16 theSun | TUESDAY APRIL 14 2009

business

KL market summary
APRIL 14, 2009

Tech Mahindra wins Satyam bid

MUMBAI: India’s Tech Mahi-
ndra won the bidding Monday
for Satyam Computer Services
in a sale aimed at giving the
scandal-hit outsourcing giant
vital capital and a new begin-
ning.
The mid-level outsourcing
firm will have to pay nearly
US$600 million (RM2.16 bil-
lion) for a majority share of
Satyam, which has struggled
since its founder earlier this
year confessed to staging
India’s biggest accounting
fraud.
Satyam said in a statement
the news “signals a new stage
for the company”.
The firm, which was In-
dia’s fourth-largest outsourcer
by revenues when the scandal
broke, acts as back office for
some of the world’s biggest
manufacturers, healthcare
providers and banks.
The spokeswoman for
Hyderabad-based Satyam
said Tech Mahindra put in
the highest offer among the
sealed bids opened earlier
in the day by the company’s
government-appointed board.
“Tech Mahindra has won
the bidding at 58 rupees
(RM4.18) a share,” she told
AFP.
The offer represents a 23%
premium to Satyam’s last
closing share price and would
mean Tech Mahindra would
have to pay about 29 billion
rupees (RM2.09 billion) for a
51% stake.
In January, founder B.
Ramalinga Raju admitted
faking a billion-dollar bank
balance and inflating the
company’s profits.
Raju, his brother and seven
other people, including two
PriceWaterhouse India audi-
tors, are now being held on
charges of conspiracy, cheat-
ing, forgery and falsification
of accounts.
The new board was ap- and good governance,” said
INDICES
FBMEMAS
COMPOSITE
INDUSTRIAL
CONSUMER PROD
INDUSTRIAL PROD
CONSTRUCTION
6,204.26
941.41
2,216.96
294.08
70.79
185.61
CHANGE
+ 11.68
+0.03
-10.86
+0.09
+1.02
+0.56
pointed by the government Satyam board chairman Kiran TRADING SERVICES 126.33 -0.42
after the confession. Karnik. FINANCE 7,073.45 +58.09
Tech Mahindra beat In- The company was “in deep PROPERTIES 562.19 +6.52
dian engineering heavyweight trouble. We doused the fire and PLANTATIONS 4,920.67 +2.08
Larsen & Toubro, which brought it back on course,” he MINING 263.44 + 8.11
FBMSHA 6,542.81 +5.24
already had a 12% stake in told a news conference.
FBM2BRD 4,055.14 +14.90
Satyam and was seen as a Shares of Tech Mahindra, TECHNOLOGY 1 2.13 +0.12
front-runner for Satyam. It bid which is based in the western
45.90 rupees a share. city of Pune, were up 46.15 TURNOVER VALUE
“The selection of the high- rupees, or 14.68%, at 362.25 1.119 billion RM983.959mil
est bidder, in a fair, open and rupees following the an-
transparent process, signals a nouncement.
new stage for the company in According to the sale proc-
its progress towards stabilisa- ess, Tech Mahindra will buy Shares slightly higher
tion and growth,” Satyam said 31% of Satyam and then make
in a statement.
The sale had taken on an
an open offer on the share on bargain hunting
market for another 20% of the
urgency, with dozens of clients firm. SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed slightly
reported to have terminated Satyam has been scram- higher yesterday on mild bargain hunting in
their contracts or planning to bling to pay salaries and other selected heavyweights with interest mostly in
defect to Satyam’s rivals be- expenses and needs a cash banking and financial stocks, dealers said.
cause of the uncertainty over infusion to help stay afloat. Continuing last week’s firmer trend, the
its future. It operates in close to 70 benchmark KLCI edged up 0.03 of a point to
“This event ought to dispel countries and has nearly 700 941.41. It opened 1.6 points higher at 942.99.
the anxiety of all stakeholders clients, including about 185 Dealers said improved investors sentiment
The 258-
as it re-positions the compa- Fortune 500 firms such as on most regional bourses also led to the
room Tune
ny’s commitment to revival Nestle SA. – AFP uptrend.
Hotel.com
Advancers led decliners by 428 to 172 while
in George

Tune Hotels.com opens outlet in

156 counters were unchanged, 488 untraded
Town.
and 36 others suspended.
Among the actives, KNM rose 1.5 sen to 46
sen, Maybank-OR was unchanged at RM1.06

George Town while Mulpha International added 2.5 sen to

34.5 sen. – Bernama

GEORGE TOWN: Budget hotel within its building for food

Tune Hotels.com opened its fifth
and largest outlet in the country
in George Town and targets to
have at least 13 new facilities
worldwide in the short term.
Refurbished at a cost of
RM30 million, the 258-room
building complements the com-
pany’s four existing properties
in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu,
Kuching and the KLIA low-cost
carrier terminal.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng
said the hotel’s operations will
help the state achieve its goal to
be the top destination of choice
for tourists.
He expected the tourist ar-
rivals this year to surpass the
6.3 million recorded last year.
“About 25% of the tourists
to Penang actually stayed at
hotels located in the George
Town city area.
“I believe the choice of
setting up this hotel has a lot
to do with this,” he said when
launching the new facility
yesterday.
Also present at the event
was state tourism develop-
ment, culture, arts and heritage
committee chairman Danny
Law Heng Kiang, Tune Hotels.
com director Datuk Seri Tony
Fernandes and chairman Datuk
Seri Kalimullah Hassan.
Guests pay low rates for
basic stay, and have the options
to have priced add-on services
such as air-conditioning, towel
rental, in-room wi-fi connection
and hairdryers.
The hotel leases space
and beverage outlets and
other businesses. Among major
brands leasing the company’s
spaces at its various locations
are 7-Eleven, Subway and Gloria
briefs
Jean’s Coffees.
Retailers in the George Town
property include Ole Café, MAS not in active talks with
Passage Thru Asia restaurant,
Layla Foot Reflexology, Asia Qantas on JV
Mart and Captrans Sdn Bhd KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airline System Bhd
which provides airport transfer (MAS) is not in active discussions with Australia’s
and tour services. Qantas for the proposed maintenance, repair and
The hotel’s operations have overhaul (MRO) joint-venture following the expiry
open up jobs for about 1,000 of the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the
people through direct work national carrier said yesterday.
and vendor services. “Consequently, no active discussions are taking
Kalimullah later told place, unless the MoU is subsequently renewed,”
reporters the company has MAS said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia.
already acquired 13 plots The MoU signed in late 2007 was aimed
worldwide. at establishing a maintenance base in Kuala
Two new properties are Lumpur.It would have been Qantas’ first heavy
expected to be launched in maintenance facility in Asia.
Bali, in the districts of Kuta A MAS official had earlier been reported as
and Legian, by the end of saying that the local carrier was in discussions
the year. with Qantas for an extension to the MoU, but had
It has also been yet to come to an agreement.
approached to invest In 2007, then Qantas chief executive officer
in India, where it is Geoff Dixon was quoted as saying that the joint-
assessing for projects venture would be part of the group’s growth plans
in Mumbai, Chen- into the Asia Pacific region and it was hoped that
nai, Cochin and operations could start in 2008. – Bernama
Delhi, as well as in
China. LMH to take lead in US$115m
He said the
company also Murabahah facility
plans to set up KUALA LUMPUR: Kuwait Finance House (KFH)
two more subsidiary Liquidity Management House (LMH)
hotels in Pe- has secured a US$115 million syndicated
nang island, Murabahah finance facility for KFH-Turkey.
including one KFH in a statement said LMH would
at the Batu collaborate with seven other regional and
Ferringhi tourism global banks as the Mandated Lead Arranger..
belt. – Bernama

Billadam to tap regional mobile content mart

KUALA LUMPUR: Billadam, a
UK-based mobile content company
owned by a Malaysian, is all set to
penetrate the regional market this
year, president Taufik Abdullah
said.
“Malaysia will be our main focus
as we are ready now with the recent
awareness in the content industry
in the country and improvement of
mobile and speed broadband. The
number of multimedia messaging
service usage has also increased.
“... And we are ready not only
in Malaysia as we are going to
penetrate into a bigger market, the
regional market,” he told Bernama
in an interview.
Taufik said the company was pre-
paring a wide range of products ex-
pected to be completed this year and
they can suit the regional market.
“We are looking at the regional
content market that can go with
these countries. I’m looking more at
that angle than to focus merely on
the Malaysian market,” he said.
The company also plans to have
its own regional marketing, he said.
“We don’t want to sell to con-
tent suppliers as we would like to
have our own marketing, regional
marketing,” he said.
Taufik said the company aimed
to engage at least one Telco in every
country in the region.
“But the best market is actually
the Philippines market as they have
the highest number of SMSes in the
world in terms of population.
“The Philippines is a haven for
the mobile market in terms of SMS
but for MMS it is yet to be tested. So,
we will go for it soon,” he said.
Established in 2003 in Cyberjaya,
the company moved to the UK in
2005 to tap a much bigger market in
the mobile content business.
“When we started the mobile con-
tent business in Cyberjaya in 2003,
the market for MMS mobile content
in Malaysia was very small.
“So we stopped doing it in Malay-
sia and moved our marketing to the
UK and set up our office there to sell
our mobile content to content suppli-
ers as we cannot go directly because
the market is big,” he said.
With its “Made-in-Malaysia For
The World” concept, the company
produced its products in Cyberjaya
and market them in the UK, he said.
“We have our own core team of
software developers and content crea-
tors here as our production centre is
based here (Cyberjaya),” he said.
To date, Billadam has launched
two products for the UK market,
namely AZ Finder and MobiGreets.
– Bernama