FBMKLCI 1554.24 DJ+64.25 CRUDE OIL 95.57 RM 3.01

The sale of a 25% stake in RHB Capital Bhd (RHB Cap) by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Bhd (ADCB) at 2.25 times the book value of RHB Cap or RM10.80 per share, has set a relatively high pricing benchmark for the potential takeover of the bank by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.

Muhibbah Engineering Bhd would continue to be actively traded after the sell-down on the stock following concerns that Asia Petroleum Hub (APH) -- which it undertook a project for -- faced receivership.
It saw RM152.11 million in market capitalisation wiped out on Thursday, as its shares fell 38 sen to close at RM1.52 – the lowest since mid-May. The market capitalisation was reduced from RM608.43 million to RM456.32 million. However, there could be some mild bargain hunting as some analysts viewed the selling as overdone and the worst-case scenario for Muhibbah was a write-down of the RM300 million due from APH, which would push Muhibbah into losses for FY11. APH, the developer and operator of the APH oil terminal in Johor, faced the prospects of receivership, news reports said. Muhibbah was awarded the marine piling and jetty works worth RM820 million. Cost escalation in 2008 led to funding issues for APH and the stalling of payments due to Muhibbah.

UEM Land Holdings Bhd has set an internal target for a 50% revenue growth in FY2011 and a 10% return on investment. Its managing director and CEO Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said with the acquisition of SUNRISE BHD [], UEM Land was hoping to build its portfolio and surpass its competitors' revenue in the near future.

Mitrajaya has proposed to invest RM6 million cash for a 20% stake in Rawang Specialist Hospital Sdn Bhd (RSHSB). RSHSB is a private limited company incorporated in Malaysia to principally operate and manage a specialist hospital and to provide healthcare solutions under the name of Optimax Specialist Hospital (Rawang). On May 23, it awarded to Mitrajaya's unit, Pembinaan Mitrajaya Sdn Bhd, a RM46.41 million contract to build the eight-storey private hospital with 180 beds. The hospital is expected to commence operations in December 2013.

Merge Energy Bhd has secured RM38.1 million contract to undertake water treatment and associated projects in Kuantan. The contract was awarded by the East Coast Economic Region Development Council. It  involves the balancing reservoir, access road, treated water mains and associated works for the Panching water treatment.

Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) unveiled - the new MyVi -- an upgraded version of the best seller on Thursday night, June 16 and prices range from RM43,900 to RM57,400. The second national carmaker expects to sell about 8,500 units monthly. The price is from RM43,900 for the standard manual transmission and RM57,400 for the elegance automatic transmission on-the-road. Perodua plans to export the new MyVi units to Indonesia this month, starting with 500 cars, under the Daihatsu Sirion badge.

FBMKLCI 1556.19 DJ-178.84 CRUDE OIL 95.80 RM 2.9970

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has bought more than 200,000 tonnes of fuel oil, for delivery between April and August, in addition to buying electricity from Singapore utility PowerSeraya, industry sources said yesterday. The fuel oil volumes were the largest TNB has purchased in at least five years, traders said, and were linked to natural gas supply disruptions that resulted from the maintenance shutdown of gas production platforms owned by state oil company Petronas. The first 15,000 tonnes is for Aug 1–3 delivery to the Sultan Iskandar Power Station in Pasir Gudang. Two more lots of 20,000 and 30,000 tonnes are for delivery to Kapar in Selangor in August

Integrated steel contractor Eversendai Corp Bhd plans to double its order book this year to RM3bil, on expectations of new projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and India.  Group managing director Datuk A.K. Nathan said the group was already in serious negotiations for some of the jobs related to infrastucture, power plants and high rise buildings. “We are pursuing quite a fair amount of jobs this year and I think we should not have any problem to secure about RM1bil to RM1.5bil worth of new jobs based on our good track record all this while,” he told reporters yesterday at a media briefing after the official launch of the group's initial public offering (IPO) prospectus.

Alam Maritim Resources Bhd is bidding for RM400mil to RM500mil worth of contracts in offshore installation and construction (OIC) as well as offshore support vessel (OSV) services sector, said managing director and chief executive officer Azmi Ahmad. However, Azmi said the success rate was quite difficult to predict under the prevailing market environment although the company's historical success rate was at 10% to 22%.

Gamuda Bhd and MMC Corp Bhd have entered into a joint venture (JV) for the pre-qualifying and tendering works in relation to the underground work package for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit project. In separate announcements to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, both companies said they would each have a 50% stake in the JV. “The breakdown of the total capital, investment outlay and the eventual issued and paid-up capital of the JV will be according to the proportion of interest of each party and could only be determined when the JV is successfully awarded the underground work package of the project,” they said.

Both companies said they planned to finance their respective portions of investments via their own funds and/or borrowings.

HPI Resources Bhd has received a takeover offer from Japan's Oji Paper Co Ltd to acquire all of the former's 58.528 million shares for RM257.52mil or RM4.40 per share. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the corrugated packaging manufacturer said it had received the notice of the conditional take-over offer from RHB Investment Bank on behalf of Oji Paper's wholly-owned subsidiary, Oji Paper Asia Sdn Bhd. “The board has deliberated on the offer and does not intend to seek an alternate person to make a take-over for the offer shares,” the company said. The offer price of RM4.40 represents a premium of 47 sen or 12% over its last traded price of RM3.93.

Trading of shares in ACE Market-listed Ecofuture Bhd will be suspended from June 23 as it failed to appoint a replacement sponsor by designated June 10 deadline. The Guidance Note 3 company could also potentially be delisted on June 27 unless an appeal is submitted to Bursa Malaysia by June 22. Ecofuture was unable to appoint a replacement sponsor within three months after its then sponsor ECM Libra Investment Bank Bhd tendered its resignation on March 10.

Equine Capital, which had fallen from the radar screen in recent years, is trying to make a company through its property venture. It is launching a mixed commercial and residential freehold development project -- da:mén -- or “Great Door) in USJ, Subang Jaya which is near the Summit shopping mall and hotel. It promises to offer a distinctively unique retail and dining experience with lifestyle pleasures for the urbanites. The company has also returned to the black in the financial year ended March 31, 2011. In the fourth quarter ended March 31, it reported net profit of RM2.25 million compared with net loss of RM25.57 million a year ago. For the 12-months, its net profit was RM6.37 million compared with net loss of RM36.43 million a year ago. However, its cashflow was enhanced following proceeds from disposal of investment property totaling for RM28 million. Its cash and cash equivalents at end of the financial year was only RM6.4 million

Unisem expects the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2011 to be lacklustre due to tough economic environment in major markets. Group managing director John Chia said Unisem’s financial results in FY 2011 was unlikely to be better than the previous year's numbers due to a tougher economic environment in the US, Europe, Japan and China, apart from the weakening of the US dollar. "Our capital expenditure this year will be less than FY10 capex of some RM380 million" Chia said at Unisem's shareholders meeting.

FBMKLCI 1547.92 DJ+123.14 CRUDE OIL 99.31 RM 3.0080

Tenaga Nasional Bhd's (TNB) unit TNB Repair and Maintenance Sdn Bhd (TNB Remaco) has secured an operation and maintenance agreement worth US$14.1mil (RM43mil) from Pakistan's Laraib Energy Ltd.

TNB Remaco will be the operator of the 84MW New Bong Escape Hydroelectric Power Complex on the Jhelum River in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Furniture-maker Baswell Resources Bhd made a slight gain when it resumed trading yesterday after its shares trading was halted in the morning session. The counter rose 0.5 sen to 10 sen at 3.14pm doing 90,000 shares as investors ignored the winding-up petition that was served the company on June 10. Baswell said on Monday that the petitioner Oh Han Cheng had sought for the winding up of Baswell for defaulting a payment of RM3.31mil. The company said the repayment of the loan was deferred from Dec 16, 2010 to June 16, 2011 at the request of Baswell vide a letter dated Dec 20, 2010, and confirmed and accepted by the petitioner by a letter dated March 25. It also said the group had announced on March 30 its intention to dispose of BISB's land for RM19mil and would use the proceeds to repay RM693,000 of the RM3.31mil.

MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd, the federal land authority’s sugar refining arm, has priced its initial public offering (IPO) at RM3.50 per share for institutional investors, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said yesterday. The price is at the top end of the RM3.30-RM3.50 range set earlier, valuing the IPO at about RM817mil. MSM is selling about 234 million shares in the IPO. The institutional portion would comprise about 206 million shares or 29.4% of the enlarged share capital. The retail portion would consist of about 28 million shares or 4% of the enlarged share capital.

United U-Li Corp Bhd will be in focus again on Wednesday, June 15 after the company said it was mulling distributing part of the RM200 million from the sale of its three units to entitled shareholders.

MBM Resources will invest some RM250 million over the next five years to transform the group into one of the key automotive players in Malaysia and the region. Managing director, Looi Kok Loon, said the capital expenditure would primarily be used to expand its manufacturing infrastructure and enhance its nationwide retail and service network. "The company is also investing in new manufacturing facilities to cater to product line extensions and equip itself with vehicle assembly capabilities," he said, adding MBM planned to expand the car parts business and vehicle assembly.  He said the company was actively seeking partners in vehicle assembly.

FBMKLCI 1545.88 DJ +1.06 CRUDE OIL 96.87 RM 2.9980

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) will be making a proposal to acquire RHB Capital Bhd before the end of this month, according to Maybank chairman Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor. He said Maybank would proceed with the acquisition only if it was earnings accretive. Megat Zaharuddin said a merger with RHB Capital Bhd would provide scale to Maybank. “For example, it would expand our reach in Thailand and Singapore. Scale is important, especially when you are trying to compete in a region which is becoming a lot more challenging. We have global players from other parts of the world which are focusing on this part of the world, and you need scale in order to compete,” he said after Maybank EGM yesterday.

Malaysian property developer SP Setia Bhd plans to increase its landbank in Australia, predominantly in popular cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and even Gold Coast, as it seeks to capture the growing opportunities from the population boom of these cities. Having made its first Australian investment last year, the developer is in the midst of scouting for more investment opportunities in Melbourne. “For the first few years, we are looking for investment opportunities and to take on projects that will provide quick turnaround and are easy sell. Subsequently, we will look at greenfield projects and (at building) townships,” Setia (Melbourne) Development Co Pty Ltd chief executive officer Choong Kai Wai told Malaysian reporters here last Friday.

Alam Maritim Resources Bhd (AMRB) has been awarded a contract valued at RM52mil from Samsung Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd. The contract, awarded to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Alam Maritim (M) Sdn Bhd, was for the purchase order from Samsung to supply engineering work, supply of materials, fabrication, load-out and commissioning of two units of single point mooring buoy for Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal project.

Silver Bird Group Bhd has proposed a private placement exercise of new ordinary shares of up to 10% of its issued and paid-up share capital. The actual proceeds to be raised from this would be dependent on the issue price and actual number of placements shares to be issued. The company, in its filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, said the said proceeds from the proposed private placement should be utilised for repayment of bank borrowings as well as to defray the expenses in respect of the proposed private placement.

The group's total outstanding borrowings stood at RM130mil as of June 6.

MMC Corp Bhd’s subsidiary Malakoff Corporation Bhd is set to build a 1,000MW coal-fired plant next to the current Tanjung Bin power plant. The company said it had accepted a conditional offer made by the government to develop the plant and the expected commercial operation date was March 1, 2016. Malakoff is MMC Corp’s 51%-owned subsidiary, whose unit Tanjung Bin Power Sdn Bhd owns the Tanjung Bin power plant. MMC Corp said among the conditions in the offer by the government via the Energy Commission were the finalisation of the terms of the agreements relating to the project; and the approval of the detailed environmental impact assessment from the Department of Environment Malaysia.

Sime Darby's healthcare division is investing RM280 million in two hospital projects in the Klang Valley as part of the government’s health tourism plan under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). The conglomerate said it would invest in a 220-bed Sime Darby Medical Centre Ara Damansara in Subang which will be operational by the third quarter of 2011. The 300-bed Sime Darby Medical Centre ParkCity will be operational by the second half of 2012.

KNM’s total book order rose to RM5.5 billion as at May this year, of which RM1.4 billion in orders were secured in 2010. Bulk of the orders was secured in the second half of last year, totaling RM3.10 billion. The remaining RM1 billion of orders were secured in the first half of 2010 and earlier. As at January this year it had tendered for RM16 billion of orders and based on a 20% success rate, that would translate into RM3.2 billion.

MWE has attracted attention after it disclosed that it bought RM98.12 million of quoted securities from Sept 2, 2010 to June 10 this year. It said the total cost represented 24.74% of MWE group's net assets as at Dec 31, 2010. As at June 10, the total cost of its acquisitions was RM121.08 million while the book value was RM203.84 million. This was an increase of RM82.76 million but MWE did not provide details of those quoted securities.