SUNCITY, AXIATA, MAS, AIR ASIA,WAHSEONG & local business news

Sunway City Bhd (SunCity) (SCITY MK, Buy, TP: RM3.60) may inject Sunway Towers at Jalan Ampang and Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya in Penang into its RM4bn real estate investment trust (REIT), said MD for property investment Ngeow Voon Yean. Ngeow acknowledged that the group had been planning to float its property assets through a REIT for a number of years, but delayed it due to poor market conditions. He added that SunCity was hopeful of listing its REIT this year. “We’re seriously considering it (but) it all depends on timing. Once the window is open for an IPO, we’ll list. We hope to do it this year,” he told reporters after the launch of Sunway Tower on Friday. Sunway Tower comprises 27 levels of Grade-A office space with a net lettable area of 276,000 sq ft, eight levels of car park space and a freehold parcel of adjoining vacant land. (Starbiz)
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Celcom Axiata Bhd (a unit of Axiata Group Bhd (AXIATA MK, Hold, TP: RM3.13)) unveiled its latest BlackBerry Bold 9700 and BlackBerry Storm2 9520 yesterday with projections to sell over 70,000 BlackBerry smartphones by the end of this year. Celcom aims to continue to strengthen its position as the BlackBerry market leader in Malaysia, where it currently
has a 52% market share and is also the biggest BlackBerry seller in Southeast Asia. “We are confident that we are going to do 70,000 units this year and it is an achievable target,” chief corporate officer Mohamed Adlan Ahmad Tajudin said. (Starbiz)
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Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) (MAS MK, Sell, TP: RM2.21) is expected to spend some RM460m on buyer furnished equipment (BFE) to put the super jumbo jets A380 onstream. Based on its circular to shareholders last week, the national carrier said the BFE was not an incremental cost, as it would have the exact same financial commitment under the leasing agreement with Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB). The six A380 aircraft, worth some US$2.2bn (RM7.4bn) are scheduled for delivery from late 2011. MAS is being compensated some RM330m for the delivery delay of the A380s which were originally slated for its first delivery three years ago. MAS had said last month that it was taking over the super jumbo jets
from PMB involving some RM1.54bn worth of pre-delivery payments. MAS would also take over two B777 and two B747 from PMB at a cash consideration of RM190m and assume RM1.46bn worth of liabilities. The purchase of the new aircrafts and the takeover of the A380 ownership by the airline is part of its strategy to streamline its fleet. Currently, MAS’s fleet of 90 aircraft is leased from PMB due to a restructuring agreement with the government in 2002. (Financial Daily)
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The majority of AirAsia Bhd (AIRA MK, Buy, TP: RM1.67) shares are in the hands of foreigners while the bulk of shares in its rival Malaysia Airlines (MAS) are held by local institutions. AirAsia announced to Bursa Malaysia that 50.36% of its issued and paid-up share capital was held by foreigners as at end-2009, compared with 37.98% foreign shareholding in June. It did not name the foreign shareholders. AirAsia told the exchange that foreign ownership of shares in the company had exceeded the limit of 45% of its total issued and paid-up share capital. The airline said the shares held by foreigners within the prescribed limit shall be entitled to all rights and entitlements attached to the shares. Shares held by foreigners which have exceeded the prescribed limit shall also be entitled to all such rights and entitlements except for the exercise of voting rights in respect of the shares. (Starbiz)
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Wah Seong Corp (WSC MK, Buy, TP: RM3.40) is interested in buying a stake in Italian pipe coating company Socotherm. An unsourced report in Italian business weekly Il Mondo said Wah Seong is ready to invest 50m - 100m euros (RM240.2m – RM480.3m) to help save Socotherm. Wah Seong deputy manager Giancarlo Maccagno said, “The 50m - 100m is pure speculation on the part of the writer. It’s far too early to talk about numbers and what equity is available to us.” At the start of August, Socotherm, which specialises in coatings for petrol, gas and water pipes, filed for creditor protection. In the first half of the year, Socotherm reported a net loss of 57.2m euros, widening from 14.9m euros a year earlier, with sales of 84.2m euros, down 42.1%. (Malaysian Reserve)
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Affin Holdings Bhd is expected to commence negotiations soon with shareholders of PT Bank Ina Perdana (Bank Ina) for a possible acquisition of a controlling stake. Affin said the central bank had granted approval for Affin to start talks on the Bank Ina stake buy. It said the board chose Indonesia for its first overseas venture for the country’s significant growth potential due to its high population and low banking penetration. The bank said it would seek the necessary approvals from Bank Negara should it intend to proceed with the proposal upon conclusion of the negotiations. (Starbiz)
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An internal candidate, rather than an outsider as some have speculated, will likely succeed Tan Sri Mohd HassanMarican, whose contract as president and chief executive of Petronas ends in February. Sources say Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will choose the successor from among 3 senior Petronas executives. They are Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas, who was formerly the MD of MISC Bhd before retiring in January last year, and Petronas board members Datuk Anuar Ahmad and Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin. A decision is likely in the next few weeks. So far there has not been any word on the renewal of Hassan’s contract. It is leart that Najib is looking at a new candidate to continue Petronas’ growth to higher levels and wants to ensure the person is given a free hand in discharging his duties. But at the same time, he wants to keep
Hassan in the oil company. It is likely that Hassan will be offered a position in an advisory role. (The Edge)
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PetroSaudi International Ltd intends to privatise and delist UBG Bhd, and its two subsidiaries Putrajaya Perdana Bhd (PPB) and Loh & Loh Corp Bhd, once it has completed acquiring stakes in UBG in deals valued at RM1.4bn. The entire exercise, assuming full acceptance by the shareholders of UBG, PPB and Loh & Loh, is scheduled to be completed by the end
of 1Q10. “This will represent the second significant investment by the Saudi company in Malaysia and signals growing economic ties between Kuala Lumpur and Saudi Arabia,” the company said. (Starbiz)
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Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd (P1) has secured a RM50m loan from Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd (MDV) to expand its WiMAX service nationwide. CEO Michael Lai said the MDV loan would likely be fully utilised this year and would be repaid over 48 months. “The loan will go towards financing our capital expenditure (capex) for further expansion of our WiMAX
network infrastructure as well as related services,” he said. He added that the capex for P1 would be at least RM200m this year compared with about RM400ml last year. We spent more last year as we needed more capital to build up the networks, sites and facilities,” he said. On P1’s listing plan, Lai said it would depend on the market condition. “We definitely hope for it to
happen in 2 years but we have not started to talk to investment banks,” he said, adding that Malaysia would be its first choice venue for listing. He said the company also planned to expand its WiMAX service to east Malaysia by 2H10. (Starbiz)