ii) 40% of Genting Singapore’s proceeds from its S$1.5bn rights issue has been earmarked to repay borrowings. We estimate that this mandatory conversion will require about 9% of Genting Singapore’s estimated S$3.5bn post-rights cash balance. But the impact to net gearing is minimal.
Malaysia’s
rubber products export is expected to hit RM11.1bn this year with the bulk contributed by
rubber gloves, said Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council (MREPC) chief executive officer Datuk Teo Suat Cheng. Of the total exports, rubber gloves are expected to generate about RM7.7bn this year.
- “The outlook for rubber this year is expected to improve considerably especially with news of recovery in the global automotive sector coupled with the expected sterling performance of the rubber glove sector,” she said. In 2009, export of rubber products is expected to reach RM10.6bn with rubber gloves likely to exceed RM7.1bn and constituting about 67% of the total export value. (Starbiz)
Alliance Bank Malaysia has received CEO
Datuk Bridget Lai's response and the board will meet to discuss this matter further, says a spokesperson. Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd said its CEO Datuk Bridget Lai yesterday responded to questions raised by the board in its internal probe. The spokesperson, however, was unable to say when the board would meet or how long it might take to review Lai's response. Lai, when contacted, confirmed having sent the bank a letter with her replies yesterday. (BT)
CIMB Group Holdings has appointed Glenn Muhammad Surya Yusuf and Watanan Petersik as independent non-executive directors. Glenn is a prominent figure in the Indonesian corporate scene, with 28 years of experience in the corporate and financial sectors. Watanan is presently an independent director and chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of CIMB Thai Bank Public Co Ltd. (BT)
Sarawak State Economic Development Corp (SSEDC) and Borneo Resources Synergy Sdn Bhd (BRS) have agreed to jointly develop a RM40m swiftlet eco-park in Balingian, Mukah Division within the
Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy. BRS, a whollyowned subsidiary of property development and investment firm Masmeyer Holdings Sdn Bhd, has a 80% stake in the joint venture. SSEDC holds the balance 20%.
- Sited in a rural setting along the Mukah-Balingian coastal highway, the project will involve the development of 40 three-storey units and 15 three-storey bungalow units. “The project is targeted to be completed not later than 2012. Ideally, it is to be ready this year,” BRS director Choo Beng Kai said. (Starbiz)
Sime Darby Property, a unit of
Sime Darby Bhd plans to sign a joint-venture agreement with a local partner to develop an "integrated commercial project" in its Bukit Jelutong township in shah Alam. The company will sign the agreement today, it said without naming the partner. (Bloomberg)
Malaysia Airlines has received approval from shareholders for a proposed RM2.67bn one-for-one rights issue to finance fleet expansion priced at RM1.60 each, but does not rule out another fund-raising exercise.
- MAS has also signed an agreement with Airbus for 15 A330-300s (including 10 options) between 2011 and 2016. In addition, it will also buy six A380s and four bundled Boeings from Penerbangan Malaysia over the next two years. The rights exercise is expected to complete in 1Q10.
- Tengku Azmil said: "Based on our projection of all aircraft ordered, we do not need another rights issue either this year or next year. But we can't tell (for sure) ... the (airline) industry is very dynamic. Maybe there will be some other transactions that may require us to go back to shareholders. So, we cannot rule out further fund-raising exercise for other purposes." (SBT, BT)
AirAsia is set to announce six additional routes to India on the heels of a five-day state visit to India by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
- AirAsia currently flies to Tiruchirappalli, Trivandrum, Kolkata and Kochi, and claims a load factor of 82% for Kochi. Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai have been identified as cities on the carrier's radar.
- Two of the six additional routes are long haul, to be operated by AirAsia X. The additional routes would give South-east Asia's biggest budget carrier a total of 10 destinations to India from Malaysia.
- While its focus in the past few years has been on China where it has established over 200 daily flights, the carrier has now turned its attention to India. 'India is underserved and fares are expensive,' head of commercial Kathleen Tan said.
- Ms Tan believes that there is a very large VFR (visitors, friends, relatives) market to be tapped, owing to the fast expanding network of Indian small to medium companies as well as Indian professionals operating and working in the region. (SBT)
AirAsia hopes to boost its food and beverage revenue to RM48m this year, from RM38m achieved last year. It expects its latest tie-up with F&N Beverages Marketing Sdn Bhd, which allows the airline to sell 100PLUS and Coca-Cola on board its flights from Malaysia from February 1, to help meet this target.
- "We target to sell some 24,000 cans per month, and hopefully we can increase our drinks revenue this year by some 20%," AirAsia chairman Datuk Aziz Bakar said. The exclusive agreement is for a one-year duration with the option for the airline to renew it. The drinks will be sold for RM5 per can on flight. (BT)
Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) said it signed a preliminary agreement to provide technical services to GMR Hyderabad International Airport. The accord will allow Malaysia Airports to “further explore and venture in commercial opportunities with” GMR “particularly for the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad,” the company said. (Bloomberg, BT)
Malaysia's
timber products will use the "green lane" to the European market next year, in line with the implementation of the European Union's (EU) timber trade legislation, says the EU ambassador Vincent Piket. Malaysia is undertaking a bilateral voluntary partnership with the EU under its Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action plan to ensure that only licensed and certified timber enter the EU markets. Malaysian Timber Certification Council chairman Datuk Dr Freezailah Che Yeom said negotiations will come to an end possibly "within this quarter".
- Dr Freezailah, who is adviser to the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities on the negotiations with the EU, said the talks involve consultations between over 100 stakeholders, including industry players, the government and non-government organisations.
- "Some stakeholders feel that it (FLEGT) is too stringent at this point of time, while others feel it is not stringent enough."Malaysia has to strike a delicate balance but nonetheless, we have a strong commitment (to the plan) and where there is a will there is a way," he added. (BT)
The overall
IT services market in Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9% between 2009 and 2013, touching US$59.4bn by 2013. IDC Asia/Pacific Semiannual IT Services Tracker said with improved business sentiment and encouraging signs of economic recovery within the region, the IT services market looks set to regain its momentum to rebound at a forecasted 8.9% in 2010.
- Apart from the positive economic indicators, IDC attributes this growth to three other key drivers, namely adoption of new technologies, impact of stimulus packages, particularly in the network services space as Asian governments look to improve connectivity to remote areas and continued investment in outsourcing and managed services, particularly in growth markets such as India. (Bernama)
Time dotCom will next Tuesday officially launch its FTTH offering to retail users in Mont Kiara with transmission speeds of up to 50Mbps. The pricing is still being worked out, said a company source. This is the first FTTH commercial rollout even though Telekom Malaysia is conducting trials for its HSBB in several areas in Kuala Lumpur. TdC, which offers up to to 1Gbps, has more than 10,000 corporate/enterprise customers. (StarBiz)
A group of potential suitors, including state-owned investment agency
Khazanah Nasional, is said to have lined up for a stake in Singapore's
Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) to help realise the insurer's takaful ambition. Sources say Great Eastern was one of the front runners to secure one of two family takaful licences to be issued by Bank Negara soon.
- It was not clear how big a stake in Great Eastern Life would be up for sale, but it was believed to be up to 30%. A source in Great Eastern said that the insurer had been directed to look at several shareholding options.
- "We were asked to look for a new shareholder. We are evaluating several options now," he said. He said that if the company failed to find a shareholder, it might consider an initial public offering after obtaining a takaful licence. "Another option on the cards could be something that has not been done in the country before," the source said, without elaborating. (BT)
Khazanah Nasional has renewed the contract of managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar for another three years, effective June 1.The company said in a statement that the board had on Dec 7 decided to renew Azman’s contract to May 31, 2013. Azman assumed his current position on June 1, 2004. (Starbiz)
The completion of
MRCB's rights issue by the middle of next month will pave the way for the company to acquire some parcels of strategic land owned by the Federal Government in the Klang Valley, according to industry observers. It is understood that MRCB’s management recently reiterated its intention to acquire several plots of such land in the Klang Valley, including a 60-ha parcel in Jalan Cochrane and 8-12ha at Ampang Hilir. Industry observers believe the award of the Federal land deals will only be finalised in June during the tabling of the 10MP. (Star)
MK Land Holdings said its turnaround efforts were going smoothly as planned and that management remained solid. It was responding to a report in this newspaper last Saturday, which had said that its turnaround plan might have hit a bump as several senior officials were leaving. MK Land said it was "intensely moving ahead with its three-pronged approach", which entailed sales of properties, cost-control measures and a corporate exercise to strengthen its position.It added that there was no dispute within the MK Land management and that Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar was still leading its team of executives. (BT)
The PM has met with the three potential candidates to succeed Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican and a decision on the post of president and CEO at
Petronas would be made in the next few weeks. There is a good likelihood that an internal candidate may be picked among three names that are currently being talked about – Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas (former MISC MD who retired in Jan 09), Datuk Anuar Ahmad (Petronas Dagangan chairman) and Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin (former MD/CEO of Petronas Gas from 2003-2007). (Star)
DRB-Hicom said it is in a preliminary stage of exploratory discussions with Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka on the latter’s interest in Bank Muamalat. DRB-Hicom did not elaborate further, saying that any decisions thereto are subject to among others Bank Negara Malaysia’s approval. (BT)
YTL Corporation has set up a sub-subsidiary in China known as Shanghai YTL Hotels Management Co. Ltd (SYLHM). YTL Corp said SYLHM's principal nature of business was to provide hotel management services,hotel development and design advisory and other related services. The new entity is wholly owned by YTL Singapore Pte Ltd, which in turn YTL's Corp's wholly owned subsidiary. (Financial Daily)
Dayang Enterprise Holdings’s subsidiary, Dayang Enterprise Sdn Bhd, has won a RM8.5m job from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd. The job is for the hook up and commission of Tangga Barat Drilling Riser Platform (TBDR-A), Tangga Barat Flare Platform (TBFP-A) and Bridges for Tangga Barat Cluster Development Project Phase 1. (BT)
Berjaya Assets said its wholly-owned unit Berjaya Times Square Sdn Bhd has sold off some 6.73m shares of
Berjaya Corp for RM8.95m in the open market between December 31 last year and January 20 this year. The share disposal is roughly 0.18% cent of the total issued and paid-up share capital of Berjaya Corp, comprising 3.84bn shares of RM1.00 as at January 25 2010. “The gross proceeds from the disposal has been utilised to repay bank borrowings of Berjaya Times Square,” it told Bursa Malaysia yesterday. The disposal will result in a net gain of RM7.06m at the Berjaya Assets Group level. (BT)
Vastalux's Petronas license has been suspended. However, all existing projects awarded by Petronas and/or its subsidiaries are not affected and are on schedule. Vastalux is seeking for an immediate clarification from Petronas and has put forth an appeal for the reinstatement of the license. (BMSB)
mTouche wants to divest its stake in GMO Ltd - its associate company which was formed about four years ago. "We have been in talks with with various potential buyers from time to time," said mTouche CEO Eugene Goh. The mobile and television content business has been challenging in China lately, driven by the government's strict stance on televi-sion, mobile and Internet contents. "This has affected our business, especially GMO, as now, it takes longer time for the authorities to approve our products, such as mo bile contents," Goh explained. (BT)
