20110825 1046 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

Supermax Corp expects Asia to contribute up to 11% its total sales by 2012 from 6% right  now due to higher demand.  
• Supermax executive chairman and group MD Datuk Seri  Stanley Thai sees Libya,  Turkey and Egypt as future high-growth areas on top of other already emerging markets  such as China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.  
• On its expansion plans, Thai said it will decommission old production lines and replace  with 12 new production lines at one of its old plants in Meru, Klang to produce nitrile  gloves and surgical gloves by 4Q11. It will also build two new plants at existing facilities  in Meru to be completed by year-end.  
• Thai said natural rubber latex price is expected to hover at an average of RM7 per kg in  December, while nitrile latex price to remain at US$2,100 (RM6,237) per tonne level.  (BT)

Tenaga Nasional Bhd : Gas project to benefit TNB
The RM15.0bil gas exploration project in the North Malay Basin, to be undertaken by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and its production-sharing contract (PSC) partners will benefit a number of oil and gas companies as well as utility giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd. TNB, which would be a key customer, said that the gas curtailment exercise by Petronas had severely impacted its bottom line, prompting it to issue a warning on its profitability and dividend payment. The company has been facing prolonged gas shortage for months and is currently getting 30.0% less than it is supposed to, On average, TNB was getting about 900 million standard cu ft. per day (mmscfd), far from the usual rate of 1,250 mmscfd. Petronas said they are undertaking the project on an accelerated basis with their PSC partners and that first delivery of 100 mmscfd is expected by early 2012, ramping up to 250 mmscfd by 2015. – StarBiz

SapuraCrest,Kencana merger by 1Q next year
SapuraCrest Petroleum Berhad (SapuraCrest) and Kencana Petroleum Berhad (Kencana) expects their merger to take place by the first quarter of 2012. The RM11.9bil merger of the two companies will result in the world’s fifth largest oil and gas service provider, enabling it to compete with global oil majors for more complex, capital intensive projects. The companies’ boards of directors had recently established the Integration Committee, to be jointly chaired by SapuraCrest executive vice chairman and president Datuk Shahril Shamsuddin and Kencana group chief executive officer Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir. In a joint statement, they expressed their keen interest to explore the opportunities and dynamics as a merged entity via Integral Key Sdn Bhd (IKSB), the special purpose vehicle wholly-owned by Mayban Ventures Sdn Bhd. Under the cash and share swap deal also approved by both boards, IKSB will acquire all the assets and liabilities of SapuraCrest for a total consideration of RM5.9bil and Kencana for RM6.0bil. The companies expect to secure 75.0% approval from each of their shareholders at  extraordinary general meetings to be held by end-year. -The Edge

DiGi is waiting for the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC),  to make a concrete decision on the service tax for mobile prepaid services.  "To date,  there has not been any concrete statement from the MCMC. We are basically waiting for  it," DiGi's head of market operations and partnerships, Moharmustaqeem Mohammed said.
• The decision to pass on the six per cent service tax to mobile prepaid users by telcos  had been deferred from July 1 to Sept 1 after industry players met with the regulator.  
• Moharmustaqeem said its prepaid plan, Super Reload Social has received encouraging  response since its launch in June.  
• During this campaign customers who top-up would get RM15 worth of talktime credit,  free 250 DiGi to DiGi SMS, 101 DiGi to MMS and 100 Facebook or Twitter SMS.  (Bernama)    

The Terengganu state government, which owns a total of 67.24% stake in Eastern Pacific  Industrial Corp Bhd (EPIC), has offered to acquire the remaining 32.76% stake shares at  RM3.10/share. This is 17 sen above the last traded  price of RM2.93 before it was  suspended about midday on Wednesday, Aug 24.  
• It reached a 52-week high of RM2.97 on Tuesday. EPIC said on Wednesday it had  received the notice of unconditional takeover offer from Lembaga Tabung Amanah  Warisan Negeri Terengganu (LTAW) and its unit Pembinaan PTB Sdn Bhd (PPTB)  which own 22.55% or 37.60m shares.  
• LTAW and PPTB also announced to undertake a cash compensation to EPIC  shareholders who sold their shares between Dec 10, 2010 and on Aug 23, 2011. (Edge  Financial)  

Maybank is optimistic that the upcoming Indonesian ruling  on bank shareholding will not  be detrimental to foreign investors. “Furthermore, foreign banks only command less than  30% of the market compared with the more than 70% dominated by Indonesian banks,”  said Maybank president and CEO Datuk Seri Wahid Omar.  
• He expects some sort of flexibility to be given to foreign investors in Indonesia. In view of  the current economic uncertainties, Maybank has taken measures to increase its  medium-term funding for US dollars to prepare for market volatilities ahead, Wahid said.  (Starbiz)    

Petronas may start the proposed RM15bn North Malay Basin project this year if it wants  to make its first gas delivery by early 2013 as planned, an industry source said. "As  indicated, there will be nine fields with the first delivery of 100 mmscfd (million standard  cubic feet of gas per day) by early 2013.
• "It's difficult to say exactly when (the project will start) but most probably within this year.  There's just a few months left," the source said. On partners to develop the project, the  source said they are likely to be the existing PSC contractors of the nine discovered gas  fields.  
• A source said, “The gas will land at Petronas Gas Bhd’s onshore gas terminal in Kerteh  before being piped to its gas processing plants and then piped into the Peninsular Gas  Utilisation pipeline network for distribution to customers in the power and non-power  sector. (BT)  

The Australian Government will oppose a Liberal-National Party coalition-supported antitrade Private Member's Bill on  compulsory palm oil labelling as it would breach  Australia's obligations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Trade Minister Dr Craig  Emerson said the Bill passed the Senate following the personal intervention of coalition  leader Tony Abbott, who is widely tipped to be Australia's next prime minister. Both  Malaysia and Indonesia had warned they would take action against Australia at the WTO if  the Bill were passed. (Bernama, BT)  

Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) has teamed up with Puspakom to weed out  commercial and public vehicles that are not roadworthy. Malaysia has some one million  commercial and public vehicles plying the roads nationwide, of which some 7,000 vehicles  every month have missed their mandatory once-every-six-month annual inspections and  are not fit to be on the roads. SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Syd Jaafar Albar said  both parties will share information to track, record and take follow-up action on commercial  vehicles which fail to turn up for their mandatory Puspakom inspection. (BT)    

The government could start calling for bids to develop tracts of land after phase 1 of the  River of Life project in completed. Clean-up works are expected to commence early 2012.  The spin-off would be the redevelopment of select locations along the 10km stretch  including retail and residential properties.  
• KL Mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail said the project delivery partner (PDP), which is  Ekovest-MRCB JV, will be given incentives to manage and find buyers for the land. The PDP will get 2% of the land transaction's total value. This incentive is in addition to the  basic fees for the PDP to coordinate and river beautification works. Apart from the  RM1bn set aside for river beautification, the government has allocated RM3bn for river  cleaning. However, Tan Sri said the PDP will not be allowed to bid for government land  near the Klang River. (Financial Daily)    

The Malaysian Iron and Steel Industry Federation (MISIF) has lauded the Government's  decision to terminate investigations into the import of hot rolled coils (HRC). The industry  body said the decision was good for the healthy growth of the entire iron and steel industry  instead of benefiting one company. MISIF and Megasteel, the sole producer of HRC, were  at loggerheads over this issue, with the federation arguing that a hike in import duty would  negatively impact customers. (Starbiz)  

IJM Corp Bhd's order book may potentially hit RM9bn by FY-May 12 from the RM3.7bn it  has in hand now. The bulk of the increase will come from the RM5bn worth of new orders  for the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) extension and the West Coast Expressway, says  CEO Datuk Teh Kean Ming. The RM9bn order book will surpass IJM's record RM6.5bn set  in 2007.  
• Moving forward, IJM will focus on the domestic market as overseas business namely in  India, its key market, is economically more expensive. About 75% of IJM's projects are  from Malaysia and the balance, abroad. Its overseas projects are mostly in India.(BT)    

The Malaysian Ex-Servicemen Association says it hopes Esso Malaysia will be sold to  local parties as it is a strategic and valuable asset contributing to domestic economic  growth.
• LTAT is also keen to buy the equity in Esso Malaysia as its subsidiary,  Boustead  Holdings is involved in the downstream petroleum business. (Bernama)  

Kian Joo Can Factory (KJFC) is clear to carry out its proposed corporate exercises which  include a bonus issue and the issuance of warrants  after  Can-One International’s injunction was dismissed. (Financial Daily)  

SEG International (SEGi) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the  Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam (Molisa) on the collaboration  for technical and vocational training. (Financial Daily).  

Perodua has received 31,000 orders for its newly launched Myvi, said MD Datuk Aminar  Rashid Salleh. "We've already delivered 14,000 units while the rest will be handed to the  owners in phases," he said. About 8,000 new Myvis are delivered to the owners every  month. (Bernama)  

Former Sunway Holdings managing director Datuk Yau Kok Seng is joining Hong Leong  Group. He will be group MD of Hong Leong Industries Bhd (HLI) from Sept 5. (BT)  

Nadayu Properties aims to launch three projects worth a combined RM1.5bn in the Klang  Valley and Penang from next month to grow itself and build its branding. "We are upbeat  on the market. We plan to have a good following and grow the company's net profit and  revenue year-on-year. We do intend to return dividends to shareholders. I believe  overtime, we will have local and foreign funds investing in the company," Nadayu chairman  Hamidon Abdullah said. (BT)