20121217 1057 Malaysia Corporate Related News.

Gamuda: Extends MD's contract for 5 years. Gamuda Bhd group managing director Datuk Lin Yun Ling will head the conglomerate for another 5 years. In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia last Friday, the group said that its board of directors had appointed Lin's contract renewal for 5 years, from July 1, 2013 to June 20, 2018. In a press conference after the company AGM last week, Lin said that he would accept the contract renewal for another term if he was offered by the board. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

Banking: Kenanga-ECM Libra merger to dominate IA sector. Kenanga Invetsment Bank Bhd aims to dominate the independent advisory (IA) segment, leveraging its acquisition of ECM Libra Investment Bank Bhd. The merger will make the group the largest independent investment bank in the country. The MYR875.1m acquisition, sealed last Friday, will see Kenanga rationalise its operations to materialise merger synergies. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)

Healthcare: B. Braun plans MYR1.75b expansion. B. Braun vice-president of operations and head of global centre of excellence for Intravenous Access Dr Juergen Schloesser said the company will invest MYR1.75b in its Penang plant to expand research and development facilities. With with a state-of-the-art automation and production technology, the company aims to increase its production by 50% by the end of 2013. The Penang plant is the largest production site outside Europe, which houses production plants for medical devices, surgical instruments and pharmaceuticals in the region with some 5,000 employees. (Source: Business Times)


Bank Muamalat posts lower profit
Bank Muamalat Malaysia posted a lower pre-tax profit of RM120.2m for its first half-year ended 30 Sept compared with RM123.5m in the same period previously. In a statement last Friday, the bank said net income rose 19.2% to RM496.4m from the previous corresponding period, underpinned by higher financing income. (Financial Daily)

AirAsia aims high
AirAsia, which is buying 100 more Airbus aircraft valued at USD9.4bn as it transforms into an Asian airline, sees the potential to achieve the target of between 60m and 70m passengers. AirAsia chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the low-cost carrier was in a fantastic part of the world, especially in South-East Asia. Fernandes said 50% of AirAsia’s destinations are those which had not been served by airlines and it has been able to open new routes and destinations. (StarBiz)

UEM sells RM600m of five-year sukuk at 4.25%
UEM Land, Malaysia’s biggest property company, cut costs on its first Islamic bond after investors bid for six times the amount on offer, seeking to diversify holdings amid a shortage of real estate sukuk. The company, ranked the fourth-highest investment grade of AA- by Malaysian Rating Corp, sold RM600m of five-year notes at 4.25%, the low-end of its price guidance, according to an e-mail statement that clarified orders were close to RM3.7bn. (StarBizWeek)

Pharmaceutical tech park to draw RM1.5bn
Malaysian Biotechnology Corp (BiotechCorp) expects the pharmaceutical technology park in Alor Gajah, Malacca, to attract RM1.5bn (USD500m) in investments in the next three years. BiotechCorp chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Nazleen Kamal said the investments would include the cost to develop the park. He said the first phase of the park consisted of 81ha, with construction expected to start by the fourth quarter next year or the first quarter of 2014. (StarBizWeek)

IJM India to launch RM168m project in Hyderabad
IJM (India) Infrastructure, a subsidiary of IJM Corp, plans to launch a new commercial development project here with a gross development value of 300 crore rupees (RM168m) next year, its country head Anthony Teoh said. The development will be on a 1.6ha site and the company hopes to start the project next year, which will be followed by a mixed development project. (Financial Daily)

MAS-GMR Aerospace Engineering in talks with Spicejet for MRO biz
MAS-GMR Aerospace Engineering (MGAE) is in talks with India’s budget airline Spicejet to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for its new fleet of Bombardier Q400s. Spicejet was MGAE’s first customer since its operation on 1 Nov 2011, its chief executive officer Khairuddin Hamzah said. (Malaysian Reserve)

Takaful Malaysia declares second interim dividend of 10%
Syarikat Takaful Malaysia declared a second interim dividend of 10% for the financial year ending 31 Dec 2012 last Friday, bringing the total dividends declared to 25%. In a statement last Friday, the company said this translated into a dividend yield of 4.62% based on its share closing price of RM5.41 as at 13 Dec. The total interim dividend represented a payout ratio of about 60% of the net profits generated for the period ended 30 Sept 2012. (Malaysian Reserve)

Malakoff to issue RM460m sukuk to buy Hicom Power
Malakoff Corp’s move to buy Hicom Power for RM575m will be funded primarily by a sukuk issuance. This is seen as a move to strengthen the MMC Corp’s energy utilities subsidiary before its initial public offering in the second-quarter of next year. The acquisition of Hicom Power, an operation and maintenance company for power plants, will be funded by issue of sukuk worth RM460m while the rest will be paid through internally generated funds. (Malaysian Reserve)

FGVH, Astro to replace AirAsia, MMHE on KLCI index from 24 Dec
Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) and Astro Malaysia Holdings, which raised funds in two of Asia’s biggest initial public offerings this year, will join the country’s benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index from 24 Dec. AirAsia, the region’s biggest low-cost carrier, and Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings (MMHE), a rig builder, will make way in the half-yearly review, FTSE Group and Bursa Malaysia said in a joint statement last Thursday. (Malaysian Reserve)