EIG
What’s Up? … dated Sept 2010
The company’s founder had exited hard raised the question of such motives.
On Sept 3, 2010 had saw boardroom reshuffle with the resignations of its founder and executive director M Chen and fellow executive director Chan Mun Wah. Chen has left the company while Chan announced that he would remain as group CFO.
With their departure, former chairman Eddy Chieng has emerged as the main figure behind the company.
Currently, the Chieng and related parties owned 31.9% stake held through Providence Capital Sdn Bhd is now just 1.03% away from the MGO.
The second largest shareholder is Chen’s spouse Lim with 24.66% stake.
The third largest shareholder is Gambir Capital with 13.67% stake.
It remains to be seen whether EIG’s new shareholder will find new ways of adding value to the group.
Sarawak Plantations
Sources say Datuk Abdul Hamad Sepawi s believed to be closed to selling his entire stake in the company via subsidiary Cermat Ceria which held 30.35% stake.
Details such as the selling price and buyer of Sepawi’s stake were unknown. The new party in is also in the plantation sector. It will later inject plantations and oil mills into the company.
Sepawi is said to be closed to Sarawak Chief Minister Ran Sri Abdul Taib. He is also a key figure in a number of Sarawak based companies.
It was reported to have net asset value of RM1.82.
Sources also say Hamad could be seeking a much higher price for his interest in the company.
Axiata
What’s Up? … dated Sept 2010
A spate of developments on Singapore’s media scene could not only help grow its 29.6% owned associate M1 Ltd’s market share but also see a possible diversifications of its business.
Although it holds just an associate stake, this could turn out to be positive for Axiata, allowing a wider platform for any future dealings.
Besides the Singapore government’s launch of its super fast Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network, the Media Development Authority of Singapore announced that its preliminary position on the ‘cross carriage measure’.
The cross carriage measure allows the opening up of content to all players in the market, allowing the sharing of content that was once classified as exclusive. Ultimately, this would give M1 a foot in the door, allowing it to compete with peers SIngtel and StarHub in the pay TV market.
Given that M1 is the only operator without a pay TV business, the cross carriage ruling will allow the company to join the fray and compete on a level playing field with its quad play rivals. M1’s management had previously said it was exploring a niche delivery of pay TV.
The core issue with content is that it is expensive, and prices continuer to trend upwards. The cross carriage measure would inherently lower the spiraling cost of content.
The cross carriage measure will address the current imbalance in the Singapore Pay TC market, which is characterized by the widespread adoption of an exclusive contract centric strategy.
It will help content providers gain a wider distribution of their content and consumers to enjoy a wider choice of content without the inconvenience of having to switch Pay TV retailers each time exclusive content changes hands.
However, the ruling is still preliminary, it will take a while before implementation. The measure is scheduled to be implemented in 2H2011.
Industry observers are expecting M1 to gain the most out of the three main Singapore telcos from NGNBN and the company’s plans were the most compelling in the market. M1 also has no legacy network and subscribers to cannibalise. However a potential spanner in the works is the auctioning of 3G spectrum on the cards with a reserve price of SGD20 million each lot. The government is not limiting the bidding to the three existing operators.
The possible entry of a fourth new player would make the market more competitive.
Petra Perdana Bhd
As at June 2010, it has long term borrowings amounting to RM195 million and short term borrowings of RM149 million.
Amanah Saham Wawasan 2010, a unit controlled by PNB has 5.6% and has been paring down its stake recently. PNB has direct stake of 7.5%. Skim Amanah Saham Bumipuetra also controlled by PNB has 4.1%. Nam Cheong has 0.3% stake.
