Gas Malaysia’s IPO prospectus gets registration nod
MMC Corp Bhd‟s 42%-owned subsidiary, Gas Malaysia Bhd, has been granted approval in-principle for the registration of its listing prospectus. In a statement yesterday, MMC said Securities Commission Malaysia had given its nod via a letter dated 11 May. According to the statement, the Shariah Compliant Classification for Gas Malaysia‟s securities has also been reaffirmed and will remain valid until the next Shariah-compliance review in the company‟s next financial year. (Financial Daily)
QSR, KFC buyout looms as JCorp chief quits boards
Johor Corp (JCorp) president and chief executive officer (CEO) Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim has resigned from his post as chairman and director of both QSR Brands Bhd and KFC Holdings (M) Bhd, paving the way for the buyout of the two listed entities. JCorp, which is Johor‟s investment arm, owns 55.9% of Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd. Kulim in turn has a 53.9% stake in QSR. KFC is a 51% unit of QSR. (BT)
CSR Zhuzhou faces 5 rivals for RM1.8bn MRT job
China‟s CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co Ltd will have to face competition from 5 contenders to win a RM1.85bn job to supply electric trains for the Klang Valley – MY Rapid Transit (MRT) project. CSR Zhuzhou is currently the sole party to have submitted a bid to supply 58 four-car electric train sets for the MRT. MRT Co had shortlisted 6 groups for the job. (BT)
Bumi Armada gets 2 AHTS vessels
Bumi Armada Bhd has taken delivery of 2 anchor handling towing supply (AHTS) vessels from Beauty Offshore Ltd and Bay Offshore Ltd, both subsidiaries of Sanko Steamship, one of Japan‟s largest ship owners. In a statement yesterday, Bumi Armada executive director/chief executive officer Hassan Basma said offshore support vessel fleet expansion, either through acquisition or a newbuild programme, is important for the company‟s growth. (Malaysian Reserve)
Robi Axiata to pay RM55m in unpaid taxes
Axiata Group Bhd‟s Bangladesh unit, Robi Axiata Ltd, has to pay the government nearly 1.5bn Bangladeshi taka (RM55.16m) in unpaid taxes after the mobile operator lost a legal battle against the country‟s telecommunications regulator. After a hearing, which stretched almost 4 months, the High Court last Sunday decided that Robi had no authority to deduct any amount from any account. These included such taxes as the value added tax, late fees and other taxes from the Spectrum Assignment Fee or the Licence Renewal Fee, as these exclusively belong to the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission. (Malaysian Reserve)
Sapura, Kencana to delist this Thursday
Sapura Crest Petroleum Bhd and Kencana Petroleum Bhd will delist this Thursday, according to their respective announcements to Bursa Malaysia yesterday. The two companies are set to merge into a single entity known as Sapura-Kencana Petroleum Bhd that is set to be listed. (Malaysian Reserve)
The government will discuss with the new stakeholders of Plus Expressways Bhd (Plus) to find ways to reduce or abolish toll in some parts of the highway. Works Minister Datuk Seri Shaziman Mansor said the government would hold a discussion with UEM Group and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for the purpose. (The Star)
MRT Corp has confirmed that none of the six pre-qualified companies shortlisted for the supply of rolling stocks for the country's biggest infrastructure project has submitted their bids. "This is because we have extended the tendering period by four weeks to June 11. Originally, the tendering period was supposed to close yesterday, but as the pre-qualified companies for the supply of trains had sent a lot of clarification questions on the bidding requirements, we have on Apr 26 issued a letter of extension," MRT CEO Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said. According to MRT Corp, the lack of any submission at this juncture was due to the extension as four out of the six companies including CSR Zhuzhou had submitted requests for an extension for time. The other five pre-qualified bidders for the rolling stocks are Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Bombardier, Changchun Railway Vehicles Co, Siemens AG, and Hyundai Rotem Co. (Starbiz)
IOI Corp Bhd is hiring Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co and Morgan Stanley to arrange meetings with bond investors, Reuters reported. This bond meeting in Singapore confirms a report in StarBiz in February that IOI Corp was in talks with banks to raise more funds. The funds raised should give IOI Corp sufficient money to not only pay for its Singapore land acquisition but some extra in the event it chooses to buy more assets such as plantation land. These negotiations suggest that IOI is intent on continuing to tap liquidity from overseas bond investors and prefers to borrow in overseas denominated debt. (StarBiz)
Telekom Malaysia's HSBB network is comfortably outpacing other national broadband networks being deployed in the region, such as Singapore's NGNBN as well as those being rolled out in Australia and New Zealand. According to Informa Telecoms & Media, the HSBB had 310,000 subscribers by end-April and exceeded over 1.2m premises in the country. The HSBB is way ahead of Singapore's NGNBN which has only around 130k subscribers and although deployed to nearly 90% of buildings in the city-state, is still not available to the majority of households because of delays in completing the in-building wiring. Australia's NBN has only 7,000 users while New Zealand's Ultra Fast Broadband deployment has only around 500 users. (Bernama)
Just two years after edging Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay's Genting Group to be the single largest shareholder of Rank Group plc, Quek is now the UK's top casino mogul. The £205m (RM1.24bn) acquisition of Gala Coral's casinos by Rank makes Quek the owner of UK's biggest casino operator. Including Gala Coral's 23 casinos in the UK, plus three non-operating licences, Rank now has a total of 58 casinos and 13 non-operating licences in the UK, ahead of Genting's 46 casinos in the UK. (Financial Daily)
Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir said that the government expected some announcements from vehicle manufacturers or assemblers, including big car makers to produce energy-efficient vehicles (EEVs) in Malaysia soon. "We hope to see some announcements being made by some of the big car makers in the near future based on the incentives we offered and I'm quite confident that they will be taking advantage of some of these special incentives that we are providing, he said. Asked how the government wanted to boost the EEV production while still subsidising the fuel price, Mukhriz said the government could not cut the subsidies drastically as the usage of more EEVs was still at the early stage in this country and very few people were using them. (BT)
AMMB Holdings Bhd has obtained the Securities Commission's approval for its proposed issuance of up to RM2b nominal value of senior medium term notes (MTN) and/or subordinated MTNs. The MTN programme has a tenor of up to 30 years from the date of the first issuance of MTNs. The proceeds would be used by AMMB for capital expenditure, investments, working capital, payment of fees and expenses in relation to the MTN Programme and other general funding requirements of AMMB and/or its subsidiaries. (StarBiz)
The construction of a proposed low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) in Perak will be a holistic development for the state and it will not compete with other states, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir. "The federal government is carrying out a detailed study as the proposed project will invite different perspectives from state governments especially from Kedah and Penang, which also have airports. I am looking for cooperation as a new approach to the proposed project. If we have a new low-cost carrier airport, it will have spin-off effects on other states, especially Kedah and Penang which are nearer to Perak," he said. (Bernama, Financial Daily)
MASkargo is expanding its network along the Intra-Asia routes. The A332 freighter is scheduled to fly twice weekly into Ho Chi Minh City. The introduction of this network offers connectivity from the hub to other stations around the world. Ho Chi Minh City has registered steady cargo business growth and has a large market share. MASkargo plans to provide speedy and better logistics solutions as well as to continuously support the city’s trade and economy by increasing capacity and routes along the Intra-Asia network destinations. (Bernama)
Exim Bank Malaysia has set a target to disburse loans totaling RM1.5b this year. Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Datuk Adissadikin Ali said the bank had approved loans amounting to RM800m as of April. "This shows a lot of Malaysian companies are going overseas. Construction companies are bidding for big projects overseas," he said at the signing of a facility agreement between Malakoff, Exim Bank and Mizuho Corporate Bank. Adissadikin said Exim Bank would normally partner with foreign banks in providing financing facilities. (Bernama)
The government has given a two-year extension for Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) to fulfil the RM1.5bn loan quota it is supposed to achieve by the end of this year. GreenTech Malaysia, which promotes green technology to the masses and businesses, is managing loans for Malaysian companies venturing into the green technology businesses. Ministry of Energy, Green Technolgy and Water deputy secretary general Nor Aini Abdul Wahab said the extension is given because not many banks are willing to lend money to companies in green businesses as their risks appetite towards these businesses is extremely low. Nor Aini said currently, there are 178 projects awarded with the green certificates, of which 46 projects have been approved for funding amounting to RM676.4m. "Out of this, only RM188.2m has been disbursed," she said. (BT)
EPF increased its shareholding in Oriental Holdings (OHB) to 9.26% as at May 11 from its lowest holding level of 6.29% on March 14, according to filings with Bursa Malaysia. The retirement fund is currently the second largest shareholder in OHB after the Loh family, which owns over 55.28% equity interest. (Financial Daily)
TA Enterprise: No acquisition plans for now
TA Enterprise said it has no plans to buy another stockbroker amid the current spate of merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in the industry. While the group cannot rule out M&A activities entirely, the MD Datin Alicia Tiah said the company would prefer to grow on its own. Its stockbroking unit, TA Securities Holdings became the first broker in the country to migrate to an advanced electronic trading platform. Stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia Bhd requires all brokers to migrate to that platform by end September. The platform makes it possible for the group to open up branches at a cheaper cost than before. She said it's more worthwhile to open up branches now with the lower cost as with everything now centralised, the company can save about RM500,000 per branch. She added that the company is looking at opening more branches. However, she declined to say how many it planned to open. It currently has seven branches in the country. (Business Times)
Axis REIT: Selling Kayangan depot
Axis REIT Managers, the manager for Axis Real Estate Investment Trust, is calling a public tender for Kayangan Depot, a 3-storey office, warehouse and showroom with 173,582 sq ft total gross built-up area in Seksyen 15, Shah Alam. The former said the property has reached its optimal value and it is timely to realize the gain for the benefits of the shareholders. However, the manager can still decide not to proceed with the proposed sale should the bids be unsatisfactory. (Financial Daily)
Permaju Industries: Denies disposing land in Sabah for RM100m
Permaju Industries has denied a news article that it was disposing of 30 acres of land in Sabah for RM100m. In a filing on Monday, the company in response to an article in Nanyang Siang Pau on May 13 said its directors, after having made due inquiries, wished to advise that to the best of their knowledge and believe, they were not aware of such dealing. Permaju was among the most actively traded stocks on Monday with 151.14m shares done. (Financial Daily)
Naim Indah Corp: Still in talks for LPG business
Naim Indah Corp (Nicorp) said it could still be party in the acquisition of Shell’s liquid petroleum gas (LPG) assets in Malaysia. Nicorp said a special purpose vehicle, NGC Energy Sdn Bhd had on May 9 entered into an agreement with Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd (SMTSB) to acquire its LPG business. It added that NGC Energy is 40% owned by Aspire Rich Sdn Bhd and 60% owned by Oman-based Natural gas Co SAOG (NGC) respectively. Nicorp reiterated that the invitation from Aspire Rich for the company to participate in the acquisition of the said LPG assets, through Aspire Rich remains unchanged. (Financial Daily)
Construction: CSR Zhuzhou faces 5 rivals for RM1.8bn MRT job
China’s CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co Ltd will have to face competition from five contenders to win a RM1.85bn job to supply electric trains for the Klang Valley – MY Rapid Transit (MRT) project. CSR Zhuzhou is currently the sole party to have submitted a bid to supply 58 four-car electric train sets for the MRT. MRT Co had shortlisted 6 groups for the job. They include Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, a consortium comprising Bombardier (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd and Scomi Rail Bhd; Changchun Railways Vehicles Co Ltd, Germany’s Siemens AG and South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem Co/CMC Engineering. Tender offer closes this week but MRT Co is expected to extend it to Jun 14. (Business Times)
Oil & Gas: Malaysian oil & gas firms secure US$7.2bn in new business opportunities
Malaysia's oil and gas firms that participated at the recently concluded Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Houston 2012 have secured new business opportunities worth US$7.2bn. The 4-day mission was led by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) beginning Apr 30. Over 145 meetings were arranged for Malaysian companies participating under the Malaysian Pavilion coordinated by Matrade in collaboration with the Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation and Malaysian Investment Development Authority. Two memorandums of understanding were signed between Muhibbah Engineering and Ford, Bacon & Davis USA for engineering and project management services for oil and gas, energy and process services; and Innovative Fluid Process Sdn Bhd with Americas Energy Company for the provision of facilities, system design and engineering.(Bernama)
Plantation: CPO prices hits 3-month low
Crude palm oil (CPO) futures hit a 3-month low to RM3,173 on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives as concerns on the global economic slowdown and weak palm oil demand continue to worry investors. The benchmark futures CPO July contract tumbled RM102 to close at RM3,173 per tonne on Monday from RM3,275 per tonne last Friday. This is its 3-month low since Feb 14, 2012. (StarBiz)
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