20121210 1002 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

Petronas gets green light for Progress deal
Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) received the approval of the Canadian government to take over Calgary-based natural gas producer Progress Energy Resources for CND5.2bn (RM16.4bn) last Friday, ending two months of uncertainty on the matter. The acquisition was previously met with opposition from the Canadian government that was under pressure because the transaction, if approved, would increase the taking over of Canada’s lucrative oil sands by foreign government-controlled oil majors. (Financial Daily)

TM welcomes spectrum award
Telekom Malaysia (TM) welcomed the government’s move to award the 2,600 MHz spectrum to eight companies that will allow them to provide 4G services, describing this as a positive effort in terms of promoting development of telecommunications’ infrastructure and services in the country. Its chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Halim Shafie said the introduction of this 2,600 MHz spectrum would definitely change the competitive landscape of the country’s telecommunications industry given that the spectrum is basically a resource. (BT)

Encouraging sales fuel Petronas Dagangan’s optimism
Petronas Dagangan expects a good fourth quarter financial results on the back of encouraging sales, said its managing director/chief executive officer Aminul Rashid Mohd Zamzam. He said fuel oil prices normally increase a little at the end of the year due to high energy consumption. He added that if the trend continues like in previous years, it will be favourable to the company. (BT)

Nam Cheong launches Malaysia’s first MPSV
Nam Cheong Dockyard, Malaysia’s largest manufacturer of offshore support vessels (OSV), recorded another milestone last Saturday when it launched the NC800, the country’s first diesel electric multi-purpose platform support vessel (MPSV). Designed by Finnish company Wartsila, the RM106m vessel is commissioned by Bumi Armada. The ship, to be named Armada Tuah 300, will serve Sarawak Shell and Sabah Shell Petroleum in the deepwater Gumusut field, off the coast of Sabah. (BT)

Astro looks ahead
Fresh from announcing its third-quarter results, Astro Malaysia Holdings says it is ready to continue to push forward and put behind it the “noise” which had surrounded the stock’s poor performance since its listing on 19 Oct. Chief executive officer, Datuk Rohana Rozhan said the pay-TV operator’s growth would hinge on three growth pillars, namely new subscribers, a higher take-up of “value-add” services among its current subscribers which will cause its average revenue per user to rise as well as increase in advertising revenue. (StarBiz)

Oldtown private placement priced at RM1.95 per share
Oldtown has fixed the price of its first tranche of placement shares at RM1.95 per share, its filing to Bursa Malaysia last Friday noted. The price is a 4.6% discount to the five-day traded average of RM2.04 per share of the cafe chain operator. (Malaysian Reserve)

Revealed: The reason behind oversubscribed shares for IPOs
The multiple times oversubscription of shares for local initial public offerings (IPOs) may not be due to pent-up demand from local institutional investors, but simply a case of the investors putting in a higher-than-required bid to ensure they secure a certain minimum amount of shares in the company. Institutional investors were usually inclined to bid for higher amounts of IPO shares than what they really aimed for as they would normally only be allotted a certain portion of the shares they bid for. (Malaysian Reserve)

Gabungan AQRS secures two credit facilities worth RM92m
Gabungan AQRS has secured two credit facilities amounting to RM91.5m from Bank Kerjasama Raykat Malaysia. In an exchange filing last Friday, the company said the first facility, amounting to RM10m with a tenure of 42 months, was to part finance up to 75% of the soft cost of works for the proposed development known as One Temenggong. The development comprises of one block of service apartments on Jalan Temenggung, Mukim Tebrau, Johor Bahru. (Malaysian Reserve)


Bumi Armada: Nam Cheong launches MYR106m ship. Nam Cheong Dockyard Sdn Bhd, Malaysia's largest manufacturer of Offshore Support Vessel (OSV), recorded another milestone last Saturday when it launched the NC800, the country's first diesel electric multi-purpose platform support vessel (MPSV). Designed by Finnish company Wartsila, the MYR106m vessel is commissioned by Bumi Armada Bhd. To be named Armada Tuah 300, the ship will serve Sarawak Shell Bhd and Sabah Shell Petroleum Co in the deepwater Gumusut field, off the coast of Sabah. (Source: Business Times)

Scomi Group: Scomi Oiltools wins MYR94m job in Myanmar. Scomi Group Bhd's oilfield services business unit Scomi Oiltools Sdn Bhd has been awarded by PTTEP International Ltd (PTTEPI) a drilling fluids and drilling waste management contract worth MYR93.6 million in Myanmar. Under the contract which starts in the fourth quarter of 2012, Scomi will provide both its drilling fluids and drilling waste management equipment and related engineering services for three blocks in Myanmar. (Source: The Sun Daily)

Construction: Singapore link to Tanjung Puteri land? The long awaited rail transit system (RTS) from Singapore will likely land in Tanjung Puteri, Johor Baru, according to executives involved in the project. An announcement, expected in the next two months, will finally put to rest speculation on the location of the RTS that is likely to provide the connection from Woodlands in Singapore to Johor Baru. Mentari Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman announced last week that a further 200 acres would be reclaimed in Tanjung Puteri which would be extended as the new centre for Johor Baru City. (Sources: The Edge Financial Daily)

O&G: Ineos Technologies secures Petronas deal. Petronas has awarded Ineos Technologies the linear low/high density polyethylene (LL/HDPE) portion of its MYR60b Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project. Ineos Technologies business director Pete Grant said the company will be providing the process design, training and start-up assistance for the 350 kilotonnes per annum (kta) LL/HDPE plant. (Source: Business Times)

Transportation: KTM Bhd on track to profitability. KTM Bhd (KTMB) says the five-year business plan that it presented to the government recently is aimed at turning around the loss-making company into a profitable entity. KTMB president Datuk Elias Kadir said the business plan includes improvements to the commuter train's delivery time and operational efficiency. (Source: Business Times)