NST Online Business Times : latest
NST Online Business Times : latest |
| Posted: http://www.btimes.com.my en Monday, October 15, 2012, 12.20 PM http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015104715/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015104715/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:47:15 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd, Malaysia's largest lender, is considering options to expand in Thailand including takeovers after raising RM3.66 billion (US$1.2 billion) this month to boost its presence in Southeast Asia. "There are a number of options we are assessing at the moment," chief executive officer Abdul Wahid Omar, 48, said last week in an interview in Tokyo. "Our default position is to look at opening a branch there by 2014, but if there are other interesting opportunities we'll be open to look at them." Malayan Banking, also known as Maybank, is competing with Southeast Asian rivals that are reducing reliance on their home markets through acquisitions in the region's faster-growing countries. The company, which already controls PT Bank Internasional Indonesia and owns smaller stakes of lenders in Vietnam and Pakistan, bought Singapore brokerage Kim Eng Holdings Ltd last year. Maybank earned 28 per cent of pretax income from overseas operations in the six months through June 30 and plans to generate 40 per cent of operating profit from abroad by 2015, Wahid said last year, adding that he wants the bank to enter all of Southeast Asia's major markets by then. "It's hard to grow organically in Thailand," Lim Sue Lin, an analyst at HwangDBS Vickers Research Sdn, said by phone in Kuala Lumpur. "It's better for them to get ready infrastructure and distribution channels via an acquisition. It helps if the target has a good local franchise." Shares of Maybank have risen 4.2 per cent this year and were unchanged at RM8.94 as of 10am in Kuala Lumpur today. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index has gained 7.9 per cent this year. "It is our intention to have a full presence across all the 10 countries in Southeast Asia," Abdul Wahid said in an interview on Oct 12. "Within that context, the idea of raising additional capital is meant to enable us to grow a bit more aggressive in markets like Indonesia, the Philippines and later possibly into Singapore." Abdul Wahid, who was attending the Institute of International Finance's annual meeting in Tokyo, reiterated that proceeds from its Oct 8 share sale are not meant for making a bid for Bank of Ayudhya Pcl in Thailand. General Electric Co said last month that it's reviewing options for its remaining stake in Bangkok-based Bank of Ayudhya after selling an initial 7.6 per cent. Singapore's Oversea- Chinese Banking Corp and Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings Bhd are considering bidding for the stake, people familiar with the matter said Oct 5. Other banks on the takeover path in Southeast Asia include DBS Group Ltd, the region's biggest lender. DBS said on April 2 that it offered to buy PT Bank Danamon Indonesia for about US$7.2 billion. CIMB Group, Malaysia's second-largest lender, in May agreed to buy a 60 per cent stake in Bank of Commerce in the Philippines after making acquisitions in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore over the last seven years. -- Bloomberg http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015105659/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015105659/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:57:00 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: SAAG Consolidated (M) Bhd's share price fell four sen or 80 per cent to one sen as at 10 am today following news on suspended payments to its creditors on Friday. The company said any effort to restructure the group will depend on the decision following a meeting with the group's loan creditors. SAAG's creditors are Arab Malaysian Bank Bhd, Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd and Idaman Capital Bhd. A meeting is to be held with Maybank and the State Bank of India, said SAAG in a note to Bursa Malaysia. SAAG is a company engaged in the oil and gas industry in Malaysia and in the Asian region. -- BERNAMA http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015111309/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015111309/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:13:10 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd expects the construction cost for the new turf club in Sungai Tinggi, Selangor, to increase to RM1 billion (US$326.85 million) from RM605 million previously due to the rising cost of building materials after years of delay in getting the necessary approvals from the state government. The expected construction cost of RM1 billion effectively translates into land cost of about RM94 per square feet for the 244.79 acres in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur, that Berjaya Land is acquiring from Selangor Turf Club. -- Reuters http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094916/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094916/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:49:17 +0800 NEW DELHI: The Showcase Malaysia 2012 held in Pune has generated RM32.74 million in total sales, says Malaysia's Mumbai-based Trade Commissioner Noraslan Hadi Abdul Kadir. Major sectors that generated sales were furniture, education services such as colloboration on twinning programmes and students recruitment as well as investment in specialty hospitals, he said. The three-day event by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), which ended on Friday, attracted a total of 1,023 visitors, he told Bernama. Pune, the second largest city in Maharashtra state after Mumbai, was selected for the showcase as it serves as the hub for the auto industry and the location for many multinational corporations in information technology, biotechnology, electrical and electronics and education. It is ranked among India's highest purchasing power cities. Along with some government agencies, there were 32 Malaysian companies with varied business interests such as furniture, franchise businesses, healthcare products and services and food and beverage, participated in the event. A total of 633 business meetings were held during the event aimed at promoting trade and business relations between Malaysia and India, said Noraslan. Last year, total trade between Malaysia and India rose by almost 33 per cent to hit US$12.5 billion. Malaysia's exports to India increased by about 35 per cent to US$9.3 billion while imports rose by almost 28 per cent to US$3.3 billion. -- BERNAMA http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015095523/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015095523/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:55:23 +0800 NEW DELHI: Maxis Bhd's 74 per cent-owned unit in India, Aircel, plans to cut some 600 jobs or 12 per cent of its total workforce in five states following its decision to reduce operations in unprofitable regions amid surging costs and severe margin pressure. It will scale down operations in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat in its bid to trim down costs and reallocate resources to profitable zones, reported "The Economic Times", quoting an executive aware of the development. Aircel, India's fifth largest mobile carrier with a total of 66 million customers, has about 800 employees and six million customers in the five circles. The report said the firm will "test the waters" in Madhya Pradesh where it proposes to rely on its intra-circle roaming pact with Tata DoCoMo for coverage, and handle customer acquisitions and recharges online, dispensing with the need of having its own network and sales and distribution channels at the field level. "If the Madhya Pradesh pilot project is successful, the new business model will be extended to other unprofitable regions," said a company executive with direct knowledge of the development. Aircel, in its response to The Economic Times' specific queries, said it was changing its business model to reduce costs. "Operational costs are high and margin pressure is severe. Aircel is revamping its business model to lower the "cost to serve" without compromising on customer service and network experience," said a company spokeswoman, declining, however, to confirm whether impacted staff in the scaled down circles would be relocated to profitable zones. But executives privy to the developments said the new business model of relying on intra-circle roaming pacts to provide coverage to six million customers could have serious limitations. "Coverage can be a challenge as the intra-circle roaming pacts in the five regions are not all-encompassing," said one of them, adding that there could also be problems in targeting customer acquisitions and recharges online if Aircel dispenses with ground level sales and distribution channels. -- BERNAMA SM SM TOM http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094425/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094425/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:44:25 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened mixed in early trading Monday on lack of buying interest in the local cash market, dealers said. After 33 minutes of trading, the FBM KLCI was 2.36 points easier at 1,651.0 after opening 1.58 points lower at 1,651.78. HwangDBS Vickers Research said eventhough trading on Wall Street ended between flat and slightly down Friday, "it reckoned our Malaysian bourse could stage a technical rebound today." On the chart, it expects the key FBM KLCI may work its way up to cross above the 1,655 mark again. "Beyond this level, the benchmark index will probably be looking to challenge the 1,670 immediate resistance target," it said. The Finance Index fell 9.141 points to 14,696.43 but the Plantation Index gained 11.73 points to 8,187.53 and the Industrial Index lost 1.2 points to 2,845.30. The FBM Emas Index erased 10.55 points to 11,231.91, the FBM Ace Index was 13.14 points higher at 4,214.09, while the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 7.88 points to 12,186.38. Gainers led losers by 126 to 109, with 171 counters unchanged, 1,240 untraded and 25 others were suspended. Turnover stood at 182.148 million shares worth RM44.054 million. For actives, SAAG Consolidated lost four sen to one sen, Compugates Holdings was flat at nine sen, Asia Media Group earned a sen to 36 sen but Pesona Metro rose five sen to 29.5 sen. Among heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM8.95, Sime Darby lost one sen to RM9.71, CIMB shed six sen to RM7.64 and Axiata fell four sen to RM6.45.-- BERNAMA http://www.btimes.com.my en Monday, October 15, 2012, 12.20 PM http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015104715/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015104715/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:47:15 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd, Malaysia's largest lender, is considering options to expand in Thailand including takeovers after raising RM3.66 billion (US$1.2 billion) this month to boost its presence in Southeast Asia. "There are a number of options we are assessing at the moment," chief executive officer Abdul Wahid Omar, 48, said last week in an interview in Tokyo. "Our default position is to look at opening a branch there by 2014, but if there are other interesting opportunities we'll be open to look at them." Malayan Banking, also known as Maybank, is competing with Southeast Asian rivals that are reducing reliance on their home markets through acquisitions in the region's faster-growing countries. The company, which already controls PT Bank Internasional Indonesia and owns smaller stakes of lenders in Vietnam and Pakistan, bought Singapore brokerage Kim Eng Holdings Ltd last year. Maybank earned 28 per cent of pretax income from overseas operations in the six months through June 30 and plans to generate 40 per cent of operating profit from abroad by 2015, Wahid said last year, adding that he wants the bank to enter all of Southeast Asia's major markets by then. "It's hard to grow organically in Thailand," Lim Sue Lin, an analyst at HwangDBS Vickers Research Sdn, said by phone in Kuala Lumpur. "It's better for them to get ready infrastructure and distribution channels via an acquisition. It helps if the target has a good local franchise." Shares of Maybank have risen 4.2 per cent this year and were unchanged at RM8.94 as of 10am in Kuala Lumpur today. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index has gained 7.9 per cent this year. "It is our intention to have a full presence across all the 10 countries in Southeast Asia," Abdul Wahid said in an interview on Oct 12. "Within that context, the idea of raising additional capital is meant to enable us to grow a bit more aggressive in markets like Indonesia, the Philippines and later possibly into Singapore." Abdul Wahid, who was attending the Institute of International Finance's annual meeting in Tokyo, reiterated that proceeds from its Oct 8 share sale are not meant for making a bid for Bank of Ayudhya Pcl in Thailand. General Electric Co said last month that it's reviewing options for its remaining stake in Bangkok-based Bank of Ayudhya after selling an initial 7.6 per cent. Singapore's Oversea- Chinese Banking Corp and Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings Bhd are considering bidding for the stake, people familiar with the matter said Oct 5. Other banks on the takeover path in Southeast Asia include DBS Group Ltd, the region's biggest lender. DBS said on April 2 that it offered to buy PT Bank Danamon Indonesia for about US$7.2 billion. CIMB Group, Malaysia's second-largest lender, in May agreed to buy a 60 per cent stake in Bank of Commerce in the Philippines after making acquisitions in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore over the last seven years. -- Bloomberg http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015105659/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015105659/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:57:00 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: SAAG Consolidated (M) Bhd's share price fell four sen or 80 per cent to one sen as at 10 am today following news on suspended payments to its creditors on Friday. The company said any effort to restructure the group will depend on the decision following a meeting with the group's loan creditors. SAAG's creditors are Arab Malaysian Bank Bhd, Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd and Idaman Capital Bhd. A meeting is to be held with Maybank and the State Bank of India, said SAAG in a note to Bursa Malaysia. SAAG is a company engaged in the oil and gas industry in Malaysia and in the Asian region. -- BERNAMA http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015111309/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015111309/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:13:10 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd expects the construction cost for the new turf club in Sungai Tinggi, Selangor, to increase to RM1 billion (US$326.85 million) from RM605 million previously due to the rising cost of building materials after years of delay in getting the necessary approvals from the state government. The expected construction cost of RM1 billion effectively translates into land cost of about RM94 per square feet for the 244.79 acres in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur, that Berjaya Land is acquiring from Selangor Turf Club. -- Reuters http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094916/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094916/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:49:17 +0800 NEW DELHI: The Showcase Malaysia 2012 held in Pune has generated RM32.74 million in total sales, says Malaysia's Mumbai-based Trade Commissioner Noraslan Hadi Abdul Kadir. Major sectors that generated sales were furniture, education services such as colloboration on twinning programmes and students recruitment as well as investment in specialty hospitals, he said. The three-day event by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), which ended on Friday, attracted a total of 1,023 visitors, he told Bernama. Pune, the second largest city in Maharashtra state after Mumbai, was selected for the showcase as it serves as the hub for the auto industry and the location for many multinational corporations in information technology, biotechnology, electrical and electronics and education. It is ranked among India's highest purchasing power cities. Along with some government agencies, there were 32 Malaysian companies with varied business interests such as furniture, franchise businesses, healthcare products and services and food and beverage, participated in the event. A total of 633 business meetings were held during the event aimed at promoting trade and business relations between Malaysia and India, said Noraslan. Last year, total trade between Malaysia and India rose by almost 33 per cent to hit US$12.5 billion. Malaysia's exports to India increased by about 35 per cent to US$9.3 billion while imports rose by almost 28 per cent to US$3.3 billion. -- BERNAMA http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015095523/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015095523/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:55:23 +0800 NEW DELHI: Maxis Bhd's 74 per cent-owned unit in India, Aircel, plans to cut some 600 jobs or 12 per cent of its total workforce in five states following its decision to reduce operations in unprofitable regions amid surging costs and severe margin pressure. It will scale down operations in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat in its bid to trim down costs and reallocate resources to profitable zones, reported "The Economic Times", quoting an executive aware of the development. Aircel, India's fifth largest mobile carrier with a total of 66 million customers, has about 800 employees and six million customers in the five circles. The report said the firm will "test the waters" in Madhya Pradesh where it proposes to rely on its intra-circle roaming pact with Tata DoCoMo for coverage, and handle customer acquisitions and recharges online, dispensing with the need of having its own network and sales and distribution channels at the field level. "If the Madhya Pradesh pilot project is successful, the new business model will be extended to other unprofitable regions," said a company executive with direct knowledge of the development. Aircel, in its response to The Economic Times' specific queries, said it was changing its business model to reduce costs. "Operational costs are high and margin pressure is severe. Aircel is revamping its business model to lower the "cost to serve" without compromising on customer service and network experience," said a company spokeswoman, declining, however, to confirm whether impacted staff in the scaled down circles would be relocated to profitable zones. But executives privy to the developments said the new business model of relying on intra-circle roaming pacts to provide coverage to six million customers could have serious limitations. "Coverage can be a challenge as the intra-circle roaming pacts in the five regions are not all-encompassing," said one of them, adding that there could also be problems in targeting customer acquisitions and recharges online if Aircel dispenses with ground level sales and distribution channels. -- BERNAMA SM SM TOM http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094425/Article/ http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20121015094425/Article/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:44:25 +0800 KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened mixed in early trading Monday on lack of buying interest in the local cash market, dealers said. After 33 minutes of trading, the FBM KLCI was 2.36 points easier at 1,651.0 after opening 1.58 points lower at 1,651.78. HwangDBS Vickers Research said eventhough trading on Wall Street ended between flat and slightly down Friday, "it reckoned our Malaysian bourse could stage a technical rebound today." On the chart, it expects the key FBM KLCI may work its way up to cross above the 1,655 mark again. "Beyond this level, the benchmark index will probably be looking to challenge the 1,670 immediate resistance target," it said. The Finance Index fell 9.141 points to 14,696.43 but the Plantation Index gained 11.73 points to 8,187.53 and the Industrial Index lost 1.2 points to 2,845.30. The FBM Emas Index erased 10.55 points to 11,231.91, the FBM Ace Index was 13.14 points higher at 4,214.09, while the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 7.88 points to 12,186.38. Gainers led losers by 126 to 109, with 171 counters unchanged, 1,240 untraded and 25 others were suspended. Turnover stood at 182.148 million shares worth RM44.054 million. For actives, SAAG Consolidated lost four sen to one sen, Compugates Holdings was flat at nine sen, Asia Media Group earned a sen to 36 sen but Pesona Metro rose five sen to 29.5 sen. Among heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM8.95, Sime Darby lost one sen to RM9.71, CIMB shed six sen to RM7.64 and Axiata fell four sen to RM6.45.-- BERNAMA |
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