Wednesday, January 19, 2011

20110119 0942 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

Axiata, DiGi: To save RM2.2b with network deal. Celcom Axiata Bhd and DiGi Telecommunication Sdn Bhd have signed a Network Collaboration Agreement. The scope of the tie-up will initially focus on the sharing of telecommunication sites, access transmission (microwave links), aggregation transmission and trunk fibre transmission. Full realization of cash savings is estimated to be about RM2.2b over 10 years. They expect to see incremental savings as early as 2012 and gradually ramping up to an average annual savings of RM150m to RM250m after 2015. (Source: Bursa Malaysia)

Proton: Seeks RM2.35b funding to revive Lotus. Proton Holdings Bhd is in talks with CIMB Bank and several others to secure loans and investments totaling GBP480m (RM2.35b) needed to turn around Group Lotus. The funds will mainly come from loans and the rest will be from Proton's additional investments and revenue from Group Lotus. (Source: The Star)

Jetson: Buys lands in Penang for Rm14m. Kumpulan Jetson Berhad's 51% owned subsidiary, Jetson Development Sdn Bhd has acquired 48,290 sq ft of lands in Penang for RM14m from Malaysian Building Society Bhd (MBSB). The three pieces of land are located in Georgetown. (Source: Bursa Malaysia)

Property: Transactions may hit RM100b. A total of 342,179 property transactions worth RM96.8b were recorded between January and November last year, which means the full year's transactions could reach the RM100b mark. This is the first time transactions value has reached this figure. (Source: The Star)

Manufacturing: To attract over RM50b. Malaysia expects investments in the manufacturing sector to surge to more than RM50b this year. The manufacturing sector, which was the fastest growing sector last year, attracted RM47.2b in approved investments in 910 projects, a 44.8% jump compared with RM32.6b received in 2009. The US was the largest source with investments totaling RM11.7b, mainly in electrical and electronics (E&E), machinery and equipment and scientific and measuring equipment. Other top investors were Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Germany. (Source: Business Times)

AirAsia: Introduces fly-thru service. AirAsia introduces "Fly-Thru" service for its guests on multiple-flight travel from Thailand to perform a single check-in for their original and connecting flights right through to their final airport of destination. Fly-Thru is available to guests traveling on selected AirAsia (short-haul) and all AirAsia X (long-haul) flights transiting through Kuala Lumpur. Guest could connect to their next flight to their intended destination without the need for immigration clearance or a transit visa in Malaysia. (Source: Bernama)

Malaysian Smelting: Expects SGX listing soon. Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd (MSC) expects its proposed secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) main board to take place before the end of this month. This will make MSC dual-listed on both Bursa Malaysia and SGX. The size of the IPO is between 12.5m and 25m new MSC shares, with an expected gross proceeds of RM100m. (Source: The Star)

LTAT: Declares 14% dividend and bonus. The Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) has declared a 14% dividend and bonus for 2010 with a total payout of RM616.3m, 7.2% higher than the RM575.2m paid in 2009. LTAT registered a total income of RM747.5m in 2010, which was not only the highest recorded since the fund's establishment 38 years ago, but was also 34.7% higher than 2009's income of RM554.7m. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

O&G: Petronas' multi-billion ringgit job award likely by end of the month. Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is expected to award multi-billion ringgit contracts for the development of marginal oil fields by the end of this month to several consortia comprising local and foreign companies. Petronas will unveil a new business model on the development of the marginal oil fields and possibly, more incentives for the industry. (Source: The Star)

Plantation: Local refiners snap up cheaper Indonesian palm oil. Malaysian refiners are snapping up more Indonesian crude palm oil, taking advantage of its widening discount to local production. Indonesian crude palm oil for February delivery was trading at RM3,690 per tonne, some RM60 lower than in Malaysia despite dealers pricing in a possible Indonesian government move to raise export taxes next month. Indonesia is likely to raise export taxes to 25% in February from 20% currently. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

Bursa, Thai bourse to start cross-trades by year-end
Malaysia and Thailand will start cross-trading of shares by year-end as part of a plan to make Southeast Asian markets more accessible and spur trading, Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff said. Singapore, followed by the Philippines, will be next to join the drive to link the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Yusli said yesterday. The bourses aim to promote investment in a region with "one of the highest savings rates in the world", Veerathai Santiprabhob, Stock Exchange of Thailand's chief strategy officer, said by phone. (BT)

Khazanah portfolio value surges
Khazanah Nasional's investment portfolio value rose to a record high of nearly RM113bn last year, helped by rising asset values and stable and careful debt-positioning. Khazanah Nasional saw the value of its investment portfolio rising by about RM21bn to an all-time high of nearly RM113bn last year, helped by rising asset values and stable and careful debt-positioning. The government's investment arm will remain cautious in its investments in 2011. Its realised asset value (RAV) grew by 23.5% year-on-year to RM112.6bn for 2010 while RAV less total liabilities stood at RM75bn. Khazanah invested almost as much as it earned in 2010, with a total of RM6.5bn investment in 12 transactions and RM6.2bn realised through the divestment of its holdings through seven transactions. It made gains of about RM3.5bn through its divestment activities last year. (BT)

Bids for Pos stake selloff
Khazanah Nasional will call for bids to buy its stake in Pos Malaysia this week, as part of what it calls the second stage of its divestment plan of the postal firm. Khazanah owns 32.2% of Pos Malaysia. Its managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said the first stage of the divestment plan was about ironing out regulatory issues such as the postage stamp hike and salary of postmen that were necessary to start the bidding process. Khazanah is giving bidders about a month to get back to it with proposals. "The next milestone would be the Postal Bill. Hopefully it will go through in the next Dewan Rakyat sitting," Azman said. (BT)

Proton to seal £480m Lotus funding soon
Proton Holdings will finalise plans to raise as much as £480m (RM2.34bn) to fund the turnaround plan for its unit Group Lotus plc in as early as February. The funds will mainly come from loans and the rest will be from Proton's additional investments and revenue from Group Lotus, a sports carmaker based in Norwich, the UK. It is understood that CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Seri Nazir Razak met with Proton's board of directors at Group Lotus headquarters in Hethel, Norwich, although it is unclear what was discussed. Under its five-year turnaround plan, Group Lotus plans to more than double its production to some 8,000 cars a year after 2014 by launching five new models. Proton also expects Group Lotus to be profitable and contributing a significant chunk to its net profit by the end of 2014. (BT)

KPJ unit to acquire medical centres in Sibu
KPJ Healthcare‘s wholly-owned Kumpulan Perubatan (Johor) SB (KPJSB) is buying a 100% stake in Sibu Medical Centre Corp SB (SMCC) and Sibu Geriatric Health & Nursing Centre SB (SGHNC). KPJSB will pay RM26.9m for SMCC and RM1.24m for SGHNC. (BT)

PBA to cooperate with Indonesian water body
PBA Holdings’ wholly-owned subsidiary, PBA Resources SB (PBAR), and Persatuan Perusahaan Air Minum Seluruh Indonesia PERPAMSI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate in educational and training programmes related to water services industry. Under the proposed cooperation, which is for two years, PERPAMSI will organise, promote and market the Water Management Certified Programme on behalf of PBAR to the relevant parties within the industry in Indonesia. (BT)

Puncak seeks clarification from Selangor
Puncak Niaga Holdings (PNHB) is seeking clarification from the Selangor government on certain terms with regard to the latter’s offer for its water assets. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Puncak Niaga (M) SB (PNSB) and 70%-owned unit, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor SB (Syabas) have yet to receive any confirmation and/or clarification from the Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporated) (MBI) on certain terms of the offer documents received by both companies on 7 Jan. (FinancialDaily)

KNM gets 4-year loan extension
KNM Group has received another four years’ extension until 21 Feb 2015 for its term loan facility secured from Malayan Banking (Maybank). The loan’s principal balance outstanding as at 7 Jan 2011 was at RM351.33m. The term loan was for the purpose of refinancing the bridging loan that was secured for the high-profile acquisition of German-based Borsig BmbH, which was completed on 6 June, 2008. (FinancialDaily)

Dayang fixes rights issue at RM1.10
Dayang Enterprise Holdings (DEBH) has fixed the issue price for its rights shares at RM1.10 per rights share,, which is a 63% discount to its closing price of RM2.97 yesterday. The issue price represents about 49.21% discount to the theoretical ex-all price of RM2.1656 per Dayang share. (FinancialDaily)

SP Setia secures prime land in Bangsar, announces RM1.1bn fund raising
 SP Setia announced a fundraising exercise via a proposed placement of 15% of new shares to be done via bookbuilding that could easily raise RM1.1bn. It had received an approval-in-principle from the Prime Minister’s Department to talk over terms for the proposed development of a new integrated health and research complex for the Ministry of Health in Setia Alam. In return, SP Setia’s 50% subsidiary, Sentosa Jitra SB, gets 40 acres of prime land along Jalan Bangsar where the present facilities belonging to the health ministry are located. (Financial Daily)

PLUS bins Jelas Ulung’s takeover offer
PLUS will not consider Jelas Ulung SB’s takeover offer after it failed to meet several conditions set earlier. It is understood that Jelas Ulung was not able to cough up the RM50m deposit and a letter from the financier on its ability to complete the transaction. PLUS has accepted UEM Group and EPF’s joint bid. (The Malaysian Reserve)

Hing Yiap receives bid from major shareholder
Hing Yiap has received an unconditional takeover offer from its largest shareholder at RM1.50 a share. The shareholder, Everest Hectare SB, bought a 50.5% stake in Hing Yiap yesterday from some of the group's directors for RM31.3m or RM1.50 a share. Everest, which is partly owned by Ng Chin Huat, managing director of another garment maker, Asia Brands Corp Bhd, ultimately aims to maintain Hing Yiap's listed status. (BT)

Axis REIT to sell Port Klang complex
Axis REIT hopes to complete the sale of an industrial complex in Port Klang for RM14.5m by the end of June this year. It will make a net gain of RM0.8m from the sale to Freight Management. (BT)

QL places out 20.8m new shares at RM5.60 each
QL Resources has completed the bookbuilding exercise for the offering of 20.8m new shares pursuant to its private placement exercise, which is estimated to raise some RM116.6m. The issue price has been fixed at RM5.60 per share, which is a 3% discount to its closing price of RM5.76 yesterday. (StarBiz)

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