20121107 1004 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, synonymous with the Sunrise property brand, will not have a role in UEM Land Holdings from the beginning of next year when his resignation from the board takes effect. According to a stock exchange filing by the company, Tong, 53, is quitting his position as a director "to focus more time on his family and own business." He was appointed to the board in late Feb 2011. (Starbiz)

Capital Dynamics, the fund manager for Malaysia's only closed-end fund iCapital.biz Bhd, would "seriously consider" resigning if any of the three people nominated to the firm's board last Friday get a seat. iCapital.biz, which is managed by seasoned fund manager Tan Teng Boo, will oppose the attempt by Andrew Pegge, Lo Kok Kee and Low Nyap Heng to be elected as directors at its AGM here this Saturday. Capital Dynamics had yesterday sent a letter to shareholders by courier explaining that it would quit as both the fund manager and investment adviser to iCapital.biz should Pegge, Lo or Low succeed. Tan said on Tuesday the objective of the three directors, who were nominated by one Evelyn Ho, was "very short term". “From our research, their objective is to hit and run,” he told journalists at a briefing. (Starbiz)

Bursa Malaysia has publicly reprimanded  Perdana Petroleum and its former executive chairman and CEO Tengku Dato’ Ibrahim Petra for breach of the listing requirements. In addition, Tengku Ibrahim was fined a sum of RM50,000. Perdana had breached paragraph 8.23(1) of the listing requirements as its subsidiary Perdana Resources Sdn Bhd had, from 19 Jan 2001 to 5 Dec 2006, provided financial assistance to party(ies) who did not fall within the permitted categories under paragraph 8.23(1)(i) to (iii) of the listing requirements. (BMSB)

Telekom Malaysia (TM) has signed a collaboration agreement with Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) and VADS Bhd for its BizApp Store. In a statement, TM said the collaboration marked a key milestone for the company by bringing cloud services to Malaysian small and medium enterprises via collaboration with TeAM and supported by VADS' platform. The TM BizApp Store is a self-service web portal that offers a wide range of business applications developed by international software companies and local independent software vendors (ISVs).

At the same event, VADS also signed a separate collaboration agreement with TeAM to provide a cloud platform for TeAM's ISVs. (Bernama)

Maxis launched its Built for SME Solution for the logistics and transportation industry. Head of Maxis Business Services Fitri Abdullah said the application, the first of its kind in the country, comprises Maxis' managed machine-to-machine, logistics and warehouse management system and fixed line saver with Unity Hotline. These 3 solutions are designed to provide logistics SMEs with end-to-end solutions from mobile to applications and software under one bundled offering, to help them run their business efficiently and cost-effectively. (Bernama)

Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad met Astro staff over the fate of the shares they had subscribed for. A town hall was held at the request of employees as Astro's share price fell below its RM3 IPO price. Those who took loans to subscribe for the shares now face margin calls. Sources say efforts are being made to get the financing banks to give more time before making margin calls or to lower the margin threshold for Astro employees. (Star Biz)

Shareholders in Malaysia's two main KFC fast food franchisees have overwhelmingly backed a $1.7bn bid to take the business private, despite suggestions by some minority shareholders they would try to block the deal. Shareholders in both QSR Brands Bhd and KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd in meeting on Monday and Tuesday approved what is the largest such deal in Malaysia since the privatisation of pay-TV firm Astro All Asia Network Plc in 2010. About 98% of shareholders in  QSR Brands and around 99% of shareholders in KFC Holdings voted in favour of the deal. (Reuters)

Malaysia Airports (MAHB) presented the final batch of awards to successful tenderers for KLIA2 yesterday. MD Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad said it received overwhelming response for the tender briefing sessions with over 1,600 interested parties. "All in all, 161 outlets have been tendered for the first day of operations at KLIA2," said Bashir.(Bernama)

The  express rail link (ERL) extension to  KLIA2 is expected to increase passenger traffic on the KLIA Express and Transit services by 40% to 7.4m passengers annually once it is operational in May 2013. ERL is a JV among YTL Corp (50% equity interest),  Lembaga Tabung Haji (40%) and  Trisilco Equity (10%). The extended line is about 2.14km long, with the new train terminal located at the gateway@KLIA2, the transport hub cum shopping mall for the new terminal. The fare from KL Sentral to KLIA2 will remain at the current RM35 while the inter-terminal fare will be RM2. The ERL  extension is on track for completion in March 2013. According to CEO Noormah Mohd Nor "When the low cost carriers moved (to LCCT) we lost about 20% of our ridership. So I am confident once everything is up and running in klia2, we can get back our lost passengers". The fare from KL Sentral to KLIA or klia2 will still be RM35 while the inter-terminal fare will be RM2. The ERL wil be completed in March 2013, ahead of klia2's targeted completion on May 1. (Financial Daily)

Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERL) may consider floating its shares on Bursa Malaysia to raise funds if it is chosen to operate the proposed high-speed rail project linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. CEO Noormah Mohd Noor said the feasibility study on the project was still being done by the Land Public Transport Commission.     "We're very interested to bid the project. I understand that the study will be submitted to the government to decide on who will be the operator," she said during a media briefing here on Tuesday on the progress of the ERL extension to KLIA2 project. (Bernama)

A revised bid by Malaysia Steel Works Bhd (Masteel) and KUB Malaysia Bhd to build  an intra city commuter train  covering 100km of  Iskandar Malaysia in Johor appears to have been approved. The JV has been offered a 14.31ha parcel of land in Kempas Johor to construct the commuter train depot. Previous reports valued the rail network at RM1.23bn. (Sun Biz)

Pestech International Bhd told the stock exchange yesterday that it plans to explore the establishment of power supply infrastructure to the Dongphosy Specific Economic Zone (DSEZ) in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) with UPL LAO Co Ltd. UPL is jointly developing the DSEZ with Lao PDR. Its plans to develop the DSEZ into a mixed development project that would require sufficient power supply. (BT)

Sime Darby Bhd's director Datuk Sreesanthan Eliathamby, who is facing seven charges of insider trading by the Securities Commission (SC), has withdrawn his offer for a re-election at the upcoming AGM. The announcement to Bursa Malaysia was made on Tuesday. (Sun)

Boustead Holdings Bhd, its wholly owned subsidiary,    Mutiara Rini Sdn Bhd is acquiring three parcels of freehold land in Jalan Cochrane for development, totalling 12.84 acres from LTAT for RM106.7m or RM190 psf. The transaction takes into account RM8.27m LTAT incurred for relocating occupants of the government quarters, demolishing the existing houses and upgrading facilities for a sports school. The acquisition of 12.84 acres makes up only a small portion of the 60 acres at stake in Jalan Cochrame.     The land was owned by the government and used for quarters for civil servants. The 12.84 acres was later disposed to LTAT and no details on the value of the initial investment by LTAT or net book value was provided in the announcement. LTAT is the single largest shareholder of Boustead at 59.7%. (Financial Daily)

Favelle Favco Bhd's  units have secured six purchase orders for its cranes valued at RM58.5m in Oct-2012. Itt said on Tuesday its units had received five purchase orders or letters of intent to supply offshore cranes. They were from BAM Clough Joint Venture, Brooke Dockyard and Engineering Works Corporation, Tat Hong Heavy Equipment Pte Ltd, Er Sai Caspian Contractor LLC and DESB Marine Services Sdn Bhd.The sixth order was from BASF Petronas Chemicals Sdn Bhd to supply cranes and winches. (Starbiz)

Jaycorp said its unit, Jaycorp Vantage Sdn Bhd, has inked a deal with Mensilin Holdings Sdn Bhd to acquire industrial land-cum-buildings as well as plant and machinery in Johor Baru, Johor, for RM8.0m. (BT)


Malayan Banking: Plans for 144 branches in Asean
Malayan Banking (Maybank) plans to open 144 more branches and increase its market share in the Asean region in the next 3 years. President and CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said today the bank is eyeing to open an additional 4 branches in Laos, Singapore (13), Cambodia (9), Philippines (48) and Indonesia (70). This would increase the number of branches from 1 to 5 in Laos, from 22 to 35 in Singapore, from 11 to 20 in Cambodia, from 52 to 100 in the Philippines and from 380 to 450 in Indonesia. Maybank currently enjoys a 5% market share in Singapore, 3% in Indonesia and 1% in the Philippines. With the opening of the Laotian branch, Maybank has a physical presence in all 10 Asean countries including three branches in Brunei and two in Vietnam, although it has not gone into retail banking in Thailand and Myanmar yet. (Business Times)

Boustead Holdings: Acquires Jalan Conchrane land for RM106.7m
Boustead Holdings, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Mutiara Rini Sdn Bhd (MRSB), is acquiring 3 parcels of land totalling 12.84 acres from lembaga Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) for 106.7m, or about RM190 per sq ft. In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, the company said the purchase consideration for the freehold land in  Jalan Conchrane was arrived at after taking into account RM8.27m incurred by LTAT to relocate occupants of government quarters, demolishing the existing houses and to upgrade facilities for a sports school. (Financial Daily)

Malaysia Steel Works: Offered 14.3ha site for commuter train depot
Malaysia Steel Works JV for a proposed commuter train service has been offered 14.31ha in Kempas, Johor for its Iskandar Malaysia commuter train depot. Masteel said on Tuesday its JV company -- Metropolitan Commuter Network Sdn Bhd (MCN) -- had received the offer from the Transport Ministry to build the depot. It would submit the application to Perbadanan Aset Keretapi for the land. It said the size of the land is sufficient for MCN's depot construction and is strategically located in Johor for the efficient operation of MCN's proposed commuter train service. MCN is a JV with KUB Malaysia. (StarBiz)

Selangor Dredging: MD buys more shares
Selangor Dredging MD Teh Lip Kim bought 148,800 shares from the open market at 80 sen apiece, a filing showed Tuesday evening. The purchase raised her direct holdings in the property developer to 75.96m shares or 17.83%, an increase of 1.17% from the 16.66% or 70.98m shares she had just over 5 months ago on June 1. Teh is also deemed interested in another 170.59m shares or 40.03%. (Financial Daily)