BTbiznewz2u

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM MK, Buy, TP: RM4.90) has not received clarification from the government concerning
Pahang state-owned firm High Speed Broadband Technology Sdn Bhd’s (HSBT) participation in the High Speed Broadband (HSBB) project there. “I am sure there will be active discussions between the government and TM, as well as with
HSBT on details of the arrangement, but so far, the government has not said anything,” said group chief operating officer Datuk Adnan Rofiee. “If you look at the demand of the HSBB project given to TM, they are in key areas and there is a lot of demand and because of that, I am sure there will be a lot of opportunities for the other players, as well as for TM to expand on the HSBB network,” he added. TM yesterday signed agreements with KJS and D’Harmoni to provide back haul connectivity and telecommunication tower facility services for 5 years in Johor and Selangor. (Financial Daily)

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AmBank (M) Bhd, unit of AMMB Holdings Bhd (AMM MK, Buy, TP: RM4.76), has issued the first tranche of ringgit
denominated Innovative Tier-1 capital (RMIT1) amounting to RM300m under the RMIT1 programme. “The RMIT1 received very encouraging responses from both institutional and private investors despite the various competing bank capital
issuances in the market. The over-subscription of the first tranche demonstrated the continued investor confidence of the medium to long term value propositions of AmBank Group,” said AHB group managing director Cheah Tek Kuang. Rated A3 by RAM Rating Services Bhd, each tranche would have a permanent tenure of 30 years from the issue date with AmBank having an option to call back on the 10th anniversary of the issue date or on any interest payment date thereafter. (Financial Daily)
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PLUS Expressways Bhd hardly saw any excitement in its share price despite reports of a proposal submitted by former officials said to be close to Tan Sri Halim Saad on taking over the government’s stake in the highway concessionaire. Singapore Business Times reported yesterday that a consortium with Ibrahim Bidin as a shareholder had put
in a proposal to the Economic Planning Unit to take over the government’s interest in PLUS. In return, the consortium was,
amongst others, prepared to give a 20% discount on toll rates. Ibrahim, who was known to handle Halim’s private businesses, was previously the managing director of Metacorp Bhd and had stints in Renong Overseas Corporation Sdn Bhd and United Engineers (M) Bhd. PLUS is 64% owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd. (Financial Daily)
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MISC Bhd group has entered into an equal joint venture with Vitol Tank Terminals International BV group to construct
and operate an oil terminal with a base capital of about 741,200 cubic metres at Tanjung Bin, Johor. In a statement
yesterday, MISC said its subsidiary MISC International (L) Ltd and VTTI Tanjung Bin SA would each hold a 50% stake in the
joint-venture company, which in turn would wholly own ATT Tanjung Bin Sdn Bhd. It said the initial paid-up capital at the JV company would be at least US$11m (RM39m). (Financial Daily)
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Naza Group, one of the country’s largest unlisted conglomerates whose mainstay are motor trading, automotive
franchises and property development, is likely to take over construction outfit Kumpulan Jetson Bhd, sources said. It is
learnt that Naza Group bought a large stake in Kumpulan Jetson, with a deal likely to be announced in Bursa Malaysia soon. It will mark the entry of the Naza Group to the listed company arena. Yesterday, about 19.2m shares or 36.4% of Kumpulan Jetson crossed in several large off-market black trades at 70 sen a share. The purchaser is said to be Naza Group. (Financial Daily)
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A firm believed to be connected to Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar and a major subsidiary of Iran’s national oil company will apparently be working together to build 2 oil refineries in Iran and Malaysia totalling US$7bn, according to various reports. A recent report from Tehran Times, which cited the Shana news agency, stated that a local energy delegation is to visit
Iran on August 23rd to discuss ways to accelerate the implementation of the joint energy projects. The project would see National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction working with SKS Development to develop an oil refinery in Kedah and a gas condensate refinery in Iran. The refinery in Iran would have 120,000 bdp capacity while the Kedah refinery would have a capacity of 250,000 bpd. Iran would supply the refinery with 100,000 bpd extra heavy crude and 150,000 bpd of heavy crude as feedstock. (Malaysian Reserve)
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Zelan Bhd hopes to return to the black in the current financial year ending March 31 backed by its current orderbook of RM1.8bn and promising prospects in the overseas and domestic markets. Chairman Datuk Anwar Aji said that the company had to work hard to secure more projects, adding that the RM1.8bn worth of jobs comprising mainly overseas power plant construction projects should last the company until the 4th quarter of next year. He added that the company was seeking to find a balance between local and overseas jobs. (Starbiz)
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AirAsia X is in talks with Middle Eastern investors as it seeks fresh capital to help fund a potential expansion into Europe and Africa. AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said the Malaysian carrier needs “a stronger equity base after 2010,”
as it launched direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi. “There had been interest from investors in the Middle East,
including institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds,” he said. He declined to specify who the carrier was in talks with, adding that the size of any stake sold “will be decided next year and (depends) on the appetite of investors”. (Financial Daily)
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Tune Talk Sdn Bhd yesterday launched its commercial service with the lowest flat calling rates and other incentives. Rolled out as a prepaid service with the prefix ‘010’, Tune Talk offers a no-frills voice and short messaging service package with what it describes as a simple, value-for-money product with easy accessibility and wide distribution reach. Chief executive
Officer Jason Lo said the Asean market had relatively low mobile penetration and said works were under way to forge mobile network virtual operator (MVNO) deals with network operators in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand the Philippines and Cambodia in the next three years. It aims to achieve 1m subscribers within a year of launch. (Financial Daily)
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The consumer price index (CPI) for July declined 2.4% from a year earlier, the second consecutive month of decline due to the changes in the prices of petrol and diesel that came into effect in June last year. The Statistics Department said yesterday the CPI for July declined to 111.9 from 114.7 a year earlier, but when compared with June, the CPI increased 0.1%. ”The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages for July 2009 compared with the same month in 2008 showed an increase of 2%, while the index for non-food decreased by 4.6%”, it said. (Financial Daily)
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The government expects to save RM33m in subsidy per year with the use of RON95 fuel. They said that 80% of motorists
were expected to switch to the new fuel priced at RM1.75 per litre. (Malaysian Reserve)
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The Selangor government has drawn up guidelines for hillslope development for implementation by year-end, Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said yesterday. He said the guidelines covered projects on slopes that had a gradient of 25° and above, technically referred to as Class 3 and Class 4 slopes. From the state government’s perspective, he said the guidelines made up the final draft, adding that interested parties like the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda), professionals, architects and civil engineers were invited to a discussion on the draft of the guidelines. (Financial Daily)