20120903 1020 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

General Election: Najib hints at November polls. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has strengthened speculation that the next general election will be held in November. With the Prime Minister scheduled to unveil the National Education Blueprint on Sept 11 and Budget 2013 on Sept 28, talk in political circles is that the general election will likely be held in the second last month of the year. The Barisan Nasional chairman's one-on-one meetings with component party heads on Aug 28 to discuss their candidates' list have also given credence to talk that the polls will be held then. In his strongest hint yet, the Umno president brought his favourite number 11 into prominence during the joint opening of the party's Kinabatangan, Sandakan, Batu Sapi, Beluran and Libaran delegates meeting here.( Source: TheStar)

Property: MRCB debt gloom resolved with takeover of EDL. The governments takeover of the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) will enlighten the Malaysian Resources Corp Bhds debt by about MYR1b and bolster its coffers significantly. According to an executive at a highway company, the compensation for MRCB would have been spelled out in the concession agreement. (Source: The EdgeDaily)

AmBank: AmBank, RSGC launch new credit card. AmBank (M) Bhd has joined hands with The Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC) to launch a new co-brand credit card for its members who comprise industry leaders, high-ranking government officials and foreign diplomats.Dubbed the AmBank RSGC World MasterCard, it is designed to provide club members with privileges in golf, travel, dining, shopping rewards and priority banking services, among others. AmBank is the official bank for RSGC. (Source: The Sun)            


Sime Darby. is planning its first multi-currency Islamic bond program of as much as US$1.5bn in Malaysia to raise funds for capital expenditure. “We are having ongoing discussions with bankers,” Tong Poh Keow, the group chief financial officer, said in an interview. “The first issuance will likely be in dollars.” (Bloomberg)

The government is on track to achieve a 50:50 ratio of biomass to  palm oil production in the country's palm oil industry by 2020, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainudin. He said the current ratio is 10:90 with the target to achieve the 50:50 ratio for the industry. "The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is currently focusing on biomass by turning waste into wealth," he added. (Bernama)

Gadang Holdings Bhd is bidding for construction jobs worth more than RM2bn, mostly government projects, to grow its future earnings. Its MD Tan Sri Kok Onn said although the construction sector is facing a high cost of building materials and labour shortage, Gadang is eyeing more jobs to replenish its current order book and move up a notch.Gadang has RM1.5bn worth of jobs in hand to keep it busy for the next three to four years, said Kok. This includes the RM863m contract for the My Rapid Transit (MRT) project and a RM410m job to build the 300-bed Shah Alam Hospital. Gadang also has an oil palm plantation in Ranau, Sabah, where it has teamed up with oil palm plantation owners for the cultivation of some 6,000ha of oil palm over two phases. The group wants its plantation business to make up 10% of its revenue and net profit by 2015. (BT)

UOA Development says its combined new property sales for 2012 and 2013 may surpass the RM4bn mark, helped by substantial real estate launches during the two-year period. The group is targeting RM3.5bn worth of sales from the second half of this year to end-2013. For 2012 and 2013, the developer said its pipeline of launches within the Klang Valley have a combined valued of RM3.45bn. (Financial Daily)

Fitch Ratings views  Tenaga Nasional Bhd's outlook as stable indicating that the utility company will be able to maintain a financial profile appropriate for its ratings on expected improvements to cheap natural gas availability from 2013 onwards. Fitch said Tenaga should be able to maintain its current ratings in the next 2-3 years even if it were to source LNG at market prices without a subsidy provided increases in generation volumes are a moderate 4% annually and Petronas would increase natural gas supply to 1,100 mmscfd from FY13 onwards. (Fitch, BT)

Green Packet is eyeing the mobile voice market next year. The company plans to upgrade  its network from 4G to long-term evolution (LTE). In  the immediate-term, the group is focused on seizing opportunities like the dual mode Wimax/LTE devices niche market. It is also working on delivering networking solutions to cable operators in the US and converged operators in Europe and China. (Malaysian Reserve)

Nestle is expecting 2H12 to be more challenging as uncertainties in the global economic grows, driving volatility in commodity costs. To overcome the challenges, the group said it will continue to capitalise on product innovation and renovation while promoting nutritionally balanced diets and healthy lifestyles. (Malaysian Reserve)

George Kent has selected the Thales Group to provide its internationally-renowned SelTrac communications-based train control system for the existing 27km Ampang LRT line. It would also serve the 18km south-west extension. The company said the project is scheduled for completion in 2015. (Bernama)

Zurich Insurance chief keen on Malaysian expansion
Martin Senn, CEO of Switzerland-based Zurich Insurance Group Ltd, has the enormous task of navigating the composite insurer in a sea of economic and market volatility. As still weak advanced economies such as the US and Europe offer slower growth prospects for Zurich Insurance, Senn is now steering his ship to emerging markets to capitalise on under-tapped regions which will help sustain the company's earnings. (Financial Daily)

Affin gets support from HK shareholders for stake acquisition
Affin Holdings Bhd has garnered the support of its Hong Kong-based shareholder Bank of East Asia Ltd (BEA) for the possible acquisition of a stake in Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, banking sources said. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed BEA, in which tycoon Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan owns 15.09% through Guoco Group Ltd, holds a 23.52% block in Affin. While discussions were still preliminary, the source said that Affin was looking to strengthen its niche in Islamic banking via an interest in Bank Muamalat, one of the country's two standalone Islamic banks. (StarBizWeek)

Petronas unit greases expansion plans
The lubricant division of Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PDB)) is looking at expanding its business in other sectors aside from the traditional automotive, namely in industrial, marine, power generation and plantations. PDB lubricant business division general manager Mohd Shobri A. Bakar said although Malaysia is considered a matured market for lubricants, there are still business opportunities for industry players to explore further. (BT)

Abu Dhabi launches USD7bn port
Abu Dhabi launched operations at a multi-billion dollar port facility last Saturday, seeking to diversify its oil-based economy with a project that could intensify competition for the region's shipping traffic with neighbouring emirate Dubai. Abu Dhabi Ports Co said Khalifa Port, built on a man-made island in the Taweelah area, and its adjacent Khalifa Industrial Zone, would together be two-thirds the size of Singapore when fully built. (BT)

Kelington Group upbeat on growth in high tech industries
Kelington Group Bhd is optimistic over its long-term prospects on the back of growth and advancements in the high technology industries after securing a recent batch of orders worth RM43.4m. Its chief operating officer Ong Weng Leong said Kelington's expertise in ultra-high purity (UHP) gas and chemical delivery solutions is well-suited for emerging sectors with huge untapped potential like solar energy, light-emitting diode-related products, bioscience, wafer fabrication and pharmaceutical. (Malaysian Reserve)

Ingens buy to support Ninetology Marketing growth ambitions
Ninetology Marketing SB's offer to take private ACE market-listed Ingenuity Solutions Bhd at RM0.55 sen a share is primarily to support the former's regional expansion ambitions for the mobile devices market. Ninetology chief executive officer and managing director Sean Ng said Ingens' existing businesses like software distribution, distribution of information and communication technology (ICT) products, system integrations and after-sales support services would provide his company the ability to scale-up its execution capability and growth potential. (Malaysian Reserve)