YTL, TANJONG OFF,RHB CAP & other news

YTL Corp Bhd’s (YTL MK, Buy, TP: RM8.00) 80% owned subsidiary Island Air Sdn Bhd has bought outright Nusantara Sakti Sdn Bhd from Cekul Teguh Sdn Bhd for RM4.5m. Nusantara Sakti is an aircraft charter firm that also provides aerospace equipment, aircraft maintenance, rental and leasing, and supplies and other services. As a result of the acquisition,
Nusantara Sakti would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Island Air and an indirect subsidiary of the company. (Malaysian Reserve)
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Tanjung Offshore Bhd (TGOFF) subsidiary Tanjung Maintenance Services Sdn Bhd has landed a RM70m contract from Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) unit Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd to provide offshore wellhead maintenance services in local waters. TGOFF said the wellhead maintenance services contract had a three-year tenure with the option to extend for
another two years. The contract, effective Sept 9, 2009, entailed the provision of such services to Petronas Carigali’s operations offshore West and East Malaysia. (Malaysian Reserve)
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RHB Capital Bhd (RHB Cap) gets approval from Bank Negara for its proposed acquisition of up to 89% of the issued and paid-up capital of PT Bank Mestika Dharma. RHB Cap has proposed to acquire 80% of Bank Mestika for RM1.16bn with a put and call option for another 9%. The proposed acquisition was granted subject to certain conditions such as obtaining “written confirmation from its auditors on the compliance with financial reporting standards in arriving at the impairment methodology adopted and in respect of any change in equity interest in Bank Mestika”. As part of the acquisition exercise, RHB Cap has also proposed a rights issue of new RM1.00 shares to raise gross proceeds of RM1.3bn. the acquisition is priced at 3.5x its price-to-book ratio and 23x to its 2008 earnings. RHB Cap’s stated plan for BankMestika includes growing its presence across Indonesia, enhancing distribution and product capabilities, and growing its fee-based income. Bank Mestika has over 50 branches in Indonesia and is a well known bank operating in the republic especially in Sumatra. (StarBiz)
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Alliance Bank Malaysia said its CEO Datuk Bridget Lai had not resigned as speculated but admitted to carrying out an internal probe. The announcement did not say what the probe was about, except that it was “part of its due diligence on corporate governance and board oversight.” The bank also said that there was no change in its operations and that it was
business as usual. It was responding to reports quoting sources saying that the bank had put several top executives on forced leave pending completion of an internal probe. At the time of the report, the bank declined to comment on whether Lai resigned or not. (BT)
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Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd (SATS) and China partner will invest RM200m in a trade center in Johor. The 8ha Senai-Wenzhou Trade Centre will provide manufacturers from Wenzhou, China, with a gateway to expand their business in Asean and the Asian Pacific. SATS CEO Datuk Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman said once completed the centre is expected to generate economic benefits worth RM10bn over 25 years. Wenzhou, located south of Shanghai is known for its chemical plants, shipbuilding industry and leather products. Heading the investors at the launch of the centre was Senai-Wenzhou Trade Development Pte Ltd chairman Vincent Tan Kuan Hin. The trade centre will have a built up area of 80,000 sq m, and will be located adjacent to the airport. (BT)
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Community airline Firefly may take delivery of three new planes this year. The three planes were scheduled to arrive last year, but were deferred as a recession took its toll on the business. MD Eddy Leong said the airline will make a decision by the end of February. He said, “subject to the delivery of the additional aircraft, we will review the reinstatement of some suspended
flights such as Kota Baru-Penang.” Last year, Firefly announced the suspension of several flights operating out of Penang International Airport. Firefly now has seven ATR 72-500 planes, and also looking to introduce a Subang-Hatyai route – though it is at a market research stage at the moment (BT)