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T U E S DAY, A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m
ISSUE 175/2021

CEOMorningBrief HOME: Steep discount looms for AAX rights issue price p4
Top Glove resolves all 11 ILO forced labour indicators p4
M3 Tech shareholders want to remove four directors and block proposed ESOS p12
WORLD: Apple ups US investments over five years to US$430 bil p20
SHAHRIN YAHYA/THE EDGE

MoF: Govt has no choice

but to draw RM5b from KWAN
for Covid-19 fight as finances
near limit after 1MDB scandal
Report on Page 2.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
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MoF: Govt has no choice but to draw
RM5b from KWAN for Covid-19 fight as
finances near limit after 1MDB scandal
PUTRAJAYA (April 26): The Ministry of
Finance (MoF) said the government will
be using RM5 billion from the National
Trust Fund (KWAN) for the fight against
the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as for the
country’s immunisation plan, as it had no
choice but to do so as its finances are near-
ing its limit after the 1Malaysia Develop-
ment Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri
Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the statu-
tory debt level is currently at 58% of gross
domestic product (GDP), nearing the 60%
ceiling, and the country is burdened with
debts arising from 1MDB, SRC Interna-
tional Sdn Bhd as well as private finance
initiatives (PFIs).
“The government has inherited high
levels of debt, with a lower capacity to pay
off commitments.
“Besides federal government debt, the
government has commitments from guar-
antees, such as for 1MDB, SRC, GovCo
and SSER, as these projects cannot gen-
erate income to finance their principal.
These projects have zero multiplier on
GDP and contribute zero revenue to the
government,” he told a press briefing today.
The government would have been able
to foot the bill for the financial needs in
the current crisis if it was not for 1MDB,
said the minister, adding that there is no
other choice but to optimise funds such
as KWAN in the fight against Covid-19.
He also said that Malaysia would likely
miss its 6% budget deficit target if it does
not tap into KWAN’s funds, and would
likely reach 6.2% in 2021.
Of the RM5 billion of KWAN’s funds,
Tengku Zafrul explained that RM3.5
billion will go towards the purchase of
Covid-19 vaccines, while RM1.5 billion
2 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
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is earmarked for the National Covid-19
Immunisation Plan.
As at Dec 31, 2020, the fund had an
asset value amounting to RM19.5 billion,
comprising RM10.4 billion from Petroliam
Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and RM9.1 bil-
lion in return on the investment put in by
the oil and gas (O&G) major.
The minister said the RM5 billion funds
will only be taken from the RM9.1 billion
returns made on the investment, with the
amount to be replenished later.
On the replenishment of KWAN, he
did not give a clear answer but hinted that
Petronas should not be the only contrib-
utor to the fund.
publisher + . Ho Kay Tat
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“Hopefully, other groups that are sup-
posed to contribute will contribute to the
fund, namely those that benefited from
the country’s natural resources. I shouldn’t
name them,” he said.
Asked why this amount was not includ-
ed in Budget 2021, he said the government
had no idea back then how much would be
needed to cover expenses for the vaccines
and the immunisation plan.
He added that the RM3 billion figure
previously mentioned by the government
was only an estimate, pointing out that the
figure was not included in the budget as
the government will only include it if the
figure is confirmed.
Furthermore,Tengku Zafrul said the gov-
ernment’s move to expedite the completion
of the Covid-19 immunisation plan by De-
cember 2021, versus the previous February
2022, as well as the widening of the pro-
gramme to ensure a stable supply of Cov-
id-19 vaccines had resulted in higher costs.
Asked why the government did not re-
quest for higher dividends from Petronas
in view of the rebound in crude oil prices,
Tengku Zafrul said that is not the way as
the company had to be run professionally.
“KWAN was established to ensure the
optimum, stable usage of the country’s nat-
ural resources for the benefit of the nation
and future generations. The fund was es-
tablished in 1988, and we are the future.
If we don’t tap into this fund, and the fol-
lowing generation does not either, what
will become of the fund?” he asked.
Read also: MoF-backed MyCIF co-invest-
ed RM165m in equity crowdfunding, P2P
financing schemes by end-2020, says SC
Click here
T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

Steep discount
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): AirAsia X price of AAX shares up to and including the
Bhd (AAX), which is planning a RM500 date immediately preceding any exercise of

looms for AAX

million fundraising exercise, intends to the subscription option,” the airline added.
provide a steeper discount to its rights is- The latter, it said, is subject to adjust-

rights issue price

sue price to encourage the take-up of the
cash call.
The troubled carrier is planning to raise
up to RM300 million via a cash call from
its existing shareholders, and up to RM200
million from a placement exercise for new
investors. This is on top of a share capital
reduction exercise and a proposed restruc-
turing of some RM2 billion in liabilities.
“The board intends to fix the rights is-
sue price at an indicative discount of be-
tween 30% and 55% to the theoretical
ex-all price (TEAP) of AAX shares after
taking into consideration the need to price
BY ADAM AZIZ
theedgemarkets.com
the rights shares at an issue price deemed
sufficiently attractive to encourage sub-
scription to the rights shares,” said AAX
in a filing today.
“After further deliberation, the issue
price of the additional subscription shares
will be revised to be based on the higher of:
a) the rights issue price; or b) 25% of the
five-day volume weighted average market
SUHAIMI YUSUF/THE EDGE
ment if any alteration is made to the share
capital at any time during the subscrip-
tion period for the additional subscrip-
tion shares.
In October, the airline unveiled a debt
and liabilities restructuring proposal in-
volving the reconstitution of RM63.5 bil-
lion worth of debts, including future lease
rentals, aircraft purchase commitments
and advanced ticket sales into a principal
amount of up to RM200 million.
It also includes a share capital reduction
exercise, which entails a higher reduction of
99.9%, from 90% proposed previously.This
will reduce the share capital to RM1.53
million from RM1.53 billion currently.
Meanwhile, the proposed subscription
to new shares by new investors will see
AAX deputy chairman Datuk Lim Kian
Onn spearheading a special purpose ve-
hicle (SPV) to pump in at least RM50
million in the exercise.
On March 17, the long-haul low-cost
carrier announced that it had secured a
three-month restraining order against its
creditors as it deliberates further on its
restructuring plan.
Shares in AAX traded down half a sen or
5.56% to 8.5 sen at the noon market break,
valuing the group at RM352.59 million.

Top Glove
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Top Glove In late March this year, the US Customs
Corp Bhd has resolved all 11 International and Border Protection (CBP) announced

resolves all
Labour Organisation (ILO) indicators of that it has directed personnel at all US
forced labour, the glove manufacturer said ports of entry to begin seizing disposable

11 ILO forced
in an exchange filing today. gloves produced in Malaysia by Top Glove
The group highlighted that the reso- Corp Bhd.

labour indicators
lution of the 11 ILO indicators of forced
labour has been verified by independent
international UK consultant Impactt Ltd
in its report dated April 22.
“Top Glove has engaged Impactt in July
2020 to advise on measures for improving
the company’s labour policies and prac-
tices,” it said.
According to a statement issued sep-
arately by the glove maker, the 11 ILO
issues are:
i. abuse of vulnerability
ii. retention of identity documents
iii. restriction of movement
iv. excessive overtime
v. abusive working and living conditions
vi. deception
vii. isolation
viii. debt bondage
ix. withholding of wages
x. physical and sexual violence, and
xi. intimidation.
The directive came after the CBP Of-
fice of Trade, in consultation with the
Secretary of the Treasury, published a
forced labour finding against disposable
BY SULHI KHALID gloves produced by Top Glove, in which
theedgemarkets.com the CBP said it has sufficient informa-
tion to believe Top Glove uses forced
labour in the production of disposable
gloves.
Meanwhile, the glove manufacturer
stated its assurance to stakeholders of its
continued efforts to improve the welfare
of its employees.
“Top Glove remains committed to [be-
ing] the best company that it can become,
ensuring high quality welfare, health, safe-
ty, working conditions and living accom-
modation of its 21,000 strong workforce,”
it added.
At noon break today, shares of Top
Glove ended 11 sen or 1.92% higher to
RM5.84, valuing the world’s glove man-
ufacturer at RM47.93 billion.
T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
Tabung Haji
and EPF raise
their stakes in
BIMB via private
placement
BY ARJUNA CHANDRAN SHANKAR
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): BIMB
Group Holdings Bhd’s top two share-
holders, Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) and
the Employees Provident Fund (EPF),
have raised their shareholding in the fi-
nancial group through their participation
in BIMB’s private placement.
TH purchased 12 million placement
shares, raising its shareholding in BIMB
to 997.11 million shares or 48.03%, ac-
cording to BIMB’s filing to Bursa Malaysia.
In another filing, BIMB notified the ex-
change that EPF, through its nominee ac-
counts, had acquired 45.87 million place-
ment shares on April 21. The purchase was
made through seven transactions.The largest
block of shares purchased was 45 million
shares, while the smallest was 117,000 shares.
With this, the EPF now controls 278.59
million shares or a 13.42% stake in BIMB.
In a separate filing, BIMB said Per-
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): IJM Corp
Bhd has clarified that it has not received
“any formal proposal or offer from any
party expressing interest for a corporate
merger” at this juncture.
In a bourse filing, the company said it
constantly evaluates various proposals or in-
itiatives, including those that it may receive
from other parties, as part of its continuous
efforts to enhance shareholder value.
“In accordance with good corporate
governance practice, the company will
disclose any relevant information to Bur-
sa Malaysia and to our investors in a timely
manner,” it added.
IJM Corp was responding to a news re-
port in The Edge Malaysia weekly, over the
weekend, that Iskandar Waterfront Hold-
ings Sdn Bhd (IWH) — a 63:37 public-pri-
vate partnership involving private equity
firm Credence Resources Sdn Bhd and
Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn
Bhd — may be interested in a merger with
IJM Corp.
Quoting several sources, The Edge
wrote that other companies that could be
interested in IJM Corp include Sunway
6 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
modalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has ceased
to be a substantial shareholder in the group
as a result of the increase in group’s paid-
up capital to 2.08 billion shares, from 1.85
billion shares.
As of March 17, PNB controlled 93.93
million shares, which was then equivalent
to a 5.07% stake.
Earlier this month, BIMB announced
that it had placed out 222 million shares
at RM3.58 per share, raising RM795.55
million in fresh capital.
In a restructuring exercise that BIMB
first announced in December 2019, the
group had said that Bank Islam Malaysia
Bhd would take over BIMB’s Main Market
listing, as well as the 59.45% stake held in
Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd —
No corporate
merger proposal
received so far,
says IJM Corp
BY WONG EE LIN
theedgemarkets.com
which will maintain its separate listing status
on Bursa Malaysia, following the completion
of BIMB’s restructuring exercise.
As part of the restructuring exercise, the
group announced its intention to undertake
a private placement of new shares, to pay
a cash consideration to warrant holders to
cancel their exercise rights to the warrants.
Last week, BIMB chief executive officer
Mohd Muazzam Mohamed said the group
is targeting to offer shariah-based financial
solutions, as well as environmental, social
and governance (ESG) or shariah-ESG
products by 2025, based on its five-year
post restructuring plan.
Shares in BIMB closed two sen or
0.51% lower at RM3.90 today, valuing
the group at RM8.1 billion.
Bhd and Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd
(MRCB).
Citing sources close to IWH, which is
63.13%-owned by tycoon Tan Sri Lim
Kang Hoo via his 97.98% stake in Cre-
dence Resources, the weekly reported that
the company has reached out to IJM Corp
with a preliminary proposal.
“IWH has reached out to IJM Corp
with a preliminary proposal for a three-
way merger between both groups’ con-
struction, property, plantation and highway
divisions,” said one of the sources.
For IWH, a merger with IJM Corp
would be strategic for the future devel-
opment of its ambitious Bandar Malaysia
project, The Edge noted.
Previously, IJM Corp had proposed to
merge its property arm IJM Land Bhd
with MRCB in 2010.
IJM Corp’s shares closed five sen or
2.67% higher at RM1.92 today, valuing the
company at RM6.99 billion. Some 4.97
million shares were traded. The counter
has risen 15.7% from RM1.66 over the
past year, and is up 60% from last year’s
low of RM1.20 on Aug 28.
T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 7 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
Freight rate spike puts dry bulk carriers
back in spotlight
BY ADAM AZIZ
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Interest
in the dry bulk shipping segment, a sec-
tor that has been off the radar for more
than a decade, is getting strong, against
the backdrop of surging freight rates driv-
en by an unexpected commodity boom
during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Baltic Exchange Dry Index, which
tracks freight rates across different ves-
sel sizes, started the year higher than
pre-pandemic levels, and is currently dou-
ble its five-year average at 2,472 points as
key markets replenish supplies that were
drawn down in the year of the pandemic.
Shares of dry bulk carriers, from
Thai-listed Thoresen Thai Agencies PCL
to Hong Kong-listed Pacific Basin Ship-
ping Ltd, have risen between 63% and
153% in tandem with the bullish char-
ter rates.
At home, shares of Malaysia-listed Ma-
laysian Bulk Carriers Bhd (Maybulk) have
also climbed 58% from their lowest point
this year. The stock hit a high of 72 sen,
just shy of its August 2019 high of 73.5
sen when shipping rates spiked. Maybulk
is trading at 70 sen this morning.
Unlike the temporary spike in ship-
ping rates in 2019, analysts are expect-
ing its levels to remain elevated this time.
The commodity boom, further induced
by governments pushing for infrastruc-
ture projects to drive economic recov-
ery post-Covid-19, comes at a time when
newbuild order book is at a low, which
points to supply tightness at least until
2022.
8 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Malaysia Bulk Carriers Bhd
Sen
80
69 sen
70
60
50
40
30
April 6, 2020 April 26, 2021
Source: Bloomberg
Demand outstrips supply until 2022
To be sure, the industry was headed to-
wards market balance since 2016, as few-
er new ships were built after more than a
decade of suppressed freight rates after the
2003-2008 commodity supercycle.
Noticeably, commodity prices are also
at their highest in over two years, with
the Bloomberg Commodity Index rising
to US$87.33.
While newbuild orders jumped in the
first quarter of 2021 in response to the
climbing shipping rates, the undersupply
situation should persist in the short term
as it takes 18 months at the earliest for a
vessel to be completed.
Leading shipping analyst Cleaves Se-
curities, in its quarterly report dated April
18, forecasts net dry bulk supply growth
of 3.3% year-on-year in 2021, and only
1.7% in both 2022 and 2023.
Baltic Exchange Dry Index
(Points)
3,000
2,788
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
April 6, 2016 April 23, 2021
Source: Bloomberg
This compares with a dry bulk demand
growth forecast of 10.1% in 2021, before
normalising to 3.4% in 2022 and 2.2%
in 2023.
“Given the historically low order book,
very limited demand growth is needed in
order to significantly improve fleet uti-
lisation, earnings and asset prices going
forward,” the research house said.
Peter Lindström, head of research for
Norwegian shipping firm Torvald Klave-
ness Group, said in its 2021 outlook that
positive demand growth is expected across
the board for key commodities, from iron
ore to grains and minor bulks. This while
fleet growth remains at “historical lows”
in 2021 and 2022.
“We believe it is very likely that freight
rates will increase in 2021 and 2022 as low
fleet growth combines with a seaborne dry
CO N TI N U ES O N PAG E 10
T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26):The Malay-
sian government has imposed anti-dumping
duties on imports of cold rolled stainless
steel in coil, sheet or any other form (subject
merchandise) originating or exported from
Indonesia and Vietnam.
In a statement today, the Ministry of In-
ternational Trade and Industry (MITI) said
the anti-dumping duty for Indonesia is 8.8%
to 34.82% and Vietnam 7.81% to 23.84%.
MITI added the duties are equivalent to
the amount of the dumping margins that
has been determined.
“The collection of anti-dumping duty on
the subject merchandise has been enforced
by the Royal Malaysian Customs Depart-
FROM PAGE 8
bulk trade that recovers from the black swan
events of Brumadinho dam disaster [which
slashed iron ore exports from Brazil in 2019]
and Covid-19 [in 2020].
“We also believe that fleet growth in the
next five years is likely to be at low levels due
to uncertainties around the choice of fuel
and propulsion systems,” he added.
It includes the IMO 2020 regulation
which limits sulphur content in ships’ fuel
oil to 0.5%. This pushes shipbuilding costs
higher, and provides an advantage for ship-
pers with newer, more eco-friendly vessels.
Cautious optimism?
Others also see a tipping point in the sec-
tor’s supply-demand dynamics, although
at a more conservative level. Moody’s, for
one, foresees dry bulk demand to grow by
3%-5% in 2021.
Interestingly, Maybulk also had a more
conservative tone on the industry outlook.
“Despite a slower fleet growth, coupled
with an order book of less than 6% of fleet
capacity, there are influences that are likely
to limit dry bulk trade performance in the
following months due to divergent growth
rates worldwide reflecting variation in pan-
demic-induced disruptions and the extent
of policy support across countries,” said
10 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Govt imposes
anti-dumping
duties on steel
trade from
Indonesia,
Vietnam
Bernama
Maybulk in its annual report released on
April 16.
“We should be prepared for pressure on
freight rates and likely volatilities as the im-
pact of China stimulus wanes and recov-
ery of other economies likely to be uneven
during the post Covid-19 pandemic,” the
report also said.
Understandably, the company was
loss-making in its financial year ended Dec
31, 2020 (FY20). However over the past
five financial years, the group has gradually
reduced its losses, with positive operating
profit in FY18 and FY19.
Having exited the loss-making oil and
gas services unit PACC Offshore Services
Holdings Ltd in 2018, Maybulk has also
completed its fleet sizing to be younger and
more eco-friendly.
Maybulk, which is linked to tycoon Rob-
ert Kuok, owns and operates 10 vessels with
an aggregate carrying capacity of 555,059
metric ton deadweight and an average age
of 5.6 years, according to its annual report.
Its voyage spans Europe and Australasia.
The fleet comprises three kamsarmax,
three supramax and four handysize vessels.
These vessel types typically cater more to-
wards minor bulks, grains, and coal more
than iron ore, according to 2019 data from
shipping firm Torvald Klaveness.
ment for five years from April 24, 2021 to
April 23, 2026.
“The imposition of the anti-dumping du-
ties on the subject merchandise from these
countries is expected to address the issue
of unfair trade practices,” it said.
On July 28, 2020, the government initi-
ated an anti-dumping investigation into the
subject merchandise originating or exported
from Indonesia and Vietnam in accordance
with the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping
Duties Act 1993 and Countervailing and
Anti-Dumping Duties Regulation 1994.
The probe was based on a petition
filed by Bahru Stainless Sdn Bhd, the sole
steel-producing domestic manufacturer.
As a result of the probe, the government
found that the subject merchandise from
these countries was brought into Malaysia
at a price lower than the price sold in those
countries and had caused material harm to
the local industry in Malaysia.
MITI also said stakeholders such as local
producers, importers, foreign producers/ex-
porters and associations related to the inves-
tigation could obtain a copy of the non-con-
fidential version of the report on the final
determination by making a written appli-
cation to the ministry.
For more infor mation, call
03-6208 4634/4639/4642/4646 or email
alltps@miti.gov.my.
According to Maybulk’s website, its ves-
sels are “largely tramped on the spot and
period markets”. It also has a long-term con-
tract worth an estimated RM563 million
with TNB Fuel Services Sdn Bhd to ship
about 1.5 million tonnes of coal per year to
Malaysia until 2031.
Group borrowings have also been pared
down from RM543.9 million at end-FY15,
to RM237.3 million at end-2020. Cash and
cash equivalents stood at RM38.89 million
at end-2020, while group accumulated losses
stood at RM183.94 million.
At current level, Maybulk’s market cap-
italisation stood at a mere RM700 million.
At 70 sen, the counter is trading near
one-fifth of its peak valuation in the 2000s
— the good heydays in the previous power-
ful commodity boom when the Baltic Dry
Index rocketed to above 10,000 in 2008
shortly before the onset of the Global Finan-
cial Crisis. It then plunged to below 1,000
soon during the economic crisis.
The index is trading at 2,700-level cur-
rently.
It’s a long-awaited recovery for the dry
bulk shipping segment, and one which May-
bulk has worked hard to position itself to
benefit from. It’s a rosy picture for recovery
from here on in — if the upswing in the glob-
al economy goes uninterrupted this time.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 11 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

WEALTH
INSIGHT B R O U G H T TO YO U BY

Rising yields cause for inflation concern?

B
B Y R H B W E A LT H R E S E A R C H

ond yields have climbed in

recent weeks, owing largely
to mounting expectations of
stronger economic growth
and a higher inflation rate,
particularly as pandemic
fears subside.
We at RHB believe, however, that in-
terest rates should be higher because we
believe the market is overreacting and
overly bullish on the recovery at the
time of writing.
While most players in the market
seem to be pricing in a V-shaped eco-
nomic recovery,we are expecting a more
volatile, W-shaped trajectory, with con-
tinuous ups and downs, as opposed to
consistent improvements to the econ-
omy.
We base our opinion on the une-
ven distribution of Covid-19 vaccines
and the challenges that countries are How high is the bond yield? programmes. Retail and hospitality RE- Global manufacturing Purchasing expect a rotation from defensives into
currently encountering while rolling While RHB Asset Management sees val- ITs are likely to recover once economies Managers’ Index surged to 55 in March cyclicals and the return of global funds
out their respective vaccination pro- ue at current levels,we remain cautious reopen,while potential mergers and ac- — its highest level since November 2010. to Asian markets in 2021.
grammes, with even developed mar- on the prospect of more sell-offs before quisitions may provide further support Other than that, the global green
kets facing delays amid various logis- the market stabilises. to REIT growth. Our house view on fears of movement, ongoing technological in-
tical difficulties. In this regard, we The market tends to overshoot and It should be noted that, while REIT persistent volatility novations, as well as global healthcare
believe the overall vaccination rollout we believe this will be one such instance. performance is still limited by rising Fears will persist,as suggested by the ele- sectors are likely to benefit from support-
for many emerging market countries For now, we prefer to stay defensive by bond yields, its distribution yields con- vated volatility seen in both the fixed in- ive policies worldwide, with everyone
will be worse when taking into account focusing more on the short-to-belly part tinue to remain attractive relative to come market as measured by the Merrill from US President Joe Biden to Chinese
access and infrastructure. of the curve, and look for opportunities bond yields. Lynch Option Volatility Estimate index, President Xi Jinping expected to support
“This is why we believe significant to go long later. as well as the equity market, as suggest- these sectors.
challenges remain before global herd How do rising yields affect equity ed by the widely used Volatility Index. The equity markets are expected to
immunity can be achieved, which in How have rising bond yields markets? The recovery scenario has been un- perform well, as corporate earnings will
turn suggests that a global economic affected fixed income and REITs? As mentioned, RHB believes the market even across the world and remains very be upgraded amid ongoing economic
recovery is far from complete, with the Fixed income returns were negatively may be overreacting, as evidenced by much dependent on the outcome of the recovery.
road ahead still highly uncertain,” says affected from rising bond yields. While rising bond yields over the prospects of Covid-19 situation. The low interest rate environment
Tan Jee Toon, chief investment officer of credit spreads have tightened amid the a potentially straightforward econom- On top of the challenges posed by the and ample liquidity will favour equities
Asia Pacific Equities at RHB Asset Man- economic recovery, it was able to offset ic recovery. vaccine rollout, new strains of the virus in 2021.Valuations may remain elevated,
agement Pte Ltd Singapore. only some of the negative impact from We also note, however, that the mar- are being discovered, creating concerns owing to a prolonged low interest rate
rising yields. ket is focused on inflation fears, as we over the efficacy of existing vaccines in environment and corporate earnings
How real is the fear on inflation? Real estate investment trusts (RE- have seen inflation expectations surging dealing with these strains. are still at the early stages of a rebound.
In the circumstances, RHB believes the ITs) have also been laggards during the higher than pre-Covid-19 levels. RHB believes these fears are likely Investors should bear in mind that
market may be overreacting to sugges- pandemic, as most human activity out The market has even priced in cen- to persist until global herd immunity the recovery will be differentiated and
tions of inflationary pressure.While in- in the world was heavily restricted dur- tral bank tightening as early as this year, is in sight. uneven across the world.
flation could certainly become a concern ing the multiple rounds of Covid-19-en- and the possible reduction of liquidity As such, our advice is to remain in-
further down the road, we do not see it forced lockdown. Naturally, this had an in the system, putting stress on the val- Advice for investors vested and keep a diversified portfolio.
as a problem for now. Having said that, impact on the retail and hospitality uation of equities. The key themes for 2021 are a focus on What we can be certain of is this: There
we do expect to see higher Consumer REITs, among other REIT sectors. Hav- So far, major central banks have reit- economic recovery as well as an im- is always a silver lining to every outcome
Price Index (CPI) numbers in various ing said that, data centre REITs remain erated their dovish stance on monetary provement to global trade. and there are always opportunities wait-
countries over the coming months. relatively unaffected. policy. In addition, the recent earnings Cyclical sectors, such as consumer ing to be discovered.
However, our rationale for the high- RHB believes REITs will have an op- revisions for global companies have discretionary, materials, financials, en- As such, investors would do well to
er possible CPI data has more to do with portunity to outperform the broader mar- been positive, further supporting the ergy and industrials are expected to ben- stay calm and well informed, and to re-
inflation coming off historic lows, with ket,in tandem with national vaccination recovery story. efit as the economy recovers. We would frain from making rash decisions.
some spikes in demand resulting in At RHB, our Relationship Managers
shortages of certain items, especially and Investment Specialists stand ready
in view of supply chain difficulties.
Yield curve (historical 3m-10y spread) BLOOMBERG to work with you to formulate an effec-
Even so, these issues are typically tran- tive investment strategy to achieve your
sient and will not be a cause for major long-term investment objectives. Scan
concern. the QR code below to leave your details
In any event,given the significant un- for us to address your concerns.
employment in the economy, as well as
the general underutilisation of industri- Invest with RHB Premier to
al capacities, these are yet more reasons unlock wealth opportunities.
we at RHB are not so concerned about
inflation in the short term. At the time Join RHB Premier today.
of writing, overall industrial capacity Scan
is gaining momentum, but has yet to
reach pre-Covid-19 levels.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the US
Federal Reserve, has also downplayed
inflation fears, pointing out that even
if prices spike slightly this year, the rise
would not be large or sustained, and that Visit any RHB Premier Centre
the two-decade trend of low inflation in
the US is likely to continue.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 12 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

KUALA LUMPUR (April 26):Two substan-
tial shareholders of M3 Technologies (Asia)
Bhd (M3 Tech), one of whom is the compa-
ny’s former group managing director Lim
Seng Boon, want to remove four directors
and to terminate the employees share option
scheme (ESOS).
This happens one week after seven share-
holders collectively holding 146.1 million
shares rejected the proposed private place-
ment at the extraordinary general meeting
(EGM) last Monday (April 19).
On top of that, M3 Tech last week also ter-
minated the memorandum of collaboration
with AT Systematization Bhd to provide digital
signage hardware and software enhancements
for large-scale Covid-19 disinfection chambers.
According to a filing with Bursa Malaysia
today, Lim, who stepped down two months
ago, and another substantial shareholder
Voon Sze Lin have requested to convene an
EGM to remove four directors and to ap-
point four others to the board.
The duo have a combined shareholding
of 13.5%, of which Lim holds a 7.4% stake,
while Voon has 6.15%. The other substantial
shareholder is XOX Bhd holding a 9.39%
stake — including a 5.23% stake held via
XOX (HK) Ltd.
The two want to remove executive chair-
man Mark Chew ShinYong, non-independent
and non-executive directors Datuk Chai Woon
M3 Tech
shareholders want
to remove four
directors and block
proposed ESOS
BY WONG EE LIN
theedgemarkets.com
Chen and Ng Kok Heng as well as executive
director Nicholas Wong Yew Khid.
Meanwhile, Voon intends to take up the
non-independent chairman post, and three
others — Yeoh Boon Hock, Shaifubahrim
Mohd Saleh and Muhammad Zul Hanafi
— as independent directors.
Furthermore, they are also calling for
the termination of the ESOS announced
on March 4. The ESOS entailed a total of
231.38 million share options at the exercise
price of five sen to eligible employees.
The number of shares to be issued is equiv-
alent to close to 30% of the company’s exist-
ing issued share capital of 773 million shares.
“Now that we have officially served the
official notice as prescribed under Section
311 of the Companies Act 2016, we hereby
request that NO NEW DIRECTORS are to
be appointed before the extraordinary gen-
eral meeting.”
“In accordance to the above, please make
[a] corresponding announcement on Bursa
accordingly to protect all shareholders’ interest
and full compliance of Listing Requirement ac-
cordingly,” said the notice served to M3 Tech.
The notice was dated April 25, 2021.
M3 Tech said the company is seeking le-
gal advice in respect of the notice. “Further
development on the above matter will be an-
nounced to Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd
in due course,” said M3 Tech.
Massive dilution
M3 Tech’s board made multiple proposals last
month including a private placement to issue
232.15 million new shares or 30% of share cap-
ital to raise RM9.82 million and to grant ESOS
up to 30% of the share capital as well.
Notably, M3 Tech completed a private
placement of 128.54 million shares in Jan-
uary, equivalent to 20% of the company’s
issued share capital then. In 2019, M3 Tech
did a private placement.The company placed
out 58.43 million shares — representing up
to 10% of its share base then.
M3 Tech’s share price soared to 17 sen in
August last year. It closed at 5.5 sen, valuing
the company at RM42.56 million.

Main Market-
bound Tuju Setia
aims to raise
RM56m from IPO (From left): Tuju Setia directors Nor Adha Yahya, Datuk Wee Beng Aun and Datin Seri Raihanah
Begum Abdul Rahman, Tuju Setia chairman Tengku Datuk Seri Ahmad Shah Alhaj ibni Almarhum
for growth plans Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alhaj, Alliance Investment Bank CEO Michael Ng Chow Hon,
Tuju Setia MD Wee Eng Kong, CIMB Investment Bank regional head equity capital markets and
syndicate Maznee Kamaruddin, and Tuju Setia directors Wee Beng Chuan and Loo Ming Chee.

BY SYAFIQAH SALIM
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Construc-
tion services company Tuju Setia Bhd, which
is slated to be listed on the Main Market of
Bursa Malaysia on May 19, is planning to
raise RM56 million from its initial public
offering (IPO) for its growth plans.
Its IPO involves a public issuance of 80
million new shares priced at 70 sen apiece,
along with an offer for sale of 27 million ex-
isting shares. The first company to be listed
on the Main Market in 2021,Tuju Setia will
have a market capitalisation of RM222 mil-
lion upon the listing.
Of the targeted amount, RM32 million
will be allocated for the group’s capital ex-
penditure (capex) to purchase new construc-
tion machinery and equipment, and building
information modelling (BIM) system soft-
ware to upskill design and construction ac-
tivities.The group will buy land in the Klang
Valley and build new storage facilities for bet-
ter organisation and utilisation of machinery
and equipment, and improve efficiency of its
maintenance works. A further RM19 million
will be used for working capital.
Speaking at a virtual briefing today,Tuju
Setia managing director (MD) Wee Eng
Kong said the IPO will enhance the group’s
core competencies and improve its capacity
in constructing high-rise buildings, design
and construction of hospitals and health-
care facilities.
As of March 2021, the group had secured
four new contracts to build high-rise build-
ings, bringing its order book to RM953.1
million. With this, the group’s earnings will
be sustained until 2024,Wee said. Its tender
book stood at about RM4 billion.
“Undeniably, 2020 was not an easy-going
year for the construction sector, no thanks to
the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath.
[But] with this combined order book and
tender book, we have good fundamentals
and a good start for this year.
“Notably, we will also be implementing
a dividend policy to distribute 25% of our
annual net profit to reward shareholders of
Tuju Setia, and to show our appreciation of
their confidence in our growth prospects,”
said Wee.
Applications for Tuju Setia’s IPO will
open today and close next Wednesday (May
5) at 5pm. Alliance Investment Bank Bhd
is the principal adviser for Tuju Setia’s IPO
exercise, as well as a joint underwriter and
joint placement agent, together with CIMB
Investment Bank Bhd.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): GDEX
Bhd aims to be a pure-play last-mile deliv-
ery company with regional presence.
It will also start to look into investment
in real assets, such as land and warehous-
es, and potentially create an industrial real
estate investment trust (REIT) in future.
GDEX on Dec 22, 2020 changed its
official name from GD Express Carrier
Bhd to GDEX Bhd to mark a new growth
phase of the group.
In line with the rebranding exercise,
GDEX said it wants to transform its cur-
rent business while building more core
businesses to ensure the growth trajecto-
ry of the group.
In a corporate presentation following
the name change, GDEX said it will accel-
erate growth in both organic and inorganic
ways to create value for all stakeholders.
GDEX said to fuel the growth of the
group, it will develop more new products
and business segments, adding that digital
and technology competency are the focus
for developments.
On its new products offerings, GDEX
said it aims to provide more comprehensive
digital solutions for customers.
The firm said to build new business
segments, it plans to create additional rev-
enue streams and profit centres to drive
the growth of the group.
GDEX said investment for inorganic
growth includes strengthening the current
core business by investing in strategic areas.
The firm said it will focus on its cash
flow and profitability.
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): The man-
datory takeover offer by Amazing Parade
Sdn Bhd for shares in Eastern & Oriental
Bhd (E&O) has been deemed “not fair and
not reasonable” by the independent ad-
viser BDO Capital Consultants Sdn Bhd
(BDO CC).
Amazing Parade, which is owned by
Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd co-founders
Datuk Tee Eng Ho and Tee Eng Seng, on
March 26 proposed to acquire the remain-
ing 820.08 million shares or 57.29% stake
it does not own in E&O for 60 sen apiece.
This follows a share sale agreement
for Amazing Parade to acquire 10.89%
in E&O from Sime Darby Bhd for 60 sen
apiece or RM93.5 million — thus bumping
up the former’s stake in the property outfit.
In a circular to E&O shareholders filed
today, BDO CC pointed to the offer’s “sig-
nificant discount of RM1.52 or 71.7% to
the estimated fair value per E&O share of
RM2.12”.
It also noted that the offerors intend
to maintain E&O’s listing status, and how
they do not intend to acquire remaining
13 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
GDEX to look
In a text message to the theedgemarkets.
com, GDEX managing director and group
into creating
chief executive officer (CEO) Teong Teck
Lean said the remodelling of the group will
industrial REIT
be similar to in the early 2000s.
“We want to be high-growth again,”
as part of next
he said.
When Teong Teck Lean became the
growth phase
CEO of fledgling courier outfit in 2000,
it was an ailing company running at a loss,
with a lack of self-belief and low morale
even among its shareholders.
BY SURIN MURUGIAH Teong said technology is very key to
theedgemarkets.com the group’s future expansion.
He explained that with the in-house-
built IT department, and investment in
Web Bytes, the group can expand the busi-
ness into the technology solution develop-
ment segment.
“With presence in the region, our know-
how in supply chain management and our
strength in IT, the group can expand into
cross-border remittance and even look into
the financing business to assist our customers.
“These are financial-sector related,”
he said.
Teong said with the infrastructure
It said it will expand its business port- built across various segments of business,
folio inorganically to accelerate growth. GDEX can offer a very comprehensive
GDEX explained it will expand further service to customers.
in the logistics sector by moving into for- “GDEX can distribute consumer lines
warding services, customs clearance and of products, such as healthcare products,
the cold chain, which are very synergistic communications equipment/parts and other
with the last-mile business. consumer products, in the region,” he said.
From there, the group can further ex- At 9.48am, GDEX had risen 1.28% or
pand into the land, air and sea cargo busi- half a sen to 39.5 sen, valuing it at RM2.23
ness, it said. billion.
Independent
offer shares for which valid acceptances
have not been received before the closing
adviser BDO tells
date even if the conditions stipulated in
Section 222(1) of the CMSA are fulfilled.
E&O shareholders
“We are of the view that the offer is not
reasonable as E&O shares will remain trada-
to reject
ble on the Main Market of Bursa Securities
and hence, the holders will still have the op-
takeover offer
portunity to realise their investment in E&O
shares at the prevailing market prices in the
open market after the closing date (although
there is no assurance that E&O shares will con-
BY ADAM AZIZ tinue to trade at the current price levels and
theedgemarkets.com trading volume after the closing date),” it said.
“Based on the above, BDO CC is of
the view that the offer is not fair and not
reasonable. Accordingly, we advise and
recommend that holders reject the offer,”
BDO CC said.
Concurrently, E&O’s non-interested di-
rectors also concurred with BDO CC’s rec-
ommendation, and recommended share-
holders to reject Amazing Parade’s offer.
Shares of E&O closed up half a sen or
0.83% at 60.5 sen at noon market break,
valuing the group at RM881.45 million.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Analysts
expect CIMB Group Holdings Bhd to see
better performance in FY21, due to bet-
ter net interest margin (NIM) and lower
provisions.
MIDF Research’s analyst Imran Yas-
sin Yusof said in a note today that after
meeting with CIMB’s chief financial officer
Khairul Rifaie last Friday (April 23), he
expects to observe a gradual improvement
from CIMB.
“While provisions will remain elevated,
we expect better NIM and tight cost con-
trol will alleviate any pressure. Besides, we
expect that provisions will be lower this
year as compared to FY20. As such, we be-
lieve that FY21 will see better performance
from the group as the situation improves
given the vaccine rollout and rebound in
gross domestic product,” said Imran.
He is maintaining CIMB’s earnings
forecast at RM3.04 billion for FY21,
RM4.98 billion for FY22, RM5.37 bil-
lion for FY23.
With the recent share price retrace-
ment, Imran believes that it presents an
opportunity to invest in an improving sit-
uation. As such, he is upgrading his call
on CIMB to “trading buy” from “neutral”,
but is still maintaining its target price (TP)
of RM4.50.
According to him, Khairul is guiding
credit cost of between 80 to 90 basis points
(bps), which is around his expectation of
lower provisions in FY21 (versus FY20
credit cost of 146bps).
“However, this is still elevated when
compared against pre-pandemic credit
cost level of 40 to 50bps. We believe that
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Transo-
cean Holdings Bhd’s upper limit has been
set at RM4.34, after the counter traded at
its static upper limit price for two consec-
utive trading days.
Shares in the logistics company surged
past the RM4 mark today for the first
time in its history, after hitting limit up
again — rising by RM1 or 29.94% to
RM4.34.
Transocean was the third biggest gainer
on Bursa Malaysia in terms of percent-
age, and second biggest gainer in terms
of value.
Two weeks ago, the stock was trading
at just 88 sen on April 13. Since then, it
has hit limit up four times.
The steep climb in its share price comes
after the company announced that it would
be buying a 40% stake in software engi-
neering firm Enfrasys Solutions Sdn Bhd
for RM20 million in an all-share deal, on
April 14.
Bursa Malaysia issued an unusual mar-
14 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
CIMB to
see better
performance in
FY21, say analysts
BY TAN SIEW MUNG
theedgemarkets.com
this suggests that there is some potential
weakness in asset quality and the group
has yet to fully recover from the effect of
the pandemic,” said Imran.
He also noted that Khairul expects a
slight increase in the targeted repayment
assistance programme as a percentage of its
total loans book, with the increase coming
from Singapore and the corporate segment
in Malaysia.
“We are not surprised by this given that
Malaysia reimposed the movement control
order in 1QFY21. Nevertheless, we believe
that the post loan moratorium period ap-
Transocean
upper limit now
set at RM4.34
BY ARJUNA CHANDRAN SHANKAR
theedgemarkets.com
ket activity query to the company last week,
following the big increases in its share price
and trading volume.
Transocean stated that it was not aware
of any other corporate developments, other
than its Enfrasys deal, that could account
for the higher trading activity.
The company was also in the news when
it announced two proposed private place-
ments recently.
On April 15, it proposed a placement to
raise RM3.12 million to fund the capital
expenditure of the group’s logistics ser-
pears to be stable for now,” said Imran.
Recall that the targeted repayment as-
sistance programme and rescheduled and
restructured loan comprised 12% of its
Malaysia total loans book and 15% of the
group total loans book as at 4QFY20.
Meanwhile, TA Securities foresees
CIMB’s 1QFY21 operating income to re-
main largely intact, underpinned by better
year-on-year trading income.
“We also foresee firmer net interest in-
come sequentially due to expectations of
more stable NIM and loans growth,” it
added.
The research house maintained CIMB’s
net profit forecast for FY21 at RM2.81
billion, RM3.73 billion for FY22, and
RM4.53 billion for FY23.
“While we foresee overall operating in-
come to remain quite flattish in FY21 due
to poor visibility in macro environment
especially with the recent rise in new Cov-
id-19 cases, we foresee earnings to be sup-
ported by topline growth, better cost man-
agement and lower expected credit losses.
“With that, we are maintaining our loan
growth assumption of 3.8% for FY21 (vs.
CIMB’s target of 4% to 5%) and cred-
it cost of around 83 bps (versus CIMB’s
guidance of 80 to 90 bps),” it said.
TA Securities reiterated its “buy” call on
CIMB and maintained its TP at RM4.90.
At 11.31am, CIMB fell five sen or
1.19% to RM4.14, valuing the group at
RM41.96 billion.
Read also: CIMB Bank to issue US$20m
bond under US$5b debt scheme Click here
Transocean Holdings Bhd
1-year share price performance
RM
5
RM4.34
4
3
2
1
0
Apr 7, 2020 Apr 26, 2021
Compiled at 17:31 pm on April 26,2021
Source: Bloomberg
vice segment. The second placement was
announced the following day, to raise a
similar amount to upgrade the logistics
segment’s information technology infra-
structure and system.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 15 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

NEWS IN BRIEF

KPower secures EPCC contracts in Pahang, Perak worth RM510m Petronas’ South African
subsidiary’s refinery to be
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): KPower Bhd has secured four EPCC contracts valued at
converted into storage terminal
a total RM510 million in Pahang and Perak, from Cabaran Hijau Sdn Bhd, Selat Serasi
Sdn Bhd, Denai Delima Sdn Bhd and Koridor Mentari Sdn Bhd. The jobs mark the (April 26): South Africa’s oldest crude oil
group’s efforts towards achieving its target of an additional RM2 billion order book refinery, the 120,000 barrel per day plant
by this financial year end, said KPower group managing director Mustakim Mat Nun operated by Engen, will be converted
in a statement. The contracts are for, among others, the EPCC of mini hydro power into a new storage facility because the
plants in Pahang with a capacity of 18.7 MW in Sg Jelai Kecil, 13.9 MW in Sg Telom as refinery is no longer sustainable in the
well as 12 MW in Sg Lemoi, and 5.25 MW in Sg Kampar in Perak. The relevant parties long term, the company said on Friday.
will ink a definitive agreement within 60 business days from the acceptance of the Engen is majority-owned by Petronas.
awards. — by Lynette Hew/theedgemarkets.com Situated on the eastern coast in the city
of Durban, the refinery has been shut
since a fire in December damaged the
IGB REIT’s 1Q net property income Yong Tai says ministry has approved plant that supplies around 17% of the
down 36%, to distribute 1.33 sen per unit its Phase III clinical trial of Covid-19 country’s fuel production and is South
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): IGB Real Estate vaccine Africa’s second largest crude refinery. A
Investment Trust’s (IGB REIT) net property KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Property strategic assessment found the refinery
income fell 36% to RM43.72 million in the developer Yong Tai Bhd’s healthcare unsustainable in the longer-term, Engen’s
first quarter ended March 31, 2021, from unit has obtained approval from the CEO Yusa Hassan said in a statement,
RM68.36 million a year earlier, largely due to Ministry of Health’s Medical Review & as he pointed to a globally challenging
lower car park income and higher allowance Ethics Committee (MREC) for its Phase refining environment with supply surplus,
for impairment of trade receivables as a III clinical trial study of inactivated depressed demand and low refining
result of Covid-19. IGB REIT’s quarterly Covid-19 trial vaccines in Malaysia. The margins that had placed Engen in “financial
revenue fell 20.5% to RM99.44 million from approval was obtained via a letter dated distress”. The new import and storage
RM125.01 million previously, underpinned April 23, for the study that involves terminal is expected to be commissioned
by lower rental income from tenants. The 3,000 subjects, it said in a bourse filing in the second half of 2023. — Reuters
owner of the Mid Valley Megamall and today. The health ministry has not made
The Gardens Mall said in a bourse filing its a statement so far. Yong Tai said its unit, Ipmuda Bhd
manager has approved a distribution of YTB Healthcare Sdn Bhds (YTBH), has RM
97.5% of its quarterly distributable income, formalised the Phase III clinical trial 2.0
amounting to RM47.4 million or 1.33 sen per with its partner, Shenzhen Kangtai RM1.69
unit, to be paid on May 31. IGB REIT said the Biological Products Co Ltd (SZKT), since 1.5
prolonged Covid-19 pandemic is expected December last year. SZKT is a vaccine
to cause sluggish economic and business manufacturer in China. In a separate
1.0
situations. “The number of Covid-19 cases statement, Yong Tai CEO and executive
impacted the footfall and vehicle traffic director Datuk Wira Boo Kuang Loon
volume to the retail malls. The directors of said the group has set an internal target 0.5
the manager are monitoring the current to roll out the distribution of SZKT’s
volatility and uncertainty closely and take inactivated vaccine by the third quarter 0.0
appropriate and timely actions to mitigate this year, subject to the approval by March 27, 2020 April 26, 2021
the impact on IGB REIT’s operations and National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Compiled at 10:49 pm on April 26, 2021
Source: Bloomberg
financial performance,” it added. — by Sulhi Authority for emergency usage. — by
Khalid/theedgemarkets.com Sulhi Khalid/theedgemarkets.com
Ipmuda slapped with UMA query
Kerjaya Prospek-Gamuda JV wins as shares hit limit up
RM203m contract from E&O KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Ipmuda
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): A joint venture Bhd was slapped with an unusual market
(JV) between Kerjaya Prospek Group activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia,
Bhd’s wholly-owned Kerjaya Prospek after its shares hit limit up today. The
(M) Sdn Bhd (KPM) and Gamuda’s unit counter surged 39 sen or 30% to RM1.69,
Gamuda Engineering Sdn Bhd has won a with 1.23 million shares traded. Bursa
RM202.6 million contract to build a sea asked the group to disclose any corporate
link between Jalan Gurney and the Seri E&O. Datuk Tee Eng Ho is Kerjaya Prospek’s development, rumour or report concerning
Tanjung Pinang (phase two) development executive chairman, while his wife Datin Toh the business and affairs of the group, and
(STP2 Island). In a bourse filing, Kerjaya Siew Chuon and brother Tee Eng Seng are any other possible reasons for the sharp
Prospek said the contract is from Tanjung executive directors, with the three serving as increase in its share price and volume. For
Pinang Development Sdn Bhd, an indirect indirect major shareholders of E&O through the half year ended Dec 31, 2020, Ipmuda’s
unit of Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O). The their vehicle Amazing Parade Sdn Bhd. The net loss narrowed to RM6.04 million
contract is deemed to be a recurrent related contract is expected to start on May 4 and from RM21.62 million a year ago, though
party transaction due to the Tee family’s will take 30 months to complete. — by Arjuna revenue fell 78.39% to RM12.4 million
involvement in both Kerjaya Prospek and Chandran Shankar/theedgemarkets.com from RM57.37 million. — by Tan Siew Mung/
theedgemarkets.com
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): A lawyer
representing Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu
Hassan, who lodged police reports in Ma-
laysia, the UK, France and Switzerland in
relation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd
fiasco, and was subsequently detained by
the authorities under the Security Offenc-
es (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma),
told the court that his client owed him
RM795,000.
The amount was for securing Khairud-
din’s release after his two-month Sosma
detention was declared unlawful and
charges under the Act were later dropped.
Lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla
said this in his testimony on the first day
of trial in Khairuddin’s civil suit against
the Malaysian government, former attor-
ney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali,
former inspector-general of Police Tan Sri
Khalid Abu Bakar and five others, includ-
ing three policemen, at the High Court
today.
Khairuddin is suing them for unlawful
detention and wrongfully charging him
for lodging the police reports worldwide.
He was detained under Section 124(L)
for actions detrimental to the country’s
banking and financial services.
Haniff said he had reduced his fees due
to the bad economic situation faced by
Khairuddin, in responding to questions
from lawyer Abi Mursyidin Awal, who ap-
pears with Mohd Irzan Iswat.
He added that this was to secure
Khairuddin’s release via a habeas cor-
pus application and a review application.
Those applications were made from the
Magistrates Court to the High Court up
to the Federal Court.
The lawyer was referring to the file
opened by his firm to handle Khairud-
din’s case.
On cross-examination by federal coun-
sel Mohd Ashraf Abdul Hamid, Haniff
denied that the figures were made up and
that he was providing pro bono service to
Khairuddin, resulting in the debt carried
by his client for four years.
KUANTAN (April 26): The Pahang
Palace has revoked and stripped fugitive
businessman Liow Soon Hee or Nicky
Liow of the Darjah Kebesaran Darjah Sri
Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang (SSAP) and
‘Datuk Seri’ title with immediate effect.
State Secretary Datuk Seri Dr Salle-
huddin Ishak said also revoked and
stripped was the datukship and the Dar-
jah Indera Mahkota Pahang (DIMP) of
his brother, Liow Wei Loon.
“The revocation of the awards was
made on the order issued by the Sul-
tan of Pahang and the nominees are
16 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
1MDB critic’s
Nasional government under Datuk Seri
Najib Razak, and the ongoing prosecution
lawyer says client
against the former prime minister.
The lawyer said Khairuddin had ini-
owes RM795,000
tially lodged a police report on Dec 12,
2014 and subsequently also lodged a com-
for release from
plaint with the Malaysian Anti-Corrup-
tion Commission before going overseas to
two-month
the UK, France and Switzerland to lodge
reports there resulting in the worldwide
Sosma detention
investigation.
“This culminates in the enforcement
agencies in those countries including the
United States Department of Justice to take
BY HAFIZ YATIM action as was with Switzerland, Luxem-
theedgemarkets.com bourg, and Singapore to take action.
“However, upon Khairuddin’s return to
SAM FONG/THE EDGE Malaysia, the whole government machinery
was used to detain and arrest him begin-
ning Sept 18, 2015. It was only through
the court action to challenge his Sosma
detention had seen him being released on
Nov 18, 2015, two months into detention,”
the lawyer said.
Khairuddin, Haniff added, also had his
charges for allegedly taking actions detri-
mental to the country’s banking and fi-
nancial services under Section 124(L) of
Sosma dropped on May 12, 2017.
“My client wants this court to assess
the damages reflecting the illegal detention
and wrongful charges imposed on him,”
Haniff said.
Khairuddin will take the stand tomor-
row before Judicial Commissioner Quay
Chew Soon, after producing the original
copy of his first Dec 12, 2014 report.
Lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla
Haniff also said Khairuddin’s contest More court stories:
in the last general election and loss do
not mean that his client is truly capable Travel agency’s RM102,560 suit against
of paying his fees. Azmin Ali’s children over unpaid bills
to go through mediation Click here
Opening statement
Earlier, in Haniff’s opening statement to the
suit, the lawyer said his client was responsi- High Court to hear Azmin’s application
ble for shining the light on the 1MDB scan- to strike out suit by Gombak voters on
dal that resulted in the fall of the Barisan June 30 Click here
Pahang Palace
line with the Pahang Emblems, Titles or
Awards Enactment,” he said in a state-
strips Nicky Liow
ment here today.
Sallehuddin said the letter of award
of Datuk Seri title revocation was sent to the nominees last
Wednesday.
On April 9, Nicky and his brother were
charged in absentia at the Petaling Jaya
Bernama Sessions Court in Selangor for alleged
involvement in an organised crime group.
not allowed to use any titled bestowed An Interpol Red Notice has also been
previously. issued to locate and arrest Nicky, who is
“The nominees must also return the also the founder of the Winter Dynasty
awards to the State Secretary’s Office, in Group.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): The num-
ber of Covid-19 infections in the country in
the past 24 hours rose to 2,776 from 2,690
the day before, bringing the total number
of cases in the country to 395,718.
Selangor recorded the highest number
of cases in the country again, with 762,
according to Health director-general Tan
Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. Sarawak
came in second with 615 positive cases,
followed by Kelantan (343 cases), Johor
(309) and Kuala Lumpur (254).
The country also recorded 13 more deaths
from the pandemic — six from Sarawak, three
from Selangor, two from Sabah and one each
from Kelantan and Johor. These raised the
pandemic death toll to 1,449 cases, or 0.37%
of total cases in the country.
In Dr Noor Hisham’s daily Covid-19
statement, he informed that there were
1,803 new recoveries today, which raised
the total recoveries to 369,556, represent-
ing a recovery rate of 93.4%.
As new cases continued to outpace the
number of recoveries daily, the number of ac-
tive cases in the country increased to 24,713.
12 new clusters reported today
Twelve new infection clusters were identified
in the past 24 hours, said Dr Noor Hisham.
Four were workplace clusters, four more
were community clusters, while three were
from education clusters, religious centres,
and detention centres.
The workplace clusters were Pondok
PUTRAJAYA (April 26): School ses-
sions will be held online for two weeks
after the Hari Raya holidays through the
home-based teaching and learning method
(PdPR), says Senior Education Minister
Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.
It will be implemented from May 16 to
27 for group A schools ( in Johor, Kedah,
Kelantan and Terengganu) and May 17 to
28 for group B schools (in Perlis, Penang,
Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka
, Pahang, Sabah, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur,
Labuan and Putrajaya).
Radzi said the decision was made to
avoid the risk of Covid-19 infections
in schools after the school holi-
days to celebrate Aidilfitri sched-
uled from May 7 to 15 for group
A schools, and May 8 to 16 for
group B schools.
He said after the PdPR period,
students will continue their term
holidays from May 28 to June 12
for group A schools, and May 29 to
June 13 for group B schools.
“Last year the
schools were already
closed during the Ai-
17 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Daily Covid-19
Meanwhile, the community clusters
were Jalan Sebauh-Bintulu in Sarawak (67
infections climb
cases), Jalan Arumugam Pillai in Penang
(13), as well as Kota Syahbandar (12) and
to 2,776, with
Jalan Kesidang in Melaka (22).
Out of the two education-linked clusters,
Selangor recording
one involved a school in Sungai Senibung in
Julau, Sarawak, under the Ministry of Edu-
762 cases
cation.This cluster reported 14 cases so far.
The other case involved an education-
al instution in Kampung Pangkal Chuit,
Kelantan (27 cases). Meanwhile, the reli-
BY TIMOTHY ACHARIAM gious centre cluster at Jalan Impian Emas
theedgemarkets.com 17, Johor, had seven Covid-19 cases while
the detention centre cluster at Kampung
Belaga, in Sarawak (nine cases), Kampung Selamat in Penang had 22 cases.
Batu Sembilan in Selangor (52), as well Five clusters were declared ended today.
as Tapak Bina Tanjung Kupang (44) and Overall, the number of active clusters rose
Jalan Raja Bukit Pasir (151) in Johor. to 358 from 351 yesterday.
Malaysia’s coronavirus curve showing nascent signs of upward climb
6000 Daily new cases 7-day moving average
5000
4000
3000 2,776
2,655
2000
1000
0
Sept 1, 2020 April 26, 2021
told a press conference here today.
School sessions to In the meantime, Radzi said students
be held online for and pupils living in school hostels under
the MOE nationwide would be allowed to
two weeks after return home to celebrate Hari Raya Aid-
ilfitri, and resume learning via the PdPR
Aidilfitri holidays method for two weeks after the holidays.
The schedule for the 2021 schooling ses-
sion previously required students and pupils
to return to school for two weeks after the Ai-
Bernama dilfitri holidays, before going on a term break.
dilfitri festive period, so we don’t know
what the post-Hari Raya data will be like. Read also:
“We are especially worried about
those who will return to the hos- MoH wants symptomatic teachers,
tels, because there is a possibility students to be exempted from
of some having contracted the attending school Click here
disease from outside, so we are
taking this step to control the Covid: Six Negeri Sembilan schools
spread, because, after the festi- to be closed Click here
val, students will remain at home
for a longer period of time,” he Temporary ban on flights to and from
India beginning April 28, says Ismail
Sabri Click here
Senior Education
Minister Datuk Dr EMCO at Baleh Dam project from
Radzi Jidin.
tomorrow, says Ismail Sabri Click here
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
China widens Internet crackdown
with Meituan monopoly probe
(April 26): China’s government has ex-
panded its antitrust crackdown beyond
Jack Ma’s technology empire, launching
an investigation into suspected monopo-
listic practices by food-delivery behemoth
Meituan.
The State Administration for Market
Regulation announced the investigation,
which began recently, in a statement Mon-
day. The antitrust watchdog is looking into
alleged abuses including forced exclusivity
arrangements known as “pick one of two.”
The company said it will actively cooper-
ate with the probe and step up efforts to
comply with regulations. Its businesses are
currently operating normally, it added in
a statement.
The firm’s dollar bond spreads widened.
The investigation into Meituan extends
Beijing’s crackdown beyond Ma’s Aliba-
ba Group Holding Ltd. and Ant Group
Co., and threatens to chill the ambitions of
founder Wang Xing, one of China’s most
aggressive entrepreneurs. The government
has become increasingly concerned over
the growing influence of titans like Alib-
aba, Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Meituan
over every aspect of Chinese life as well as
the vast amounts of data they’ve amassed
through providing services like online shop-
ping, chatting and ride-hailing.
The antitrust campaign has gathered
pace in recent weeks, as regulators slapped
a record fine on Alibaba, instructed affiliate
Ant to overhaul its business and ordered 34
of its largest tech companies — including
Meituan — to rectify any anti-competitive
business practices within one month. Fol-
lowing the meeting with SAMR, the Bei-
jing-based firm issued a pledge to abide
18 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
BY COCO LIU
Bloomberg
The antitrust watchdog
is looking into alleged
abuses including
forced exclusivity
arrangements known
as “pick one of two.
by antitrust laws, saying it will maintain
market order and won’t force merchants to
“pick one of two” — forcing them to select
betweens Meituan or a rival — through
unreasonable methods.
The firm, founded by 42-year old bil-
lionaire Wang, has long been criticized by
rivals and merchants for alleged excesses
like forced exclusive arrangements. The
firm — which competes against Alibaba’s
Ele.me in food delivery — had previously
been found guilty of unfair competition in
at least two legal cases this year and ordered
to pay compensation, local media has re-
ported. The corporation had also rejected
allegations that it charged onerous commis-
sions to restaurants during the Covid-19
outbreak last year.
Alongside Ele.me, Meituan also faced an
online backlash after several delivery riders
were killed or injured while trying to meet
strict deadlines. It was among a handful of
operators fined by the antitrust watchdog
in March for giving improper subsidies to
expand in the red-hot arena of community
e-commerce.
Ahead of the probe, Meituan said it
will raise $10 billion in a record new share
sale by a Hong Kong-listed firm as well as
through an offering of convertible bonds.
The firm had said it will use the funds to
boost investments in new technologies like
autonomous delivery as well as for general
corporate purposes.
Under antitrust laws, Meituan could
face a penalty of as much as 10% of its
revenue if it’s found to have violated regu-
lations. Its 2020 revenue was about 114.8
billion yuan ($17.7 billion). In contrast, ri-
val Alibaba was fined $2.8 billion, or about
4% of its 2019 domestic revenues.
Wang, a coding guru whose method-
ical obsession with data and algorithms
proved instrumental in humbling Aliba-
ba’s rival meal service Ele.me, has openly
telegraphed his ambitions. In a 2017 in-
terview with local media, he said Meituan
could join Alibaba and Tencent as the third
member of a Chinese internet triumvirate
in five to 10 years, due to the value it creates
in food, travel and other services.
The billionaire last week described in a
lengthy online post how he’ll funnel capital
raised toward research into autonomous
drones and delivery systems — which an-
alysts expect to fuel Meituan’s foray into
the red-hot community commerce arena,
where buyers in a local neighborhood en-
joy bulk discounts. Meituan had been ex-
pected to wage a pitched battle of subsidies
and sweeteners with Alibaba, JD.com Inc.
and Pinduoduo Inc. for food and produce
supply.
Meituan shares nearly tripled in 2020,
making it one of the best-performing Chi-
nese technology stocks. It’s dropped rough-
ly 32% from a February record, partly as
China’s antitrust campaign accelerated and
after the company flagged that it will incur
more losses from its investments in newer
businesses like online groceries.
Spreads on Meituan’s dollar bonds due
2025 widened nearly 13 basis points fol-
lowing the announcement.
Read also:
China’s biggest IPO this year looks to be
in renewable energy
“China Three Gorges Renewables Group
Co. is set for an initial public offering that
could be the biggest in the country this year
after securing regulatory approval.”
Click here
T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 19 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
NEW YORK (April 26): Apple Inc is in-
creasing its USinvestments by 20% over
the next five years, allocating US$430 bil-
lion to develop next-generation silicon and
spur 5G wireless innovation across nine US
states, after outstripping its growth expec-
tations during the pandemic.
The iPhone maker will create 20,000
new jobs in the US and fund a new cam-
pus in North Carolina, the company said
in a statement Monday.
Over the past three years, Apple’s in-
vestments have outpaced its original five-
year goal of US$350 billion set in 2018,
the company said. But Apple has also been
growing. Its shares have gained about
200% since its last investment plan was
announced in January 2018, and the com-
pany is now worth more than US$2 trillion.
Cupertino, California-based Apple said
it’s also the US’s biggest taxpayer, having
shelled out US$45 billion in domestic cor-
porate income taxes in the past five years
Increasing investment in the US also
comes as President Joe Biden has an-
nounced new plans to boost taxes on over-
seas profits to help foot the bill for do-
mestic infrastructure projects. Apple and
other big tech companies disclosed more
NEW YORK (April 26): Citigroup Inc
has said it will invest in digital mortgage
offerings as part of its pledge to improve
homeownership rates among communi-
ties of colour.
The push to digital comes as Citigroup
said the rate of applications and origina-
tions it processed for Black and Hispanic
consumers dropped last year, even as it
increased for Asian homeowners. In re-
sponse, the firm is also still planning to
expand its community lending team and its
network of correspondent lenders, it said.
The firm’s pledge to increase homeown-
ership among Black Americans is part of a
broader three-year, US$1 billion initiative
it announced last year to help close the ra-
cial wealth gap in the US. As part of that
effort, Citigroup also vowed to become
an anti-racist institution, provide greater
access to banking products to communi-
ties of colour, and increase investment in
Black-owned businesses.
“We know that many are rightfully calling
on banks and other big companies to put real
action behind their commitments,” Citigroup
chief executive officer (CEO) Jane Fraser said
in a statement. “Today, we’re sharing what
we’ve done to date to show how Citi is com-
mitted to real change, and to be clear and
transparent about how far we have to go.”
In the aftermath of Black Lives Matter
protests across the US last year, Citigroup
and its banking rivals stepped up pledges
20 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Apple ups US
investments
over five years
to US$430 bil
BY MOLLY SCHUETZ
Bloomberg
than US$100 billion in profit outside the
US in their last fiscal years, making them
prime targets of the president’s proposal.
“At this moment of recovery and re-
building, Apple is doubling down on our
commitment to US innovation and man-
ufacturing with a generational investment
reaching communities across all 50 states,”
said Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.
Apple’s investment plan will include di-
rect spending on US-based suppliers, data
centre investments, capital expenditures
in the US, and other projects, including
dozens of Apple TV+ productions across
20 states. Apple plans to invest more than
US$1 billion in North Carolina to build a
Citi invests in
mortgage tech
in push to close
racial wealth gap
BY JENNY SURANE
Bloomberg
to help Black Americans and communities
of colour gain more access to credit. On
average, Black families in the US have a
10th of the wealth of their White counter-
parts, and Black homeownership is at its
lowest level in six decades.
Affordable housing
Citigroup has pledged US$550 million
to support homeownership for people of
colour, and on Monday the firm said it is
in the final stages of committing US$200
million in equity to affordable-housing pro-
jects that will be co-managed by five Black
investment managers.
The lender will also expand certain
mortgage products, like its HomeRun pro-
gramme, which requires lower down pay-
ments and removes mortgage-insurance
requirements for lower-income borrowers.
Citigroup is also partnering with the Na-
new campus and engineering hub in the
Research Triangle area.The investment will
create at least 3,000 new jobs in machine
learning, artificial intelligence, software
engineering, and other advanced fields.
Apple is on track to meet its 2018 goal
of creating 20,000 new jobs in the US by
2023, the company said.The new commit-
ment to job creation will include growing
its San Diego team to more than 5,000
employees by 2026, a 500% increase from
its 2018 goal. Apple is also boosting its en-
gineering team in Boulder, Colorado, by
700 people and adding hundreds of jobs
in Massachusetts, Washington, Iowa and
Colorado. Employees are expected to start
moving into Apple’s new US$1 billion Aus-
tin campus next year.
As it grows, Apple said it’s committed
to doing so in an environmentally sustain-
able way. Almost 60 of Apple’s US sites are
LEED certified, the company said. Apple
said it’s carbon neutral for all of its oper-
ations in the US and around the world,
and last year committed to be 100% car-
bon neutral for its entire supply chain and
products by 2030.
Apple’s shares were little changed at
US$134.19 at 10:03 a.m. in New York.
tional Urban League to offer its low-fee
Access savings and checking accounts to
Black households in Philadelphia, Seattle,
St Louis, and Hampton Roads, Virginia.
“The financial inequality and other
systemic problems people of colour face
will not go away until we confront them
head on,” Citigroup chief financial officer
Mark Mason said in the statement. “Citi
is focused on ensuring that people of color
have the same access to the financial tools
and resources that benefit other groups.”
Citigroup has pledged US$100 million to
support minority deposit institutions in the
US, which have seen their numbers dwindling
in recent years. The firm’s already allocated
almost half of that commitment to banks in-
cluding Broadway Financial Corp, Mechanics
& Farmers Bank, and Optus Bank.
The bank is also working with Deloitte
and the National Bankers Association to
help minority deposit institutions improve
their technology and better develop talent.
The lender has also been piloting a training
programme with minority-owned, munic-
ipal broker-dealers and advisers.
“Equity investments are critical to our
community impact but Citi is much more
than an investor in Optus,” Dominik Mjar-
tan, CEO of Optus Bank, said in the state-
ment. “Citi is helping us grow our mis-
sion of building wealth, especially among
Black-owned businesses, by creating new
opportunities to grow our revenue.”
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
ZURICH (April 26): Nestle is in dis-
cussions to buy nutritional supplement
maker The Bountiful Co, the Swiss food
giant said on Monday, confirming me-
dia reports it is moving further into the
health and nutrition sector which is grow-
ing faster than packaged food.
Analysts said they expect a price tag of
US$5 billion to US$7 billion for Boun-
tiful, which makes Nature’s Bounty vi-
tamins, Osteo Bi-Flex joint-care supple-
ments, and Puritan’s Pride vitamins and
supplements, but Nestle in its statement
gave no indication of a price.
The acquisition would fit with the
merger-and-acquisition (M&A) strate-
gy of chief executive Mark Schneider, the
former Fresenius boss who has targeted
several health companies since taking
charge at Nestle in 2016.
“Nestle SA today announced that it
is in discussions to acquire all or part of
The Bountiful Co,” Nestle said.
The maker of KitKat chocolate bars
and Nescafe instant coffee gave no fur-
ther details.
Nestle’s approach came after Bounti-
ful, which is majority-owned by private
equity firm KKR Co & Inc, filed for a
New York Stock Exchange flotation this
month.
(April 26): Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. plans
to offer zero-interest loans to employees
who own illiquid stock options, seeking
to boost morale after the company’s land-
mark initial public offering was suspend-
ed in November, people familiar with the
matter said.
The loans will be backed by eligible em-
ployees’ restricted stock options, which will
be valued at levels calculated after a 2018
funding round, the people said, asking not
to be identified discussing private infor-
mation. That will allow Ant to give staff
access to liquidity without requiring the
company to establish a more up-to-date
valuation for its shares.
The options, known as Share Economic
Rights with each representing 5.53 shares,
will be priced at 195 yuan ($30.05) or
35.26 yuan a share, in line with an internal
buyback price from 2018, the people said.
Ant was valued at $150 billion at the time.
Ant’s executives are trying to halt a po-
tential exodus of staff, who had expect-
ed a windfall with the company just days
away from listing in Shanghai at a $280
billion valuation. Chairman Eric Jing as-
sured employees in March that the firm
would eventually go public and promised a
“short-term liquidity solution” that would
take effect this month.
Details of the loan program will prob-
21 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Nestle in talks
to buy Nature’s
Bounty vitamins
BY JOHN REVILL
Reuters
REUTERS
In 2020, Long Island-based Bounti-
ful had sales of US$2.07 billion, 10%
higher than a year earlier. It increased
its adjusted earnings before interest, tax,
appreciation and amortisation by 21% to
US$302.3 million.
In its pre-pandemic results of 2019,
Jack Ma’s Ant
said to plan zero-
interest loans to
boost staff morale
Bloomberg
ably be announced in the next few days,
the people said. Ant declined to comment
via email.
The company suspended its share buy-
back program for current and departing
staff last year to prepare for its IPO. It needs
to compete for talent with China’s other
technology behemoths including Tencent
Holdings Ltd. and e-commerce giant Mei-
tuan, which have seen their shares climb as
Ant battles a regulatory overhang.
The future of Jack Ma’s company — and
its valuation — has been shrouded in un-
certainty as regulators sort through details
of a fintech industry overhaul that abruptly
halted Ant’s $35 billion IPO in Novem-
ber. The company has since committed to
drastically revamping its business and seen
its chief executive officer Simon Hu exit.
Early investor Warburg Pincus LLC
meanwhile, Nestle increased reported
sales only by 1.2%, held back by slug-
gish performances of its water, confec-
tionary, and prepared dishes categories.
“This is about diversifying the growth
profile in Nestle and trying to get growth
in areas other than coffee and pet care,”
said Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst
at Bank Vontobel, who said a move for
Bountiful made strategic sense for the
world’s largest packaged food company.
In the past five years, nutrition food
sales have increased by an average of
5.8% per year, faster than the 4.7% rate
of packaged foods, according to Euro-
monitor data.
Only 17% of the estimated US$137
billion in annual global sales in the cat-
egory are generated in Europe, Middle
East, and Africa, offering scope for fur-
ther expansion in the region.
Meanwhile, some 17% of Bountiful’s
sales come form e-commerce, a faster
growing retail channel than ordinary
shops, while Nestle could leverage its
distribution and marketing to increase
its sales further.
“I think the health and wellness area
will continue to be the focus of Nes-
tle’s M&A activity, because of the faster
growth and higher returns,” said Bertschy.
marked down the valuation of the fintech
giant to a range of $200 billion to $250 bil-
lion at year end, people familiar have said.
That’s a drop from its peak valuation but
better than the 60% decline projected by
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.
Many of Ant’s employees have been
granted restricted stock options, which
account for a significant portion of total
compensation for some employees. These
are usually subject to a four-year vesting
schedule, with 25% free from the lockup
upon the first anniversary and 25% every
year thereafter.
Before Ant’s buyback program was halt-
ed, departing employees would sell shares
back to the company at a valuation in line
with the company’s most-recent funding
round, while existing employees could par-
ticipate in periodic buyback rounds, people
familiar with the matter said.
Outstanding SERs totaled 114 million
at the end of June, according to the latest
data disclosed by Ant. If valued at the com-
pany’s planned IPO price in November,
they would have been worth a combined
43 billion yuan.
Read also: Ant Group-backed Kakao
Pay applies for preliminary IPO approval
Click here
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
JPMorgan is
preparing to offer
a Bitcoin fund to
wealthy clients
BY HANNAH LEVITT
Bloomberg
NEW YORK (April 26): JPMorgan Chase
& Co is preparing to offer a Bitcoin fund to
wealthy clients, the latest sign thatWall Street
is warming to the largest cryptocurrency,
after it soared in recent months.
The actively managed fund will be avail-
able as soon as this summer, CoinDesk re-
ported Monday, citing sources familiar with
the plans. NYDIG will be the custody pro-
vider, a person with knowledge of the situa-
tion said, asking not to be identified because
the decision hasn’t been made public.
Aramco is said to
weigh sale of stake
in natural gas
pipelines
BY DIN ESH NAIR, ARCHANA NARAYANAN
& SALMA EL WARDANY
Bloomberg
LONDON/DUBAI/CAIRO (April 26):
Saudi Aramco is considering the sale of a
stake in its vast natural gas pipeline network
to help free up cash and draw more inter-
national investors to the kingdom, people
familiar with the matter said.
The state-owned energy producer is
holding preliminary discussions on the po-
tential move, the people said, asking not to
be identified because the information is pri-
vate. Any deal could raise billions of dollars
for Dhahran-based Aramco, depending on
how a transaction is structured, according
to the people.
Aramco is at the forefront of Saudi Ara-
bia’s drive to attract foreign investment and
diversify its economy. Earlier this month, it
said it would raise more than US$12 bil-
lion selling a stake in its oil-pipeline unit
to a consortium led by EIG Global Ener-
gy Partners.
The company is also conducting a stra-
tegic review of its upstream business, in a
move that could see it introduce external
22 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Spokespeople for JPMorgan and NY-
DIG declined to comment.
Bitcoin rose as much as 12% Monday
morning to trade at almost US$54,000,
the biggest intraday gain since early Feb-
ruary.
Wall Street banks are grappling with
whether to offer clients exposure to cyp-
tocurrencies, after staying mostly on the
sidelines as Bitcoin and other tokens
surged in popularity.
JPMorgan has been taking some of the
biggest strides, adding Bitcoin exchanges
Coinbase Inc and Gemini Trust Co as
banking clients last year.
The firm also turned to crypto to help
speed up corporate payments, launching
JPM Coin in 2019.
JPMorgan co-President Daniel Pinto
said last week that the firm will “accom-
pany the clients” when it comes to Bit-
coin.The biggest US bank joins Morgan
Stanley in planning to offer rich clients
access to funds that enable ownership
of Bitcoin.
investors to some of its oil and gas as-
sets, Bloomberg News reported last week.
Aramco ChairmanYasir Al-Rumayyan
has started selling stakes in non-core
assets to help maintain the company’s
US$75 billion dividend, most of which
goes to the Saudi government.
Aramco’s Master Gas System is a net-
work of pipelines connecting its produc-
tion with processing sites throughout the
kingdom. The infrastructure has a cur-
rent capacity of about 9.6 billion cubic
feet per day, according to Aramco’s an-
nual report.
Deliberations are at an early stage, and
there’s no certainty Aramco will proceed
with a transaction, the people said. Ara-
mco, which is formally known as Saudi
Arabian Oil Co, declined to comment.
The company reshuffled its senior
management last year and created a di-
vision focused on “portfolio optimiza-
tion,” which will “assess existing assets”
and boost access to growth markets. It is
headed by Abdulaziz Al Gudaimi, who
reports to Chief Executive Officer Amin
Nasser.
Saudi Arabia has the eighth-largest
gas reserves globally and the largest in the
Arab world after Qatar, according to BP
Plc. They have mostly been overlooked
by the kingdom, as it instead focused on
its huge oil deposits. In recent years, the
government has sought to increase gas
production — which reached a record
level in 2020 —to diversify the economy
and transition to cleaner fuels for local
power plants.
Credit Suisse
investors face
more losses in
Greensill funds
BY LUCCA DE PAOLI &
MARION HALFTERMEYER
Bloomberg
LONDON/ZURICH (April 26): Investors
in the Credit Suisse Group AG funds that in-
vested in assets sourced by Greensill Capital
may face a further US$190 million loss on
their holdings.
A discount of roughly 7% will be applied
to notes on a book of around US$2.8 billion
loans held in the funds, adding to potential
losses stemming from troubled borrowers such
as SoftBank Group Corp-backed Katerra, US
coal miner Bluestone Resources Inc and San-
jeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, according to a
statement from the Swiss lender.
The bank didn’t identify the creditors that
may not fully repay the loans. It hired an ad-
visory firm to assess the creditworthiness of
the underlying borrowers, according to the
statement.
Greensill filed for insolvency in March, as
it couldn’t roll over insurance coverage for
many of the products it sourced and pack-
aged. Credit Suisse, citing valuation concerns,
eventually moved to wind down a US$10 bil-
lion group of supply chain finance funds that
purchased those loans.
The bank has since returned US$4.8 bil-
lion to investors as a large portion of the funds
were held in short-dated US Treasury bonds,
according to recent fund reports.Valuation on
the US$2.3 billion notes linked to Katerra,
Bluestone and GFG remain uncertain, Credit
Suisse said in the statement.
Many of the borrowers in the funds were
investment grade firms like Ford Motor Co
and Henkel AG, but there were also loans to
riskier companies.
While the money pools were marketed to
investors as made up of short-term debt se-
cured on invoices, part of the loans were linked
to mere possible future revenues. The assets
were considered so safe that Credit Suisse
gave the largest fund its lowest rating for risk.
The size of the final payout for investors
will depend on whether insurance, which cov-
ered Greensill against the default of its bor-
rowers, will actually cover the debts.
Greensill’s Insurance Policies Questioned
by Tokio Marine Insurer Tokio Marine Hold-
ings Inc has questioned the validity of the con-
tracts signed off by an underwriter at its Aus-
tralian subsidiary.The underwriter wassacked
for breaching risk limits on the Greensill loans.
T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1 23 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
Copper hits highest since 2011
as global recovery powers metals
BY ANNIE LEE, WINNIE ZHU & MARK BURTON,
RANJEETHA PAKIAM, JAMES THORNHILL &
MICHAEL MSIKA
Bloomberg
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI/LONDON
(April 26): Copper climbed to the highest
in almost a decade, as the global recovery
from the pandemic extended a rally in met-
als markets.
Aluminum is surging and iron ore
jumped to a fresh high, as commodities
advance toward the highs of the last su-
percycle.
Metals are benefiting as the world’s larg-
est economies announce programs to build
back greener from the coronavirus shock.
The US recovery is accelerating and
President Joe Biden’s US$2.25 trillion in-
frastructure plan will highlight sectors like
electric cars, driving further gains in com-
modities critical to the green-energy transi-
tion. That’s coming alongside a continued
economic boom in China, where a push
to reduce emissions is filtering through to
supply cuts for some metals just as demand
is picking up.
“The super part of the copper supercycle
is happening right now,” Max Layton, man-
aging director for commodities research at
Citigroup Global Markets, said by phone.
“The bullish outlook is decarbonization-led,
and I’m totally onboard with that for the
next three to four years, but the super part
of this cycle is actually more related to the
scale of global stimulus.”
Copper — a bellwether for the glob-
al economy — rose as much as 2.1% to
US$9,750 a ton in London, the highest
since 2011. The metal has gained 25% on
the London Metal Exchange this year.
Iron ore in Singapore jumped to the high-
est since contracts launched in 2013, while
Chinese steel futures reached fresh highs.
Supply Squeeze
Copper’s integral role in everything from
electrical wiring to motors is fanning ex-
pectations for further gains as nations
roll out more aggressive climate targets.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc and trader
Trafigura Group expect the metal to top
2011’s record of US$10,190 and surpass
US$15,000 in the coming decade, as de-
mand outstrips supply.
“Copper could hardly peak and pull
back with this backdrop,” said Harry Jiang,
head of trading and research withYonggang
Resources Co.
24 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Metals are benefiting as the
world’s largest economies
announce programs to
build back greener from
the coronavirus shock.
Tightness in markets outside China may
lead to a supply squeeze, which will offset
current weakness in Chinese demand, he
said.
Still, risks to the industrial rally are
building in the short term. A rise in coro-
navirus cases and new variants threaten
to derail reopening plans in some regions
such as India, while investors are concerned
about a possible pullback in Chinese stim-
ulus. Prices could become overly extend-
ed for industrial uses, according to Xiao
Fu, head of commodities strategy at BOCI
Global Commodities.
“I’m not in the US$15,000 copper
camp. There will be some automatic sta-
bilizers before we approach those kinds of
levels, and there will be some demand ad-
justment,” Xiao said by phone from Lon-
don. “And let’s not forget: the pandemic
is not over, and cases are still surging in
many parts of the world.”
There’s also a focus on the possibility of
more intervention by Chinese authorities,
who say they’ll stabilize raw material prices
and have already implemented a swathe of
production curbs across industries. Inner
Mongolia has said it will stop approving
new aluminum projects as part of the coun-
try’s green push, and speculation about
curbs in Xinjiang is giving further support
to prices at a three-year high.
Steel’s stormed higher on a pledge by
China to reduce output, though the meas-
ures have so far sparked an increase in pro-
BLOOMBERG
duction as mills churn out supply ahead of
possibly more extensive restrictions. At the
same time, rebar inventories are declining,
signaling robust demand.
And supply woes can’t be ruled out.
Port workers in Chile, which accounts for
about a quarter of the world’s copper sup-
ply, called a strike for Monday in response
to President Sebastian Pinera’s move to
block a bill allowing people to make a third
round of early withdrawals from their pen-
sion funds.
The threat of Covid-19 in nations in
South America could hamper the export
of key industrial commodities like iron ore
and copper, said Gavin Wendt, senior re-
source analyst at MineLife Pty.
European miners rose on Monday, led
by those with large copper exposure such as
Lundin Mining Corp and Antofagasta Plc.
Citigroup Inc analysts including Ephrem
Ravi recommended buying any dips, with
expectations that copper’s rally could po-
tentially play out through the summer.
Despite risks that the rally may falter in
the short term, investors are signaling ap-
petite for metals futures. Aggregate open
interest in SHFE copper is at the highest in
more than a year, and positions in alumi-
num have climbed. Elsewhere, hedge fund
managers boosted bullish Comex copper
bets in the week ended April 20.
Read also:
Big oil sees cash rolling in, but investors
won’t get it yet
“Crude oil prices have recovered and major
producers are finally generating spare cash.
Investors really want to get their hands on it,
but most are likely to be disappointed.”
Click here
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
World’s biggest Covid crisis threatens
Modi’s grip on India
NEW DELHI (April 26): As India record-
ed more than 234,000 new Covid-19 infec-
tions during the weekend before last, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi held an election
rally in the West Bengal town of Asansol and
tweeted: “I’ve never seen such huge crowds.”
The second wave of the coronavirus has
since grown into a tsunami. India is now the
global coronavirus hotspot, setting records
for the world’s highest number of daily cas-
es. Images of hospitals overflowing with the
sick and dying are flooding social media, as
medical staff and the public alike make des-
perate appeals for oxygen supplies.
The political and financial capitals of
New Delhi and Mumbai are in lockdown,
with only the sound of ambulance sirens
punctuating the quiet, but there is a grow-
ing chorus of blame directed at Modi over
his government’s handling of the pandemic.
Modi cancelled another planned appear-
ance in West Bengal on Friday to hold meet-
ings on the pandemic response, and on Sun-
day he implored Indians to get vaccinated.
Whether it is enough to prevent the political
fallout may become clear on May 2, when
election results are due to be announced for
the five states voting over the last month:
West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
and Puducherry.
“At this crucial time he is fighting for
votes and not against Covid-19,” said
Panchanan Maharana, a community activ-
ist from the state of Odisha, who previously
supported Modi’s policies but will now look
for alternative parties to back. “He is failing
to deliver — he should stop talking and fo-
cus on saving people’s lives and livelihoods.”
Modi is seen by many as a polarising
leader whose brand of nationalism that
promotes the dominance of Hindus has
appalled and enraptured the nation. De-
spite policy stumbles in his first term, vot-
ers re-elected him in a landslide in 2019 in
the absence of any viable opposition. In the
last poll taken in January, during a lull in the
epidemic, his popularity was 74%, down a
touch from 78% last August but still im-
pressively high.Whether the pandemic will
dent his appeal remains unclear.
“There is no doubt an outpouring of an-
ger at the mismanagement of the Covid-19
crisis in India,” said Nikita Sud, who teaches
international development at the Universi-
ty of Oxford and has published a book on
Hindu nationalism. “The question is: Will
this anger trump the hate that has been sys-
tematically sown in our society for years?
And will public memory last long enough
25 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
BY ARCHANA CHAUDHARY,
SUDHI RANJAN SEN &
BIBHUDATTA PRADHAN
Bloomberg
BLOOMBERG
Narendra Modi
The prime minister
is also under fire for
overpromising on India’s
vaccination roll-out, both
domestically and globally,
after he dubbed the nation
the “pharmacy to the
world” last October.
for the pandemic-related anger to be man-
ifested at election time?”
Those are not easy questions to answer.
Modi’s government has sought to block
some recent criticism of its response to the
virus on Twitter, where the anger and dis-
appointment in India’s leader are manifest.
When Modi addressed the nation on Tues-
day, it seemed that he failed to grasp the
growing sense of panic among citizens. As
he spoke, without providing any details on
how his government would turn the situation
around, the Hindi hashtag that translates
into “Stop the speech, not the oxygen” was
tweeted more than 108,000 times. Other
hashtags, including #ModiMadeDisaster
and #ModiResign were also popular.
Footage of Modi, unmasked, addressing
huge crowds who were also mostly without
masks or social distancing, stood in stark
contrast to images of exhausted doctors and
nurses desperately trying to create more ca-
pacity in the country’s decrepit, underfund-
ed health system.
Noting that at least six high courts are
hearing disputes about Covid-19 manage-
ment including oxygen shortages, the Su-
preme Court on Thursday asked the feder-
al government to come up with a national
plan for the distribution of essential supplies
and services.
Yet it is far from guaranteed that the cur-
rent crisis will cost Modi at the ballot box.
For his followers, the government’s sup-
port for building a Hindu temple in Uttar
Pradesh on the contested site of a former
mosque and its move to abolish the special
status of Jammu and Kashmir — the only
Muslim majority region in India — are far
more pressing priorities. Hindus make up
80% of the population.
“The construction of the temple is im-
portant for us, why can’t Hindus build a
temple in our own land?” said Govind Ku-
mar, a factory worker, as he sat with his
meager belongings at a Delhi bus station
on Tuesday, waiting to return to his village
in Uttar Pradesh after the capital went into
lockdown. Of the pandemic, he said: “No-
body can control the situation. Why only
blame Modi?”
It is a sentiment expressed widely in In-
dia. Some commentators attribute the sup-
port for Modi as akin to that of a messian-
ic figure whose appeal goes beyond mere
politics. Asim Ali of the Centre for Policy
Research in New Delhi, writing in The Dip-
lomat on April 1, said that “Brand Modi
seems to have escaped into the political strat-
osphere, untouched by the conventional laws
of political competition”.
There are signs elsewhere that the pan-
demic may be too much for even the most
populist of leaders to remain unaffected.
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil confound-
ed his sceptics by maintaining his base de-
spite dismissing the pandemic, only to be
forced into concessions when cases soared
this year. Donald Trump could arguably
have won a second term in November if it
was not for the US Covid-19 death toll, still
the world’s highest.
Modi’s decision to hold election rallies
and green-light large religious gatherings
in the face of a growing second wave “will
not inspire confidence about India’s leader-
ship and governance record in any objective
observer or investor”, said Sud of Oxford.
And India’s economy, which was show-
ing nascent signs of recovery after falling
into recession last year for the first time in
decades, is now struggling again. As more
cities and states have issued stay-at-home
order or other movement restrictions,
CO N TI N U ES O N PAG E 26
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
(April 26): Bitcoin rallied back Monday, as
investors took advantage of the lowest levels
in seven weeks to pile back in.
The largest cryptocurrency rose as much
as 12% to above US$53,000, the biggest
intraday gain since early February.
The move comes as JPMorgan Chase
& Co is preparing to introduce an actively
managed Bitcoin fund to some clients as
soon as this summer, Coindesk reported,
citing unidentified people familiar with the
matter. The rebound reverses a two-week
slump that had pushed Bitcoin below its
100-day moving average, amid technical
warnings from Wall Street and fears of a
growing crypto bubble.
Some pinned Monday’s move on a tweet
Saturday from billionaire Elon Musk, who
in the past has affected prices with his com-
ments on the social platform.
What does the future hodl? — Elon Musk
(@elonmusk) April 24, 2021
In a potential reference to cryptocur-
rencies, the Tesla Inc founder asked “What
does the future hodl?”, using a term often
seen as meaning “hold on for dear life”
FROM PAG E 25
job losses have begun to tick up. Urban
unemployment jumped to 10.72% for the
week ending April 18 from 7.21% two
weeks ago, according to data from the Cen-
tre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
The prime minister is also under fire
for overpromising on India’s vaccination
roll-out, both domestically and globally,
after he dubbed the South Asian nation the
“pharmacy to the world” last October. As
case numbers soared, India suddenly halt-
ed its exports, which were a critical part of
COVAX, the World Health Organization
programme to provide inoculations to low
income countries. Only last month his ad-
ministration declared that the pandemic
was in its end game.
After administering more than three mil-
26 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Bitcoin rebounds
past US$53,000
after hitting
lowest since
March
BY JOANNA OSSINGER, LIANTING TU
& SID VERMA
Bloomberg
The digital asset had
been mired in a two-week
slump after reaching
a record on April 14,
buoyed by enthusiasm
from the Coinbase
Global Inc listing.
lion doses a day earlier this month, vaccine
centres are now running out of doses and
have shut down across many states, includ-
ing the megacity of Mumbai. On April 19,
Modi announced changes to his govern-
ment’s immunisation strategy — opening
the programme up to everyone over 18
and allowing state governments to tailor
their own strategy and procure directly
from manufacturers. His critics fear it is
intended to leave the states with the blame.
“In the first phase, Modi touted that
they were in control and took credit,”
said Sanjay Kumar, an election expert
and co-director at Lokniti-Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies in New
Delhi. “Now people won’t buy their ar-
gument. They will blame Modi and his
government.”
that supporters use to refer to buying and
holding their digital assets.
“There is always a sharp movement
when Tesla’s CEO talks about Bitcoin
on Twitter ahead of quarterly earnings,”
said Laurent Kssis, global head of ex-
change-traded products at crypto firm
21Shares AG. “As the US wakes up, we
could see further appreciation leading to
US$54,000-US$54,500.”
Cryptocurrency-exposed stocks also
rose. Monex Group Inc gained 7.1%,
while Remixpoint Inc increased 7% and
Ceres Inc added 6.1%. In the US, Coinbase
Global Inc was up 4.6% in pre-market trad-
ing, while Riot Blockchain Inc jumped 9%.
Bitcoin futures weren’t pricing much
more in the way of further gains Mon-
day, however. April contracts rose to
US$53,665, while those for May through
September ranged from US$52,145 to
US$55,635, according to data compiled
by Bloomberg.
“Bitcoin created a large gap down last
week that could stick around far longer
than bulls would want to see,” said Rick
Bensignor, president of Bensignor Invest-
ment Strategies, in a note Monday.
Bitcoin has done well over the medium
term, retaining a gain of about 80% year-to-
date as big-name investors endorse it and
institutions from Goldman Sachs Group
Inc to Bank of New York Mellon advance
their offerings around cryptocurrencies.
JPMorgan’s John Normand reiterated in a
note Friday that Bitcoin’s ascent has been
steeper than any other financial innovation
or bubble of the past 50 years.
“Crypto bulls breathed a sigh of relief
as last week’s deep rout across the space
failed to extend,” Steen Jakobsen, chief in-
vestment officer at Saxo Bank, wrote in a
note. However, “it has quite a wall to climb
to fully neutralize the recent selloff”.
Still, Modi changed gear on Wednesday,
tweeting about monitoring India’s deplet-
ed oxygen supplies and sending condo-
lences and “get well” messages to public
figures falling sick or dying. On Friday, he
planned to “review the prevailing Covid-19
situation”.
He has a track record of successfully
deflecting blame for policy failures. That
includes demonetisation in 2016 where
he banned 86% of the country’s currency
overnight and left the economy and In-
dia’s citizens reeling, according to Kath-
arine Adeney, director of the University of
Nottingham Asia Research Institute.
“It will be easy for him to blame other
political actors such as state governments
and chief ministers if that suits his pur-
pose,” Adeney said.
 T U E S D AY A P R I L 2 7 , 2 0 2 1
M A R K E T S
CPO RM 4,420.0079.00 OIL US$ 65.03-0.29 RM/USD 4.1120 RM/SGD 3.0951 RM/AUD 3.1823 RM/GBP 5.7147 RM/EUR 4.9447
Top 20 active stocks
NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
MINDA GLOBAL BHD 653.5 0.020 0.190 216.67 251.2
FOCUS DYNAMICS GROUP BHD 444.5 0.020 0.145 -77.69 920.7
AT SYSTEMATIZATION BHD 201.4 0.005 0.105 -43.24 444.1
NOVA MSC BHD 200.6 0.015 0.155 72.22 175.8
RUBBEREX CORP M BHD 184.6 0.060 1.460 4.29 1215.1
MAH SING GROUP BHD 182.8 0.070 1.080 24.14 2621.9
CAREPLUS GROUP BHD 170.4 0.510 2.760 34.98 1518.2
KTG BHD 138.5 0.010 0.255 -10.53 176.1
LKL INTERNATIONAL BHD 132.8 0.020 0.350 -61.75 180.1
HLT GLOBAL BHD 132.5 0.140 1.280 12.28 904.9
UCREST BHD 128.2 -0.025 0.450 190.32 275.5
KEY ASIC BHD 125.1 -0.015 0.190 137.50 225.1
KANGER INTERNATIONAL BHD 111.1 0.010 0.070 -51.72 186.0
PUC BHD 90.4 0.025 0.135 -15.63 120.0
HIAP TECK VENTURE BHD 89.9 0.040 0.535 16.30 747.8
TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 68.3 0.170 5.900 -3.59 47225.2
VORTEX CONSOLIDATED BHD 66.3 0.010 0.155 -20.29 53.4
YONG TAI BHD 62.5 0.030 0.275 -14.06 366.3
JOE HOLDINGS BHD 61.2 0.005 0.055 -50.00 95.4
TIGER SYNERGY BHD 61.1 0.010 0.075 -37.50 110.1
Data as compiled on Apr 26, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top gainers (ranked by %)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
SELANGOR DREDGING BHD 0.780 41.82 4966.0 43.12 332.4
IPMUDA BHD 1.690 30.00 1230.5 111.25 171.5
TRANSOCEAN HOLDINGS BHD 4.340 29.94 1851.5 449.37 177.9
TEO GUAN LEE CORP BHD 1.890 29.45 289.1 71.82 77.0
PEGASUS HEIGHTS BHD 0.025 25.00 11878.4 0.00 264.7
PUC BHD 0.135 22.73 90385.9 -15.63 120.0
CAREPLUS GROUP BHD 2.760 22.67 170377.2 34.98 1518.2
ADVENTA BHD 2.000 21.95 45498.4 30.72 305.6
GOLDEN PHAROS BHD 0.360 20.00 5523.1 46.94 49.6
SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.185 19.35 36573.3 -34.50 44.2
SC ESTATE BUILDER BHD 0.130 18.18 53920.4 116.67 135.0
KANGER INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.070 16.67 111075.4 -51.72 186.0
SCANWOLF CORP BHD 0.320 16.36 7794.5 39.13 33.6
FOCUS DYNAMICS GROUP BHD 0.145 16.00 444459.1 -77.69 920.7
TIGER SYNERGY BHD 0.075 15.38 61102.0 -37.50 110.1
UMS-NEIKEN GROUP BHD 1.390 14.88 2037.1 63.53 108.8
MLABS SYSTEMS BHD 0.045 12.50 2837.7 -43.75 54.1
HLT GLOBAL BHD 1.280 12.28 132502.2 12.28 904.9
YONG TAI BHD 0.275 12.24 62478.1 -14.06 366.3
HWA TAI INDUSTRIES BHD 0.51 12.09 1243.1 24.39 38.2
Data as compiled on Apr 26, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top gainers (ranked by RM)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 136.500 1.500 47.0 -1.73 32009.3
TRANSOCEAN HOLDINGS BHD 4.340 1.000 1851.5 449.37 177.9
CAREPLUS GROUP BHD 2.760 0.510 170377.2 34.98 1518.2
TEO GUAN LEE CORP BHD 1.890 0.430 289.1 71.82 77.0
MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 39.980 0.420 149.7 54.01 7951.9
HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BHD 11.180 0.400 15257.5 -7.91 38266.4
RAPID SYNERGY BHD 8.200 0.390 81.7 24.24 876.6
IPMUDA BHD 1.690 0.390 1230.5 111.25 171.5
ADVENTA BHD 2.000 0.360 45498.4 30.72 305.6
KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES 4.710 0.360 37627.7 6.96 12018.1
PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD 20.300 0.360 278.1 -5.14 20167.1
SUPERMAX CORP BHD 6.280 0.330 39472.5 4.49 16438.8
GREATECH TECHNOLOGY BHD 6.300 0.270 5864.2 38.46 7887.6
PHARMANIAGA BHD 3.520 0.240 1305.8 -29.60 921.2
SELANGOR DREDGING BHD 0.780 0.230 4966.0 43.12 332.4
HONG LEONG BANK BHD 18.100 0.200 1105.0 -0.55 39235.7
HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP 17.000 0.180 89.0 -5.87 19469.1
UMS-NEIKEN GROUP BHD 1.390 0.180 2037.1 63.53 108.8
TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 5.900 0.170 68321.7 -3.59 47225.2
DIGI.COM BHD 4.350 0.160 2901.6 5.07 33821.3
Data as compiled on Apr 26, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
27 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
World equity indices
CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
(%) (%)
DOW JONES 34,043.49 227.59 0.67 INDONESIA 5,964.82 -52.04 -0.86
S&P 500 4,180.17 45.19 1.09 JAPAN 29,126.23 105.60 0.36
NASDAQ 100 13,941.44 179.08 1.30 KOREA 3,217.53 31.43 0.99
FTSE 100 6,934.03 -4.53 -0.07 PHILIPPINES 6,389.38 11.31 0.18
AUSTRALIA 7,045.56 -15.15 -0.21 SINGAPORE 3,204.90 10.86 0.34
CHINA 3,441.17 -33.00 -0.95 TAIWAN 17,572.29 272.02 1.57
HONG KONG 28,952.83 -125.92 -0.43 THAILAND 1,559.53 5.94 0.38
INDIA 48,386.51 508.06 1.06 VIETNAM 1,215.77 -32.76 -2.62
Data as compiled on Apr 26, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top losers (ranked by %)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
LAMBO GROUP BHD 0.020 -20.00 7208.6 -33.33 99.8
FSBM HOLDINGS BHD 0.130 -18.75 79.0 30.00 18.4
EA HOLDINGS BHD 0.025 -16.67 4680.1 -16.67 126.8
CME GROUP BHD 0.050 -16.67 3430.5 -16.67 44.0
VSOLAR GROUP BHD 0.025 -16.67 4417.8 -37.50 70.5
ECM LIBRA GROUP BHD 0.205 -12.77 0.9 -10.87 98.4
HUBLINE BHD 0.035 -12.50 2708.0 -30.00 145.6
KEJURUTERAAN ASASTERA BHD 0.875 -12.06 4345.0 50.00 1480.3
MNC WIRELESS BHD 0.040 -11.11 2080.3 -11.11 70.4
BORNEO OIL BHD 0.040 -11.11 17012.4 0.00 266.8
RESERVOIR LINK ENERGY BHD 0.660 -10.20 9786.5 37.50 188.1
SAUDEE GROUP BHD 0.220 -10.20 43199.4 -54.64 52.3
FINTEC GLOBAL BHD 0.045 -10.00 17344.7 -43.75 155.1
PINEAPPLE RESOURCES BHD 0.800 -9.09 210.5 56.86 38.8
CHINA OUHUA WINERY HOLDINGS 0.050 -9.09 26.7 -16.67 33.4
ASIA POLY HOLDINGS BHD 0.355 -8.97 43950.4 31.48 284.0
XOX BHD 0.055 -8.33 8207.4 -50.00 216.4
WIDETECH MALAYSIA BHD 1.130 -8.13 13.5 88.33 50.6
EKA NOODLES BHD 0.060 -7.69 79.2 -14.29 18.7
I-BHD 0.305 -7.58 6879.9 22 346.2
Data as compiled on Apr 26, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top losers (ranked by RM)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
VITROX CORP BHD 15.700 -0.380 166.4 6.80 7413.1
PETRONAS GAS BHD 15.900 -0.300 567.3 -7.16 31461.8
KESM INDUSTRIES BHD 12.100 -0.280 6.1 -10.90 520.5
PPB GROUP BHD 18.500 -0.180 613.8 -0.11 26318.1
EURO HOLDINGS BHD 3.430 -0.150 4088.4 18.28 2750.5
KEJURUTERAAN ASASTERA BHD 0.875 -0.120 4345.0 50.00 1480.3
WIDETECH MALAYSIA BHD 1.130 -0.100 13.5 88.33 50.6
SAM ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT 6.730 -0.100 13.2 -8.68 910.9
GENETEC TECHNOLOGY BHD 4.330 -0.100 257.1 150.29 197.8
MI TECHNOVATION BHD 4.070 -0.090 816.8 3.30 3338.4
IHH HEALTHCARE BHD 5.400 -0.080 1024.2 -1.82 47407.0
BATU KAWAN BHD 18.300 -0.080 0.5 2.23 7243.1
PINEAPPLE RESOURCES BHD 0.800 -0.080 210.5 56.86 38.8
PADINI HOLDINGS BHD 2.930 -0.080 510.0 1.74 1927.7
AJINOMOTO MALAYSIA BHD 16.000 -0.080 10.6 -0.12 972.8
SKP RESOURCES BHD 1.700 -0.080 6059.3 -1.16 2656.0
SCGM BHD 2.220 -0.080 1071.8 1.37 425.2
RESERVOIR LINK ENERGY BHD 0.660 -0.075 9786.5 37.50 188.1
DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES BHD 34.920 -0.060 13.5 -6.88 2234.9
KERJAYA PROSPEK PROPERTY BHD 1.05 -0.06 3424.7 34.62 420.1
Data as compiled on Apr 26, 2021 Source: Bloomberg