Tycoon Ananda selling Maxis stake
Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan is selling up to 375m shares worth around RM2.35bn in Maxis, according to a source familiar with the deal. The shares are being priced at a range between RM6.21 and RM6.34 per share, representing a 3% to 5% discount to the last closing price of RM6.54. The deal follows a RM8.9bn sale of his power assets, a proposal to hive off a stake in his satellite operator MEASAT Global in March and the sale of a minor stake in offshore oilfield services firm Bumi Armada in April. (Malaysian Insider)
AirAsia swoops on Batavia Air for RM253m
AirAsia announced that it hsd acquired a majority stake of 76.95% in Batavia Air and will eventually complete the entire 100% by acquiring the remaining 23.05% from the public. The RM253m acquisition is the first for AirAsia in Indonesia, which is experiencing double-digit growth in air travel. “The Batavia Air acquisition will provide greater domestic connectivity and an extensive feeder network into Indonesia for AirAsia’s existing hubs in Jakarta, Bandung, Denpasar, Medan and Surabaya,” Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said. (Malaysian Reserve) Please see accompanying report
High-speed rail talks with Singapore to start soon
Discussions between Malaysia and Singapore on the high-speed rail project linking Kuala Lumpur and the island city-state is expected to commence soon, says a key official from the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD). SPAD is in the second phase of a feasibility study which looks into the corridors, alignment, terminal points and the stops in-between. Its chief development officer Azmi Abdul Aziz said the high-speed rail is targeted to start next year with tenders to be called by end-2013. He confirmed that 95% of the investments for the project would be domestic-driven. (BT)
SapuraKencana secures RM250m-RM300m contracts
SapuraKencana Petroleum has secured two contracts worth RM250m-RM300m from Murphy Sarawak Oil. The contracts are for the provision of engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of Patricia Satellite-A Platform and Serendah Accommodation-A Platform topsides facilities for the SK309/311 Serendah, Patricia & South Acis Development projects. These are part of Murphy Sarawak’s SK309/SK311 oil and gas field developments located offshore Bintulu. (StarBiz)
Menang awarded RM101m MOHE project
Menang has entered into a concession agreement with the Government to construct a University Institut Teknologi Mara (UiTM) training institute in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, costing about RM101m. The proposed project, awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education, will be carried out on a private finance initiative under a build-lease-maintain-transfer concept. The 23-year concession includes three years for construction and a 20-year lease to UiTM, during which Menang will maintain the institute. Menang will receive availability charges of RM1.3m monthly over the 20-year lease period from UiTM. It will also be paid RM0.4m monthly for asset maintenance services. (Malaysian Reserve)
MAHB: KLIA2 cost expected to remain at RM4bn
Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) is expected to make an official announcement today stating that the cost for low-cost carrier terminal KLIA2 in Sepang has not swelled to RM5bn as alleged by some quarters. MAHB will also affirm that KLIA2 will stick to the April 2013 opening date as announced earlier. Sources told Business Times that the airport operator would stand by the earlier figure of RM4bn for the new low-cost carrier terminal and lay to rest concerns over speculation of a spiraling increase in cost. MAHB will clear the air on the matter at the company’s second-quarter result announcement this afternoon. (Business Times)
MAHB: KLIA2 timeliness necessary to cool tension
Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said timeliness and a concrete black and white commitment on fixed airport charges in the new low-cost carrier terminal is needed to cool down the ongoing tension between AirAsia Chief Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB). The chairman of AirAsia X, the long-haul unit of AirAsia, said the no-frills airline was seeking two concrete commitments from the airport operator, first on when the new airport would be ready for operations and second, that airport charges would not be raised once the new terminal is ready. Asked whether AirAsia was demanding a service-level agreement, the former international trade and industry minister said "as long as there is something in black and white to say the charges would not be raised, it's fine with us”. (Business Times)
Petronas Chemicals, MISC: Fire breaks out on vessel in Labuan
Petronas Chemicals Group said there was a fire at its subsidiary, Petronas Chemicals Methanol Sdn Bhd in Labuan early Thursday. It said the fire broke out on board an MISC vessel, Bunga Alpinia, about 2.30am. It said the vessel was alongside the Petronas Chemicals Methanol terminal in Labuan when the incident took place. It added that based on preliminary assessment, the impact was minimal as it was limited to plant one deliveries only while plant two operations were unaffected. Plant one has a capacity of 700,000 tonnes while the capacity at plant two was 1.7m tonnes. Petronas Chemicals said the Labuan Fire Department had taken action to put out the blaze. (StarBiz)
Parkson Holdings: Parkson Retail Asia moves into Sri Lanka with Odel buy
Parkson Retail Asia Ltd (PRA), the Singapore-listed department store unit of Parkson Holdings, is making a move into Sri Lanka as it expands its foothold in Asean and South Asia region. Parkson Holdings said PRA had acquired a 41.82% stake in Sri Lanka’s Odel Plc, which is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, for S$13.6m (RM34.3m). The stake was acquired from the Gunewardene family at about 9.8% premium to the weighted market price of Odel on Wednesday. (Financial Daily)
TSR Capital: Awarded RM330m MRT jobs
TSR Capital, through its wholly-owned subsidiary TSR Bina Sdn Bhd, has received two contracts from Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd, the concessionaire for the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project. It said the contracts were for work packages for the Klang Valley MRT line alignment between Sungai Buloh and Kajang costing RM330m. (StarBiz)
Integrax: Poised to seal 25-year TNB coal contract
Integrax is said to be close to sealing a 25-year port utilization agreement with Tenaga Nasional (TNB) for the handling of coal for the latter’s coal fired Janamanjung power plant in Manjung, Perak. It is believed that the deal would entail Integrax handling an additional 3m tonnes of coal per year for TNB’s new 1,000MW coal-fired power plant which is expected to be ready for commercial operations by 2015. The new agreement would be a substantial boost for Integrax as it would substantially increase its coal throughput at its deep-water terminal, Lekir Bulk Terminal (LBT) by 50% to 9m tonnes per year. (Financial Daily)
Dorab Mistry, director of Godrej International Ltd, is forecasting another retreat in palm oil prices as weakening demand outweighs a decline in Malaysian production. Malaysia will reap less than 18.6m tonnes, at least 2.1% below the goverment's 19m-tonne forecast, according to Mistry. "Production has actually underperformed, even worse than I expected," said Mistry. However, there is also mounting concern about demand as European economies sink back into recession and growth slows from China to Mexico. (StarBiz)
Malaysian rubber glovemakers say they are bracing for the implementation of the minimum wage policy and removal of natural gas subsidies, both of which will result in higher production costs. However, they intend to pass the incremental expenses to buyers to mitigate the impact from the implementation of both policies. The minimum wage is effective from 1 Jan 2013 and will prompt glovemakers to further automate their manufacturing processes. Meanwhile in anticipation that gas subsidies will be removed, glovemakers are diversifying their energy needs. Some have adopted the use of biomass to reduce their dependency on natural gas. (Financial Daily)
Advertisers increased their media spending only by a marginal 1.8% in the first half of the year (H1) to RM5.08bn (excluding Internet spending), according to the latest data from Nielsen Malaysia. The UEFA European Football Championship (Euro), which began on June 8, seemed to have little effect looking at the six-monthly data but adex for June itself managed to grow 8%. However, the growth was still below the double-digit (11.9%) annual growth recorded in 2011. The two biggest advertising media, newspapers and free-to-air television, attracted 0.4% and 3.8% less ad revenue respectively in the first six months compared with a year earlier. (Starbiz)
The heat is on for Penang Port as the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce (PCCC) comprising top businessmen, has offered to form a consortium to take over the port, rivalling a bid by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary’s group. PCCC president Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping said funding would not be a problem subject to federal government’s approval for their proposal. “We object to Syed Mokhtar taking over Penang Port as this is against the spirit of the law anti-trust.” (Financial Daily)
No comments:
Post a Comment