20130118 0937 Local & Global Economy Related News.

Perisai Petroleum has named its new jack-up drilling rig Perisai Pacific 101. The technologically advanced rig marks the company’s maiden investment in the high-value drilling business segment. “Costing US$208m and under construction in Singapore by established shipyard PPL Shipyard, Perisai Pacific 101 is set to enhance the group’s focus on upstream offshore development and production activities,” said MD Izzet Ishak. (Bernama)

Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd expects its bottom line to register double-digit growth this year, riding on the sector's booming performance, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Perisai Petroleum managing director Izzet Ishak said this year there will be more activities in the oil and gas sector, of which some of the oil majors will be using its services such as chartering its vessels and drilling services. "We will also be allocating US$200m for capital expenditure this year on FPSO (floating, production, storage and offshore) activities,"  Izzet said. He added the company is expected to take delivery of Perisai Pacific which is its first drilling rig by July next year costing US$208m. The first rig will impact Perisai's earnings at around RM50m and RM60m a year. (BT)

Khazanah Nasional saw its portfolio value jump to a record high as at the end of 2012. Its overall realisable asset value increased by 12.4% to a new high of RM121.6bn. Its net worth adjusted (NWA) portfolio value surged 24.3% to a record RM86.9bn, outstripping the stock market benchmark index's total return of 14.1%. "A lot of it was driven by IPOs (like IHH Healthcare and Astro Malaysia), which contributed RM9.1bn to the NWA value, although the telco sector also did well," MD Tan Sri Azman Mohtar said. (BT)

Khazanah Nasional Bhd and  Sun Life Financial Inc, a Canada-based insurer, have agreed to purchase a 98% stake in CIMB Aviva Assurance Bhd, the insurance arm of the CIMB Banking group, in a transaction valued at RM1.8bn. Khazanah and Sun Life are each paying RM900m for the transaction, which includes entering into a new 20-year exclusive bancassurance agreement with CIMB Bank Bhd to distribute the products through its chain of  312 branches nationwide. (Financial Daily)

Tengku Datuk Ibrahim Petra, the former substantial shareholder of  Perdana Petroleum, has been ordered by the High Court to return the shares in the company that he had held on behalf of his former partner Kho Tian Boo by today. On 11 Jan, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Tengku Ibrahim was holding 833,860 Perdana shares in trust, on behalf of Kho, and ordered Tengku Ibrahim to transfer these shares back within seven days. The High Court also ordered Tengku  Ibrahim to pay damages, an interest of 5% on the damages and costs to Kho. Tengku Ibrahim and Kho founded Perdana, formerly known as Petra Perdana and went on to list the company in 2000. Kho is the father of Perdana's executive directors Datuk Henry Kho and Francis Koh. (Star)

Achiever Development Sdn Bhd, the third biggest shareholder in Perdana Petroleum Bhd, has sold its 35.53m shares (about 7.4%) of the o&g service provider. As such Datuk Tiong Su Kok and Tiong Chiong Hiiung have ceased to be shareholders of Perdana Pertroleum. Su Kok also owns Nam Cheong Ltd, a Singapore-listed company specialising in offshore support vessels. Two weeks ago Perdana Petroleum received a RM430m contract from Petronas Carigali for a five-year charter for anchor handling tug supply vessels with effect from Jan 2013. (Financial Daily)

Shareholders of Scomi Group, including factions that had previously opposed the entry of IJM Corp, are now ready to vote in favour of the construction giant becoming the former's biggest  shareholder, sources said. This means the proposed issuance of RM110m worth of bonds to IJM, is likely to sail through, contrary to earlier reports that two opposing sides within Scomi were preparing to lock horns. The bond issuance, when converted, would make IJM the single largest shareholder in Scomi with a 24.4% stake. IJM will not be entitled to vote at the EGM because it is an interested party. Maju Group executive chairman Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed and his associate Datuk Phillip Siew Mun Chuang were believed to have initially opposed the entry of IJM, citing the dilution of their stakes should the latter convert its debt into equity. (Starbiz)

The RM5.2bn privatisation of  KFC Holdings (M) Bhd and its parent QSR Brands Bhd will be completed on Monday, subsequently paving the way for the delisting of both firms. QSR Brands managing director Datuk Ahmad Zaki Zahid said KFC and QSR shareholders will be paid on January 23 and January 25, respectively.  “The RM5.2bn privatisation cost is being paid by Johor Corp Bhd (JCorp), the Employees Provident Fund and CVC Capital Partners,” Ahmad Zaki told reporters. (BT)

AirAsia Bhd's head honcho  Tan Sri Tony Fernandes    hinted at the possibility of forming another joint venture (JV) airline, but stopped short of saying with whom. However, he dismissed JV opportunities in South Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Brunei. "No (South) Korea. No Cambodia. No Vietnam, etc. We have got a fantastic spread of countries and we will now build all those to (the) size of Malaysia," he said, referring to AirAsia's existing operations in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. AirAsia was recently reported in the Indian media to have held preliminary discussions with the Videocon group for a possible JV in India. (Sun)

Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which is set to become a full member of the oneworld airline alliance, will start offering a full range of oneworld services and benefits from 1 February. MAS passengers will gain access to the alliance's global network which covers over 850 destinations in almost 160 countries. Current oneworld members include airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines. Separately, Khazanah denied plans to take MAS private, dismissing market speculation that such a move may be on the cards for the ailing airline. Managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said: “Yes, we can take it private, but if we do so, we still haven't solved the problem of how to put more money into the company." (BT)

Managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar quashed speculation that it is joining a consortium comprising Malaysia Airports and YTL Corp to bid for the UK's Stansted Airport. "Our interest is through MAHB, we are not averse to it (bidding). But Khazanah is not going in directly," he said. To a question on whether Khazanah, which owns 40.4% of MAHB, had found a potential replacement for MAHB's managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, whose contract ends this June, he said it was "too premature" to talk about the issue of replacement. However, Tan Sri Azman vaguely alluded that former Pos Malaysia Bhd CEO Datuk Syed Faisal Albar Syed Albar is in the running with a few others to potentially replace Bashir. (BT)

AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said the carrier is targeting some 50,000 passengers flying to Jeddah in its first year, with commercial services starting from 16 February, starting with three weekly flights, then increasing to 4x weekly from 1 May. He said there was a lot of demand from Malaysians, who are looking for affordable flights into Saudi Arabia and equally from around the region, such as Indonesia.  (BT)

The Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), which has granted funds worth RM80m to the country's young technopreneurs, wants to extend the grant to more states this year. Since MTDC launched its Symbiosis Programme in 2008, the focus "seemed to be very federal", said its chief executive Datuk Norhalim Yunus, adding that it's time for it to expand the reach to create the necessary critical mass of start-up companies in technology businesses. (BT)