Sabah & Sarawak
Siemens to expand scope of activities in Sarawak
Siemens Malaysia plans to further expand its scope of activities and investment in Sarawak, with a particular focus on gas-based power generation. President and chief executive officer Prakash Chandran said Sarawak has huge potential and Siemens was well-positioned to be its preferred technology partner.
Sarawak Oil Palms to acquire Shin Yang’s oil palm unit for RM873 million
Sarawak Oil Palms Berhad (SOPB) had entered into a conditional share sale agreement with Shin Yang Holdings Sdn Bhd (Shin Yang) to acquire the entire equity of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shin Yang Oil Palms (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd (SYOP). At present, the main assets of SYOP comprise of its sizable land bank of approximately 47,000 hectares of land in Sarawak, of which 23,798 hectares of the lands have been fully planted with oil palms and 6,772 hectares are suitable for oil palm cultivation.
RHB Research neutral on SOP’s proposed acquisition
RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd (RHB Research) maintained a neutral’rating on Sarawak Oil Palm Bhd (SOP) following the company’s proposed acquisition of Shin Yang Oil Palm (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd (SYOP) for a total cash consideration of RM873 million from Shin Yang Holding Sdn Bhd(SYHSB). The research firm believed that the proposed acquisition will have a minimal impact on SOP’s earnings in the near-term although it favoured SYOP’s growing maturity of the oil palm plantation.
India’s Ballarpur calls off us$500 mln deal to dispose Malaysian unit
Ballarpur Industries Ltd (BILT), the largest pulp and paper mill in India, has cancelled its proposed sale of its loss-making Malaysian unit, Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd (SFI), to Pandawa Sakti Sdn Bhd for US$500 million (about RM2.02 billion). Ballarpur, which owns a 98.08 per cent stake through its Netherland-based investment firm Ballarpur Paper Holdings BV in SFI, called off the deal after the buyer was unable to meet the deadline after several extensions.
CPO price recovery bodes well for Dancomech
The recovery of crude palm oil (CPO) prices in the first few months of the year bodes well for Dancomech Holdings Bhd (Dancomech), the research arm of MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research) says. To note, 59.13 per cent of Dancomech’s revenue comes from customers in the palm oil and oleochemicals industry.
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National
Pacific Mutual hunts out dividend paying stocks
Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd is aiming the best dividend yielding stocks amid frantic market volatility following UK’s vote to exit the European Union. Central banks, including Malaysia, are expected to remain accommodative — with the United States likely to delay rate hikes — to cushion the downside risks from Brexit.
AirAsia’s Fernandes joins Amnesty International’s Global Council
Malaysian entrepreneur and founder of AirAsia, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is joining Amnesty International’s prestigious Global Council. The Global Council was established in 2013 to help raise public support and the financial resources to fuel the organization’s expansion in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
Bursa Malaysia receives two awards for Best Islamic Finance Facilitation
Bursa Malaysia Bhd was named the ‘Best Islamic Finance Facilitation Platform Asia 2016’, for the second consecutive year, and ‘Best Islamic Exchange Asia 2016’ by the Global Banking & Finance Review.
“The BSAS platform saw average daily trading value grow 121 per cent to RM15.2 billion in 2015, which can be attributed to the increased domestic and international demand especially from the Middle East/North Africa and the Asia regions,” it said.
International reserves at rm390.4 bln as at June 30
Bank Negara Malaysia’s international reserves amounted to RM390.4 billion (US$97.2 billion) as at June 30, 2016.
The reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.1 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times the short-term external debt, the central bank said in a statement.
Ocbc retains Malaysia’s 2016 gdp forecast at 4.4 pct
OCBC Bank’s Global Treasury Research Research and Strategy has retained its forecast on Malaysia’s 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) at 4.4 per cent. “Given the resilience of private spending in the first quarter of the year (1Q16), it is not too surprising to see Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) remaining relatively sanguine about Malaysia’s growth prospects,” it said in its 2016 Global Mid Year Outlook report.
Decathlon aims to open 60 stores within next decade in Malaysia
French sports equipment chain store, Decathlon, is embarking on an aggressive expansion in Malaysia by targeting to open up to 60 stores within the next decade.
Decathlon Malaysia chief executive officer Tom Meng said the expansion was in line with the company’s global strategy to triple its stores worldwide to 3,000 in the next 10 years from 1,000 currently.