Petronas has decided to do away with the licenses awarded only to local oil & gas firms in certain job categories. As a result, existing Petronas-licensed oil & gas firms, such as equipment fabricators and vessel operators, will have to fight for contracts with foreign rivals as well as unlicensed local players. The move is aimed at further liberalising the domestic oil & gas sector to attract more foreign investments and promote Malaysia as an oil & gas hub. However, it will not take place across the board. It is believed that it does not apply to the vendor development programme. By reforming the licensing system, foreign companies can directly bid for Petronas’ jobs and be the main contractors. (Edge Weekly)
The upcoming listing of Malaysia’s Felda Global Group, expected to be the country’s biggest IPO this year, will only include the company’s 350,000ha of plantation land, its chief said in an interview. Felda Global, which manages some 880,000ha, will not include the remaining half million ha belonging to the settlers’ cooperative in the IPO, its group managing director Datuk Sabri Ahmad said. “Tanah peneroka (settlers’ lands) are not touched at all,” Sabri said. “The settlers’ land will continue to be their land, but we will continue to buy and process their crop.” In addition, the co-operative would be one of the key shareholders of the listed entity, he said. (Reuters)
Nestle (Malaysia), the local unit of the world’s biggest food company, plans to expand its plant in Shah Alam, said MD Peter R. Vogt. At least RM100m will be spent to add production lines. (Bloomberg)
Trades keyed in on select FBM KLCI stocks by a broker led to the index plunging 70 points late in the afternoon session on Friday, Oct 21. However, the index recovered and closed 0.16% or 2.35 points lower at 1,438.83, weighed by losses at select blue chips. An official from Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd in an e-mailed statement confirmed that the drop of the index at 4.41pm on Friday was due to trades keyed in by the said broker. Among the stocks that fell steeply before paring down losses were KLK, DiGi and PPB. (Financial daily)
Malaysian infrastructure players have been invited to apply for China's US$10bn (RM31.6bn) equity fund to finance infrastructure projects in Asean countries, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) chief executive Datuk Seri Dr Judin Abdul Karim said. He said the China-Asean Investment Cooperation Fund (CAF) is looking at equity participation of between US$50-150m in each project. "We are interested to know more, we will get in touch with them and we will be looking at the areas we can work with them," he told Malaysian journalists after China-Asean Infrastructure Investment and Financing Cooperation Forum, here, on Saturday. The half-day forum, organised by China International Contractors Association (Chinca), was held in conjunction with the 8th China-Asean Expo (CAEXPO). (BT)
Companies that prequalified for the tunnelling portion of KVMRT will get to enjoy a pricing advantage of 2.5% to 7.5% depending on local equity participation. MMC-Gamuda JV could enjoy the biggest pricing advantage of up to 7.5% of contract value (~RM7bn) of the job. This is on account of being a local company with 50% of it owned by a bumiputera entity. Five companies have prequalified for the Swiss Challenge tender system. Other contenders include two Chinese companies, one Japanese and one Korean contractors. IJM Corp and UEM Group were knocked out by stringent prequalification criteria, but still have a chance if they from JVs with the prequalified foreign contractors. However, local companies are unlikely to form JVs as returns may not be lucrative if they are to get a small portion of the job. (Edge Weekly)
Plans are afoot for Johor Corp (JCorp) to inject some property assets into its 58% listed subsidiary Damansara Realty Bhd (DRealty), in a move aimed at unlocking value for both entities, reliable sources said. The two properties identified to be injected are the Bandar Dato Onn integrated township (located 12km from Johor Baru) and the 1,400ha Tanjung Langsat industrial estate, a sprawling complex that has attracted multi-billion ringgit investments already. The plan is for JCorp to take a combination of cash and shares from DRealty for the sale of these assets. If the exercise goes through, JCorp will have close to 100% ownership of DRealty but may enter into a second phase of the restructuring. “There is likely to be a placement out of some of those shares. But more significantly, a second corporate exercise could be in the offing, that would both solve the problem of lowering JCorp's holding in DRealty and at the same creating value for all parties,” said a banking source (Starbiz).
Indonesia and Malaysia will meet in the first few days of November to discuss the palm oil industry including export taxes, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok said. This comes after Indonesia cut its exports duties for the edible oil. “This coming meeting will determine the form of cooperation between the two countries in order to address the concerns of the various stakeholders in the oil palm industry,” Dompok said. “The details have to be worked out.” (Bloomberg)
Palm oil millers in Malaysia are leading the way in "greening" the palm oil supply chain by capturing greenhouse gas before it enters the atmosphere and turning it into green energy and organic fertiliser. Vice-chairman/executive director (corporate affairs) Datuk Carl Bek-Nielsen said the benefits of this waste-to-energy project are extensive and varied. While the organic fertiliser is ploughed back into the fields, greenhouse gas extracted from the biogas plants is fed into a combined steam and power plant at the mill to generate electricity for the surrounding community in this estate. Bek-Nielsen said when biogas plants are being used to generate electricity for the estate's own use, leftover biomass from the mills can now be sold as solid fuel to others in the manufacturing sector for as high as RM180 a tonne. (BT)
Indonesia reduced the tax rate for crude palm oil exports for November to 15% from 16.5% in October and cut the tax rate for cocoa bean exports to 5% from 10%, Deddy Saleh, the director general for foreign trade at the Trade Ministry said. The base price for calculating the levy exporters must pay on crude palm oil exports was cut to US$938 a ton from US$1,001 a ton. For cocoa beans the base price was lowered to US$2,359 a ton from $2,679 a ton, Saleh said. (Bloomberg)
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has released its organisational chart to its employees revealing the lines of reporting for its middle-level management but has yet to name a candidate to head sales and marketing since the departure of Datuk Bernard Francis. Datuk Eddy Leong would continue to head Firefly as CEO and is also the COO of short haul operations. The three subsidiaries – MAS Wings, MAS Aerospace and Engineering and MAS Kargo are parked under the CEO’s office. As customer is the key focus, MAS has created a new unit, customer experience, which is headed by Datuk Mohd Salleh. MD/CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya oversees the airline but is also head of long haul operations while deputy CEO, Mohamed Rashdan is head of short haul. The commercial unit is also headed by Rashdan until a new candidate is found. (Star Biz)
Malaysia Airports (MAHB) subsidiary, Malaysia Airports Consultancy Services (MACS) has signed a letter of award with Nagamas Enterprise (HK) for the provision of airport consultancy services for Lingling Airport in Hunan province, China. This will enable MAHB to begin providing services such as airport project development plan study, airport planning, operation, management, development, business development and investment for Lingling Airport. (Bernama)
Maxis has entered into a multi-billion ringgit agreement to share its 3G radio-access network (RAN) making it the first active 3G RAN sharing in Malaysia. The agreement will be for an initial period of 10 years, with the option of renewing for another two years after that. It also encompasses LTE sharing when the spectrum becomes available and when the technology is rolled out. As a result of the collaboration, Maxis will receive a significant new source of revenue and will enhance utilization of its network in areas that are currently underutilized. U Mobile will benefit as it would help to accelerate the speed of its 3G network by 4 to 5 times and also achieve cost savings through network sharing with Maxis. The shared locations excludes urban market centres like Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru and Ipoh. (BMSB, Press Release)
Edaran Tan Chong Motor expects poorer outlook for the first half of next year due to the floods in Thailand disrupting its carparts supply chain. Although it does not import cars from the neighbouring country, the Nissan vehicle distributor gets carparts from Thai manufacturers to assemble here. Executive director Datuk Dr Ang Bon Beng said that in view of the floods and global economic uncertainty, “the first half of next year will be very challenging.” “The (sales) momentum will be compromised and we may not get the numbers, but perhaps the second half will see improvements, depending on how Thailand addresses its flood problems,” Ang said. (Starbiz)
Proton’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Proton Marketing, has signed a MoU with China’s Hawtai Motor Group to evaluate the possible establishment of a JV company in China to invest in product development via joint designing and development cost sharing. The JV company will also be responsible for vendor sourcing and component development work with the local Chinese vendors. (Malaysian Reserve)
Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors aims to sell 12,000 cars in Malaysia next year, compared with over 10,000 in 2011. MD Dennis Ho said there would be a surge of 100% growth in sales in Penang next year, which would help boost Hyundai’s sales in the country. Hyundai-Sime Darby said it was confident of the growth target due to its new service centres in Penang and new models that were in the pipeline. (Starbiz)
Mitsui & Co plans to spend RM75m to buy 20% of Daihatsu (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd from MBM Resources, raising its stake to 30%. MBM will reap RM59.8m from selling its stake and will own 51.5% in Daihatsu (Malaysia) after the sale. (Bernama, BT)
POS Malaysia has launched the Bank Muamalat cheque deposit box service to provide more options and accessibility to the bank’s customers. The cheque deposit boxes shall be delivered by Poslaju express service at the nearest Bank Muamalat for cheque processing purposes once a day at 12 noon. Currently the cheque deposit boxes were placed at 10 POS Malaysia outlets and plans are underway for the boxes to be placed at more outlets countrywide by end 2011. (Malaysian Reserve)
Asia Media Group Bhd, the country's largest transit-television network operator, plans to launch a terrestrial digital TV station by as early as 1Q12, said its controlling stakeholder Datuk Ricky Wong Shee Kai. "We have started testing works in Puchong and Shah Alam early this month, and have allocated as much as RM50m in capital expenditure next year to help us with the launch in the Klang Valley," Wong told BT. "A partial launch will be done in 1Q12, and by the 2Q12, we should be in full swing," said Wong. He said the first step in the plan to launch the terrestrial digital TV station is to launch the "out-of-home service". "Out-of-home service means that people who use public transport such as the Rapid buses and the city's rail service will be able to watch live TV," said Wong. Currently, Asia Media operates transit TV services for the city buses, but most of the feed are pre-recorded, with the content coming from third parties.(BT)
Consumer product manufacturers in Malaysia exporting to emerging economies are expecting growth next year despite a weakening global economic environment. CT Frank Technology Sdn Bhd, Daewoo Electronics (M) Sdn Bhd and Pensonic Holdings Bhd are among the companies that are expecting stable overseas sales as their products are still in demand from the emerging economies. (Starbiz)
Dayang Enterprise has received a contract extension from Murphy for the provision of topside major maintenance services. Valued at approximately RM50m-100m, the extension will be effective from 19 Nov 11 until 18 Nov 12. (BMSB)
Tanjung Offshore Bhd has been awarded a contract worth RM27m by Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd for the provision of three units of offshore support vessels (OSVs) for up to two primary years. The contract for the three units of OSVs is for a primary period of between three months and two years effective October and November this year respectively.“In the event the contract is renewed during the option period, the contract charters will be determined at the then charter rate,” it said. (Starbiz)
Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMSB) is taking up a 20% equity interest in Australia’s OM Holdings US$500m (RM1.55bn) manganese and ferro silicon smelting plant project in Samalaju Industrial Park. The project’s RM70m site earthworks covering 202ha started three months ago and contractor KKB Builders, wholly owned by KKB Engineering is expected to complete it by June 2012. The smelting plant was expected to start commercial operations in 2015 with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tonnes of manganese ferro alloys and 300,000 tonnes of ferro silicon alloys. (Star Biz)
Pavilion real estate investment trust (REIT), which is en route to a listing on the Main Market, is offering 790m units under its initial public offering (IPO) to retail and institutional investors. According to its prospectus exposure on the Securities Commission website, Pavilion REIT’s retail offering includes 31m units for application by the public that would represent 1.03% of the trust’s total 3bn units. According to the prospectus exposure, the retail offering would be offered at RM0.88/unit while the price for the institutional offering would be determined by way of a bookbuilding process. “Based on an offering price of RM0.80 per offer unit, the offering is expected to raise gross proceeds of RM695m arising from the issuance of 790m offer units,” it said. The initial portfolio comprises the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur Mall and Pavilion Tower, which have a total net lettable area of 1.3m sf and 167,407 sf respectively. (Starbiz)
The China Malaysia Industrial Park in Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will become Malaysia’s biggest development projects in China with a total area of 55 sq km. Leaders from both countries have agreed to turn the industrial park, near a deepwater sea port at the southern tip of Guangxi, into the iconic project for Sino-Asean cooperation. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the project had great potential as the park was located strategically close to the Asean market and north of Hainan Island, which is earmarked as China’s latest recreational resort. Najib said the initial stage of the development had already started and he hoped that the parties involved would finalise their plans and launch the project as soon as possible. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the project would be the first industrial park joint venture between China and its Malaysian counterpart in the western region of China. (Starbiz)
A Hong Kong based company has its sights set on iron ore mining and processing in Malaysia and has plans to set up a RM1.6bn plant in Pahang which will process the iron ore. The company’s Malaysia subsidiary Zhong Cheng Mining Sdn Bhd has purchased a 500 acre plot of land from a local palm oil plantation company for the purpose. (Malaysian Reserve)
Plans are underway to turn Tanjung Langsat Port (TLP) in Pasir Gudang into a containerised cargo port thus giving port users another alternative port of choice. The Johor Port Authority (JPA) is mandated with the issuance of licenses for all privatised ports but TLP would likely get its license straight from the Transport Ministry. In June, JPA said that TLP would not be turned into a containerised cargo port to reduce congestion at Johor Port as the two ports are close to each other. MMC Corp, which controls both Johor Port and Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) had in 2009, proposed to consolidate and rationalise the operations of the two ports. (Star Biz)
Siva Kumar Jeyapalan, whom recently increased his stake in Masterskill to 10.5%, clarifies that he had come in purely as an investor and will not interfere with management or take a seat on the board. His 10.5% stake makes him the third largest shareholder. Back in 2004, Siva Kumar led a group of investors which bought over Masterskill from a matron who was running it as a training school. "...We still hadn't obtained our licence at the time and he (Datuk Seri Edmund Santhara, who is now CEO) came in and took over management and operations..." Siva said. "Having been in the business before, I know the value of the company and at RM1.10, the valuations are undemanding." he said. (Edge Weekly)
Infrastructure Sector : Infrastructure firms can tap China fund
Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) chief executive Datuk Seri Dr Judin Abdul Karim said malaysian infrastructure players have been invited to apply for China’s US$10.0bil (RM31.6bil) equity fund to finance infrastructure projects in Asean countries. He said the China-Asean Investment Cooperation Fund (CAF) is looking at equity participation of between US$50.0mil and US$150.0mil in each project. Judin said CAF is available for infrastructure development projects such as energy, power, telecommunications, transportation facilities and public works. So far, US$1.0bil has been utilised from the fund, which was launched in 2009. Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM) president Kwan Foh-Kwai said to date, only four projects in Asean countries have utilised the fund, but none of the beneficiaries are Malaysian companies. CAF was established by China, following the China-Asean Free Trade Area which took effect in January 2010. The fund targets commercially viable infrastructure projects and companies in Asean. – Business Times
Tenaga plans RM5bn Islamic debt notes for Manjung plant
TNB has proposed to issue RM5bn in Islamic debt notes to finance the development of the 1,010 MW coal-fired power plant in Manjung, Perak. The utility giant said it would establish an Islamic securities programme of RM5bn in nominal value through an independent special purpose company, Manjung Island Energy Bhd. (Financial Daily)
DRB-HICOM to step up cooperation with Pos
DRB-HICOM has many more cooperation plans with Pos Malaysia to leverage on each other's strength, including logistics, transport and courier service. "More details on these new cooperation will be revealed in six months' time," Khamil said after launching a cheque deposit box service with Bank Muamalat Malaysia. Under the partnership, a Bank Muamalat customer can opt to deposit his cheque at a nearby post office rather than going to the bank's branch which may be a distance away, too crowded or has limited parking space. (BT)
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