14.12.2009 local business news

Khazanah Nasional Bhd sold 86.75m shares or a 2% stake in Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) (TNB MK, Buy, TP: RM9.90)for RM702.7m in a placement last Friday. The placement price of RM8.10 per share represents a 3.6% discount to theclosing market price on Dec 10 of RM8.40. After the deal, Khazanah remains the biggest shareholder in the utility firm with35.75% of total equity interest, followed by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) with 16.76% and Skim Amanah SahamBumiputera with 9.05%. The sale is seen as part of a series of economic reforms being undertaken by Prime Minister DatukSeri Najib Razak which included the lifting of ethnic quotas in selected sectors of the economy and capital markets earlier thisyear. (Malaysian Reserve)
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Petrolium Nasional Bhd (Petronas) together with bid partners won contracts to develop 4 oil fields in Iraq that hold atotal reserves of about 17.7bn barrels of oil. The national oil company and Royal Dutch Shell plc, won the contract todevelop the giant Majnoon field estimated to be holding some 12.5bn barrels in reserves last Fridays, beating offers from aTotal and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and the country’s own Oil Ministry. The Majnoon field, loacated in SouthernIraq, currently produces 45,900 barrels per day (bpd). Petronas will hold a 40% and Shell 60% in the Majnoon field won with abid of US$1.39 per barrel remuneration fee with production peaking at 1.8 bpd. Petronas and consortium partners, CNPC andTotal of France also won the bid to develop the 4bn barrel Halfaya oil field, targeting to produce 535,000 bpd from the current3,000 bpd at a remuneration fee of US$1.40 per barrel. Petronas and partner Japex of Japan won the bid to develop the Garraffield estimated to be holding about 900m barrels of oil, which Petronas controls a 60% in this venture and hopes to raiseproduction to 230,000 barrel a day at a fee of US$1.49/ barrel. It also was a part of the Gazprom led consortium that won theright to develop the Badra oil field reported to be holding estimated 100m barrels of oil reserve with a fee of RM5.50/barrel withproduction expected to be raised to 170,000 a day. (Malaysian Reserve)

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Tan Sri Halim Saad may make a comeback to the local business scene. He is part of a group of investors seeking topurchase the coal-fired 1,400MW Jimah power plant and the company with the concession for its operations andmaintenance, say sources. The bid made by Halim and his associates is said to be more than RM700m, which beats all otherbids, including the one made by Malakoff Bhd, a unit of MMC Corp Bhd. (The Edge)

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Astro All Asia Networks plc is targeting 1m household subscribers for its newly-launched Astro B.yond, a multiphasedinnovative service, starting with the country’s first high-definition (HD) broadcast. “Our target is 30% of ourcustomer base, which is expected to reach 3m by year-end. We should be able to secure at least half of the 1m in the next 12to 18 months,” said Astro TV CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan after the launch of Astro B.yond. Rohana said about 1.2m of Astro’scustomers were HD-ready, adding that according to an industry report, 59% of all televisions sold in 1H09 were HD-ready andsales in this segment were growing. On Astro B.yond, Rohana said it offered customers more innovative services which wouldbe introduced in phases. Customers can sign up for Astro B.yond and access to HD services for an additional RM20 per monthfor a 12-month period. (Starbiz)

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Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd, a distributor of Nissan cars in Malaysia, received approval to set up a plant inVietnam to manufacture and assemble buses, trucks and passengers cars. The total investment of the project wasUS$15m, Tan Chong said. (Starbiz)

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Dialog targets 20-30% profit growth. Dialog Group Bhd has set a long-term target to maintain 20% to 30% expansion of itsbottom line. Chairman and group MD Ngau Boon Keat said revenue and profit growth would be underpinned by its diversifiedbusiness model in oil and gas support services based on a recurring income stream, including in the provision of specialisedservices, specialist products, catalysts handling and plant maintenance. Recurring income accounts for 70% to 80% of Dialog’sbottom line, he said. The group posted a net profit of RM26.93m in 1QFY10, 43% higher than the corresponding period theprevious year. Ngau also said that two thirds of future revenue would come from international sources. However forinvestments, Dialog’s strategy is to focus on Malaysia where the objective would be to have balanced growth and ageographical spread of the projects or businesses. Dialog has been occupied with the Tanjung Langsat centralised terminalfacilities, Pengarang deepwater petroleum terminal in Johor and an integrated logistics services supply base in Saudi Arabia.(Financial Daily)*