CIMB inks MoU for proposed purchase of RBS’ assets in Asia-Pac
CIMB Group is moving closer to the proposed acquisition of certain assets of The Royal Bank of Scotland in Asia Pacific. The Group said it had signed an MoU for the proposed acquisition of certain of cash equities, equity capital markets and corporate finance businesses. (Financial Daily)
MAS eyes RM6bn capital expenditure
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is staring at a capex of RM6bn this year and RM3.5bn for 2013 because of the aircraft deliveries that have been lined up for this year and next. This year alone, it is going to take delivery of 23 aircraft - five 555-seater A380 which it will deploy for the Kangaroo route (Sydney-KL-London-KL-Sydney); 13 B737-800s and five A330-300s. MAS plans to deploy its first A380 by July this year. (StarBiz)
LBS Bina secures RM124.6m financing from MBSB
Property developer LBS Bina Group (LBS Bina) signed an agreement for term and bridging financing facilities of up to RM124.6m with Malaysia Building Society (MBSB) yesterday. The financing facilities would be used for construction of D’Island Residence, its high end development in Puchong. D’Island Residence has an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM3.6bn and is expected to take five to seven years to be completed. (StarBiz)
Jetson unit gets RM15mil contract
Kumpulan Jetson said its subsidiary Jetson Construction SB has received a contract from the Shah Alam City Council for the construction and facelift of the outer wall of Wisma MBSA. The contract is valued at about RM15m. (StarBiz)
TNB withdraws suit against Integrax
Tenaga Nasional (TNB) has withdrawn a suit against Integrax Bhd and seven others. Tenaga Nasional owns a 22% stake in Integrax. The suit sought declarations for several matters that included some defendants acting in concert in the acquisition of control of Integrax and the breaching of capital market regulations in failing to make a mandatory general offer for Integrax shares. (StarBiz)
RHB Bank and RHB Investment Bank will jointly raise RM1.38bn to part finance the development, construction and operation of a new coal-fired power plant in Tanjung Bin. The 1,000MW power plant, which requires more than RM6bn is managed by Tanjung Bin Energy Issuer, a subsidiary of Malakoff Corp. (Bernama)
DRB-HICOM is evaluating three rival plans for Proton Holdings put forward by some of the world’s biggest players. Business Times understands that General Motors Corp plans to make a pitch to gain control of half of Proton’s production lines at its factory in Tanjung Malim, Perak. “The deal is valued at about RM800m and was brokered way before DRB-HICOM emerged as a dominant force in Proton,” said a source. It is believed that DRB-HICOM is keen to work with Volkswagen AG (VW) to produce a small Malaysian car using German technology. The third proposal is from Mitsubishi Motors Corp. It is understood that the Japanese are proposing to utilise Proton’s spare capacity to produce some 200,000 engines with a horse power of between 1,600cc and 2,000cc. (BT)
Proton Holdings senior director, group operations, Wolfgang Karl Epple, has tendered in his resignation, almost three years after driving forward the carmaker's quality initiatives. Proton's head of group communications, Muhammad Amyzaddin Raya, said Epple informed Proton that his resignation was due to his intention to take up another challenge in the automotive industry closer to home in Europe. "Over the next month, Epple will continue to oversee his portfolio and we are confident of a smooth transition," Muhammad Amyzaddin said. (BT)
BMW Group Malaysia has sold 471 units of BMW vehicles as of January this year, up 14% from January 2011. "This year, the premium segment continues to show significant opportunity, and we target a double-digit growth in our sales," Group managing director Geoffrey Briscoe said. (Bernama)
Genting Singapore plans to sell Singapore dollar-denominated perpetual bonds to yield between 5.125% and 5.25%, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. (BT)
The Federal government has announced the partial abolition of toll on the two-way Cheras-Kajang Highway effective midnight yesterday. Concessionaire Grand Saga is expected to receive compensation, but the value and method is unknown at this juncture This involves the abolition of the RM1 toll Batu 9 heading to KL and the 90 sen toll at Batu 11 heading to Kajang. The highway was initially set for a toll increase in 2013. Grand Saga's concession runs for 30 years and will end in 2030. (Financial Daily)
Sunway Bhd plans to more than double the size of its landbank in Medini Iskandar, raising it to around 2,000 acres from the already-announced acquisition of around 700 acres, industry sources said. “The project will be a significant one and Sunway hopes to differentiate itself from other developments in Iskandar with a unique offering, targeting very much the Singapore market,” said one source. “It will be more innovative than what Sunway has in Malaysia,” the source added. Another source said there was also a plan for a new road linking the Sunway project in Iskandar to the Second Link in order to give Singaporeans better access to the development. Sunway hopes to capitalise on its established brand name and its “Singapore connection” through the presence of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) as one of its major shareholders since 1999. (Starbiz)
A nitrile glove price war will begin in the second half of this year as nitrile latex suppliers have over-expanded their capacity, said Supermax Corp Bhd executive chairman and group managing director Datuk Seri Stanley Thai. Thai said that for this year, there would be additional 250,000 wet tonnes of nitrile latex available in the market. “Margins of nitrile gloves could be lower than the competitive level of 11% to 15% this year, taking into account production from Indonesia and Thailand as well,” he said. (Starbiz)
Supermax aims to grow its share of the US dental nitrile glove market to 10% in the next two to three years from 4.4% presently, said its CEO Datuk Seri Stanley Thai. Thai said the company is in the process of constructing a new distribution warehouse on a 14-acre site in Chicago. The company, which is undergoing an expansion to multiply its production capacity for surgical gloves 10-fold, will rely on its enlarged capacity to grow its foothold in the US and Canada. (Bernama)
MRT Corporation sources have confirmed that negotiations with Jalan Sultan traders over land issues are nearing a deadlock, and could soon end in the acquisition of the group’s properties. This comes after MRT Corp CEO Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid’s decision on February 24 to set a six-day deadline until Wednesday for the traders to strike mutual agreements that would ensure their properties remain untouched. Failing which, a frustrated Azhar had told a press conference, MRT Corp would have no choice but to allow the government to proceed with the compulsory land acquisition process under section 8 of the Land Acquisition Act. (Malaysian Insider)
Firefly is set to grow further via a planned expansion of the existing network while acquiring more turboprop aircraft to support growth. MAS CEO of short-haul operations, Ignatius Ong, said passengers can look forward to an increase in frequencies for selected routes in March and new ones in the near future. “This year, we expect to fly 30% more passengers,” Ong said. (Bernama)
AirAsia will reduce the prices of pre-booked in-flight meals regionally effective yesterday, with savings of up to 30% when booked online. The carrier’s meal price reduction comes follows the recent cut in check-in baggage and sports equipment fees. (Star Biz)
China Ouhua Winery Holdings Ltd announced the resignations of its chief financial officer Zheng Le Le and director Tam Fook Cheong. This came a few days after the company posted a fourth quarter net loss of almost RM7m, against a net profit of more than RM7.3m same quarter a year ago. The company’s cash balances also fell during the financial year from more than RM300m in 2010 to RM110m, while trade receivables increased to RM228m from a mere RM125m a year ago. Zheng said the resignation was due to “some personal reasons”, while Tam resigned due to heavy commitment to consultancy works. Tam was also the chairman of the audit committee prior to his resignation. (BT)
Poor record-keeping and the inability to verify sales transactions at Silver Bird Group Bhd are the reasons why Crowe Horwath, the independent auditors, has not been able to provide a basis for an audit opinion to the financial report for the financial year ended Oct 31, 2011 (FY11). The auditors said they were unable to verify the veracity of payments made amounting to RM7.6m for the refurbishment of an existing warehouse and factory, as well as not being able to obtain information to verify additions of plant and equipment amounting to RM4.9m. Besides that, the auditors were not able to verify transactions undertaken with five customers for the sweetened creamer business with revenue and cost of sales amounting to RM31.9m and RM31.3m respectively, while they were not able to verify the veracity of sales transactions undertaken with six customers from the bakery and telecommunications businesses amounting to RM149m, including RM83.9m in gross telecommunications sales. They added that the accounting and other records required by the Companies Act 1965 to be kept by the company and its subsidiaries “have not been properly kept in accordance with the provisions of the Act”. (Starbiz)
Malaysia Building Society (MBSB) expects loan growth of between 20% and 25% for its personal financing segment this year compared to 2011 despite Bank Negara Malaysia’s restrictive measures outlined in the new guideline, according to CEO Datuk Zaini Othman. “We expect the growth momentum to be sustainable this year because as at March 1, loans growth is still good. Perhaps we will see a slowdown by the middle of the year,” he said. (Financial Daily)
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