SP Setia will acquire 0.9ha freehold land in Melbourne, Australia, from Portbridge Pty Ltd for RM81m cash. SP Setia said the acquisition would be its second foray into the Melbourne property market following its maiden Fulton Lane project. "The land is expected to be capitalised on the shortage of residential units in the area and be developed into an apartment project with an estimated gross development value of RM777.5m," it said. It said the company targeted to launch the project within 12-18 months from the date of acquisition. (Bernama)
The latest development in Selangor’s water restructuring saga is that the federal government is considering taking over Konsortium Abass and Splash but not Puncak Niaga. Sources say this is due to PAAB hitting a wall in its negotiations with Puncak Niaga and Selangor on resolving a prolonged deadlock on the industry’s consolidation. “It has come to a point where things have to be non-holistic. Talks have been initiated.” says a source.
• However sources say that the aim of the takeover could be to pressure Puncak Niaga. Sources say that there is a glimmer of hope that PAAB and Selangor will have more fruitful negotiations this time around because the new person at the helm of KPS was previously with PAAB. (Edge Weekly)
Land acquisition is expected to be the biggest problem facing the KVMRT project. Once the government decides to acquire land using the Land Acquisition Act (1960) (LAA), its owner will have very little recourse except to work out the best price for the property. While there is no provision under the LAA to acquire an underground title, Section 92 of the National Land Code 1965 provides for it.
• “Only the owner of a piece of land can allow an underground cubic layer of underground land, known as the stratum, be owned separately from his property on the surface.” SPAD said. One way is for owners to apply for stratum titles to be issued to the government. The other way is for the government to first acquire the land, and subsequently re-alienate the property on the surface back to the owners.
• Last week, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz told residents of Jalan Sultan in the heart of Petaling Street that he would propose to the Cabinet to realign the MRT’s route running underground away from Petaling Street . This is to avoid compulsory land acquisition during construction of the tunnel below.
• Datuk Teo Chiang Kok, Director of Bandar Utama Development Sdn Bhd said the proposed MRT stations behind TV3 will cause logistics problems as it will be near the junction of Persiaran Bandar Utama and LDP. (Edge Weekly)
U Mobile aims to secure a double-digit subscriber market share in as early as three years as it continues to aggressively expand its network and launch more innovative and quality products and services. "We aim to have a double-digit market share in three to five years. We believe it's an achievable goal, it is an aspiration, all of us need to have that," said Dr Kaizad Heerjee, CEO of U Mobile said.
• Kaizad said over the past six to nine months, the company has seen renewed interests in U Mobile, while the brand is becoming well accepted in the market. The company, which has merely several thousands subscribers over a year ago, now has 1m.
• "I believe that as long as we continue to expand our network, distributors continue to be committed, network quality remains very good, and brand is appealing, customers will give it a shot," he added.
• It plans to position itself as a leader in high speed data services. "For us, voice is a commodity, regardless if it's 3G or 2G, it doesn't really make much of a difference. I don't think customers are going to come into our network by the millions if we lower our rates by one or five sen. The differentiator really is high speed data. That's our core focus," he said. (BT)
A probable resurgence in La Nina-induced rains late this year could curtail South-East Asian palm oil production, driving prices towards RM4,000 by April-June 2012, leading analyst Dorab Mistry said.
• The forecast from the head of vegetable oil trading with India’s Godrej Industries represents a 34% rise from current palm oil prices that fell to their lowest in six weeks on Friday on fears of global economic recession. La Nina triggers heavy rains that can stall harvesting rounds in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Six months down the line, output usually gets cut due to poor pollination affecting palm fruit development. “The best we can expect for 2012 is flat production or a marginal increase in Malaysia,” Mistry said at a conference in Mumbai. (Reuters)
Tenaga may be broken up?
There is a proposal to break up the dominant electricity supplier’s transmission, distribution and generation divisions in an attempt to reorganize the company, say sources. It is learnt that special purpose unit MyPower Corp will oversee the matter as part of the government’s effort to reform the country’s power sector. “It could be seen as a solution to Tenaga’s current issue, where the less profitable divisions are taken over by the government while the more profitable segments will be left in the listed entity,” says an industry source. (Source: The Edge)
MTD Capital Bhd, which launched its new coal port terminal in Indonesia's Cigading last week, is going all out to woo Malaysia's top coal buyer, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB). MTD CEO Datuk Azmil Khalili Khalid said the new port is now ready to rope in TNB as one of its large customers and the company plans to invite TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh to visit the facilities.
• "Previously, TNB didn't buy coal from Indonesia, maybe due to uncertainty in delivery issues. That is no longer the issue and hopefully TNB will be one of our largest customers one day," Azmil told Malaysian reporters in Jakarta recently. TNB, which uses 20% of its fuel from coal, buys coal from as far as Australia and South Africa.
• Industry sources believe that TNB's reluctance to buy Indonesian coal could be due to lower coal quality or inconsistent deliveries.(BT)
Bandar Raya Development Bhd (BRDB) has been asked by Bursa Malaysia to clarify to its shareholders issues that have been raised in the media regarding the company's proposal to hive off key assets to its major shareholder, reliable sources said. One of the most sticky issues related to the deal is the unknown identity behind an influential 23.6% block of shares in BRDB held under a nominee account for Credit Suisse.
• The Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG) had pointed out that this stake was very likely to be the deciding factor in whether the asset sale would go through. This is on the basis that the 23.6% block amounts to 30% of total disinterested shareholders of BRDB and in turn might comprise 50% of votes of shareholders who actually turn up to vote on the matter, which requires only a simple majority to go through.
• It should be noted that under Section 69(0)(8) of the Companies Act, Bursa and the Securities Commission have the power to direct companies to disclose the identity of the beneficial owners of substantial blocks of shares in the company. Section 69 also empowers the affected issuer itself, in this case BRDB, to request for details on the beneficial owners from a trustee, in this case Credit Suisse. (Starbiz)
MISC Chairman, Datuk George Ratilal said the rating downgrades by Moody’s and S&P comes as no surprise but he emphasised that it was more important to note that MISC was still an investment grade, which would still enable the company to raise funds in the future despite being impacted by the current downturn. At MISC AGM last week, reporters were informed that the shipping industry would likely see light at the end of the tunnel only in 2014.
• Datuk Nasarudin, CEO implied that MISC would not rule out the possibility of selling its weakest business. MISC will take a hard look at its portfolio, as getting out of business is a major decision. But management will not be shy to make hard decisions to protect the overall value of MISC. (Star Biz)
Khazanah Nasional Bhd is in talks to buy a stake in Turkish hospital group Acibadem, two sources said. The purchase, by Khazanah's 70%-owned healthcare unit Integrated Healthcare, was being advised by Deutsche Bank, one of the sources said. “The sellers have multiple buyers at this point, and Integrated Healthcare is one of the interested parties,” the source said.
• In another development, Khazanah has reportedly delayed a sale of yuan-denominated sukuk due to volatile market conditions. The sale would have been the world's first of Islamic bonds denominated in the Chinese currency. (Agencies)
Cypark and LG Electronics have signed a MoU last Friday to form a strategic collaboration in a solar renewable energy (RE) project in Pajam, Negeri Sembilan. Cypark also signed a RM75m financing agreement with HSBC Amanah Raya Malaysia to finance the Pajam Integrated RE Park. (Malaysian Reserve) PKT Logistics Group plans to invest RM1bn in the next five years to expand its state-ofthe-art warehouses to 5m sf at selected locations in Malaysia. (Star Biz)
OSK Investment Bank Bhd has resigned as an independent adviser to Kinsteel Bhd's corporate exercise, citing that new developments had arisen which the bank believed would affect its ability to act as the independent adviser. The bank had resigned with effect from Thursday and TA Securities Holdings Bhd was appointed as the new independent adviser.
• On July 25, Kinsteel announced its proposed subscription to RM280m nominal value of seven-year 7% redeemable convertible unsecured loan stocks (RCULS) issued by its subsidiary, Perwaja Holdings Bhd, at 100% of its nominal value. (Starbiz)
Sarawak Cable entered into a conditional shares sale and prchase agreement with Tiopan Hasudungan Marpaung, Parulian Marpaung, Bayu Ardiyanto and Subari to acquire 65% equity interest in PT Inpola Mitra Elektrindo for a total cash consideration of 15bn rupiah or RM5.4m. (Malaysian Reserve)
AmIslamic Bank’s proposed RM2bn Subordinated Sukuk Musyarakah Programme has received an “A1” rating and also a “stable” outlook for the proposed securities’ long-term rating by RAM. (Malaysian Reserve)
Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairman, Datuk Dr Teh Kim Poo said a third port is expected to be built by next year to complement the existing Northport and Westport. The third port, earmarked to be built near Westport, will be privately owned, with PKA overseeing its operations. (Bernama)
Proton takeover on the cards again?
There has been renewed interest in the national automotive company with at least four entities and two individuals looking to take over the 42.7% interest held by Khazanah. The usual names have surfaced as possible acquirers of the company, namely DRB-Hicom, Naza group, Mofaz group. Others names that are being bandied about include the Sapura group and two high net worth individuals, one linked to a prominent business group and another who is based mainly in the UK. (Source: The Edge)
MCMC allocation soon
The Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is in the final stages of evaluating the allocation for the 2.6GHz spectrum and may promote collaboration among players for better efficiency on spectrum usage. Currently, some of the players are already sharing infrastructure for their current networks and others are exploring ways to share even 2.6G, which is also known as the fourth generation of wireless spectrum that promotes faster speed and bigger capacity for upload and download of data. “The evaluations are now at the final stages. The allocation of the 2.6GHz spectrum takes into consideration the nation's entry into another level of wireless broadband with technologies such as LTE (long-term evolution), apart from the constraints on limited resources up for offering,'' MCMC said in an email reply to queries from StarBiz. (The Star)
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