CABINET MINISTERS NOW NEED TO BE QUARANTINED

ONLY FOR THREE DAYS p2

T U E S DAY, F E B RUA R Y 9 , 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 131/2021

CEOMorningBrief HOME: Strong oil prices a boon to the ringgit p6

Buyers shun major Malaysian palm oil producers after forced labour allegations p7
WORLD: Tesla bets big on bitcoin, plans to accept cryptocurrency p19

A new commodities
boom beckons
when pent-up
demand unleashed
Report on Page 4.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
the edge ceo morning brief
Read from desktop or mobile device.
You can print in A4 to read. Set print
mode to fit or shrink oversize page.
to get on emailing list
ceomorningbrief@bizedge.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): The govern-
ment has decided that Cabinet ministers
returning from overseas trips to only be
subjected to a three-day quarantine peri-
od, as opposed to the usual 10-day quar-
antine requirement.
A federal gazette signed by Minister
of Health Datuk Seri Adham
Baba, which will be effective
tomorrow (Feb 9) until Aug
1, states that cabinet min-
isters who are returning
from any official overseas
visit will need to be un-
der observation for three
days or undergo super-
vision until they can
be released with-
out endanger-
ing the public.
The order,
called the
Prevention
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Malaysia to-
day reported a record high of 24 deaths re-
lated to Covid-19, bringing the country’s
death toll to 896.
New infections totalled 3,100, raising
cumulative Covid-19 cases to 245,552, the
Health Ministry said in a statement, add-
ing that all but one of the new cases were
locally transmitted.
Seven of the latest deaths were report-
ed in Selangor, and three each in Kuala
Lumpur, Sabah and Sarawak. Perak and
Johor had two deaths each, while Kelan-
tan, Melakaa, Kedah and Penang posted
one death each.
The youngest fatality was 44 and the
oldest was 98. Three of the deceased were
foreigners, the ministry said.
Selangor continued to record the most
number of daily cases with 1,196. Of the
total, close to half or 589 cases were infect-
ed through Covid-19 clusters, while 397
were confirmed from screening of close
contacts of Covid-19 positive patients.
The remaining 210 cases came from
2 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
published by publisher + . Ho Kay Tat
ceo
editor - in - chief
. Azam Aris
chief commercial officer . Sharon Teh
(266980-X) chief operating officer . Lim Shiew Yuin
editors . Kathy Fong . Jenny Ng .
. 603-77218000
tel
Tan Choe Choe . Lam Jian Wyn
Level 3, Menara KLK, 1 Jalan PJU 7/6,
Mutiara Damansara, 47810, Petaling Jaya, to contact editors : eeditor@bizedge.com
Selangor, Malaysia to advertise : advertising@bizedge.com
H O M E
Cabinet ministers
the Prevention and Control of Infectious
Diseases Act 1988.
now need to be
Section 15 states that “an authorised
officer may order any contact to undergo
quarantined only
observation in such place and for such
period as he may think fit, or to undergo
for three days
surveillance until he may be discharged
without danger to the public”.
Currently, Malaysia enforces a 10-day
mandatory quarantine requirement for
BY AHMAD NAQIB IDRIS those that are taking flights, either inter-
theedgemarkets.com national or domestic.
Prime Minister Tan Sri MuhyiddinYas-
and Control of Infectious Diseases sin made an official visit to Indonesia last
(Exemption) Order 2021, states that week for a one-hour face-to-face meeting
any minister who is returning from with President Joko Widodo.
an official visit abroad would be In October last year, he emphasised
exempted from Section 15 of that there was no practice of double
standards in complying with the Cov-
id-19 quarantine orders and said he him-
Malaysia’s Minister self and his ministers were not exempted
of Health Datuk Seri from adhering to the standard operating
Adham Baba.
procedures.
Covid-19:
Malaysia records
highest daily
fatalities of 24,
with 3,100 new
infections
BY JUSTIN LIM
theedgemarkets.com
other screenings. This was followed by Jo- Read also:
hor with 490 cases, Melaka (344), Kuala
Lumpur (295) and Penang (209). Mean- Different strain of Covid-19 virus in
while, 2,340 patients recovered from the Sarawak now — Sim Click here
infection and were discharged today.
A total of 192,679 people have recov- Covid-19 vaccine: One year for country
ered so far, representing a recovery rate to achieve herd immunity, say scientists
of 78.5%. Click here
T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1 3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
A new commodities boom beckons
when pent-up demand unleashed
BY SYBILLA GROSS
Bloomberg
SYDNEY (Feb 8):The eventual end of the
coronavirus pandemic is likely to herald
a consumption boom, piling pressure on
precarious supply chains and boosting raw
material prices, according to the Merchant
Commodity Fund.
“There’s a huge amount of pent-up de-
mand in the consumer pocket,” said Doug
King, head of the RCMA Capital-managed
fund, which has assets of US$170 million
and returned 19.4% last year.
“You could see a real surge in the mar-
ket across all aspects of travel and con-
sumption. I quite like the backdrop.”
Commodities have been on a tear since
March, and have surged to the highest lev-
el in more than six years, with rallies in
everything from iron ore to soybeans, cop-
per and corn.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bank of
America Corp and Ospraie Management
LLC are among institutions that have en-
dorsed raw materials, as investment plays
and predict they have more room to climb.
Dwight Anderson, founder of Ospraie,
said in January he saw 100% to 300% re-
turns in total commodities over the next 18
to 36 months. “With no long-term supply
projects coming on, unlike in ‘09, with maxi-
mum fiscal and monetary stimulus, the com-
bined backdrop and the tailwinds will make
this one of the best commodities cycles ever,”
he said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Stretched supply chains will bolster raw
materials, said King from the Merchant
Commodity Fund. They’re probably way
4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
longer than they’ve ever been in the past
20 years because of congestion, paperwork,
trade disputes and other hurdles, he said.
That’s inflationary because people need to
hold much more inventory, increasing de-
mand, and that will support all commodity
markets over the next cycle, which is only
just starting, he said. “That is the change
that I think is going to propel us to maybe
some exciting times.”
Currencies will also have a key role to
play. “If you have a really strong commodi-
ty market, bull market, you’re going to have
to see the emerging market currencies ap-
preciate” and the dollar depreciate, he said.
Depleted inventory
In China, they are nervous about inflation
BLOOMBERG
and want to ensure that they have sufficient
stockpiles to keep it under control, said
King, who used to work for Cargill Inc
and has some three decades of commod-
ities experience. The way the country has
been acting in the soybean and corn mar-
kets signals that they have depleted much
of their strategic inventory, he said.
Asia’s top economy has been on a re-
cord buying spree to feed hog herds ex-
panding again, after a deadly virus. That
demand, and weather woes in South Amer-
ica, have pushed crop futures to multiyear
highs. “Can I see US$15, US$16 beans?
Yes, possibly, but it’s had a pretty decent
run-up,” King said, referring to soy, which
trades around US$13.70 a bushel. The
market is “really crowded.”
King sees opportunities in rapeseed and
sunflower oils, where demand for refined
oils is pretty resilient and there’s been a
decline in rapeseed plantings across Eu-
rope in the past few years. “We have bal-
ance sheets that are more interesting, that
are more fragile,” he said.
The fund has focused on energy and
industrials in the past three years, as agri-
cultural markets grappled with oversupply.
“Towards the end of 2020, and now
into 2021, that’s changed and we again
see strong opportunities in the agricul-
tural space,” King said. “We had positive
investor inflows in 2020 and continue to
see increasing interest.”
Read also: Global markets see inflation
breaking out to multi-year highs Click here
T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1 5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
Strong oil prices
a boon to the
ringgit
BY TAN SIEW MUNG
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): The steady
climb on crude oil prices is expected to lend
support to the ringgit should the upward mo-
mentum on fuel prices gather steam.
OCBC Bank forex strategist Terence Wu
told The Edge that the US dollar has been
resilient of late, and that exerts downward
pressure on the ringgit against the greenback.
However,Wu pointed out that there have
been a number of mitigating factors in fa-
vour of Asian currencies, for instance, the
rising crude oil prices which are supportive
of the ringgit.
He expects the ringgit to fluctuate in the
range between 4.0300 and 4.0800 against
the greenback. On a longer-term horizon,
he forecasts the ringgit to show appreciation
bias against the US dollar, targeting below
4.00 levels at the end of 2021.
According to Bloomberg, at the time of
writing, the Brent Crude oil price rose 1.23%
to US$60.07 per barrel — the highest level
since pre-Covid 19 in January last year.The
oil price has been on the rise since October
30 last year when it was at US$37.46.
Meanwhile, the ringgit rose 0.09% to
Malaysia’s 2020
IPI declines
4.2%, first drop
since 2009
BY SYAHIRAH SYED JAAFAR
theedgemarkets.com
6 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Ringgit tracks crude oil price
Brent Crude Oil
80 US$/barrel
70
60
50 54.91
40
30
4.137
20
10
Jan 2, 2019
Source: Bloomberg
4.0660 against the US dollar today.Year to
date, the ringgit has depreciated 1.5% against
the greenback. However, since March 23 last
year, the local currency has appreciated 8.5%
against the US dollar from the 4.447-level.
Phillip Capital Management Sdn Bhd
chief strategist Phua Lee Kerk told The Edge
that it is still unknown whether the strong
energy price is sustainable.
He is of the view that the US dollar will
continue to strengthen in the coming one or
two months. “If the weakening US dollar is
the reason for the current stronger crude oil
price, ultimately, the oil prices will weaken
too. The ringgit strength will also start to
lose momentum,” he said.
“It is still early to make a call that the ring-
git will be strengthening, as the US dollar
may start to strengthen when the US econ-
omy recovers,” Phua added.
He opined that how the Malaysian Gov-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Malaysia’s
Industrial Production Index (IPI) grew
1.7% in December 2020 from a year
earlier — beating Bloomberg consensus
expectations — as the index recorded
growth in the IPI’s manufacturing seg-
ment, though mining and electricity com-
ponents dropped.
For the full year, the nation’s 2020 IPI
declined 4.2% from a year earlier — its
first contraction since 2009.
In a statement today, the Department
USD/RM (RHS)
RM 3.5
60.15 3.7
3.9
4.1
4.0665
4.3
4.5
Feb 8, 2021
ernment contains Covid-19 infections, and
how fast the economy can recover from the
pandemic will be among the key factors that
dictate the direction of the ringgit.
Nonetheless, Phua maintains his target
price for ringgit against the US dollar at 3.87,
underpinned by the weakening US dollar
this year.
Axi chief global market strategist Stephen
Innes said in a note today that Malaysia is
experiencing the worst Covid-19 outbreak
in Asia, and the renewed MCO is likely to
hit services growth in the short-term and is
weighing on the ringgit.
“Still, the continued ascent of oil prices
provides an essential reassurance source for
the Malaysian market and the ringgit.
“Strong exports and a stronger renminbi
could see the ringgit trade with a favourable
bias, but any renewed push higher in US
yields could dampen sentiment,” he added.
of Statistics Malaysia said the IPI’s man-
ufacturing segment grew 4.1% in De-
cember, while the mining and electrici-
ty components dropped 5.4% and 0.2%
respectively.
“The IPI for the fourth quarter of 2020
fell 0.3% compared with the same peri-
od of the previous year. The decrease was
largely due to the contraction in mining
(-10.5%) and electricity (-0.6%). Mean-
while, the manufacturing sector recorded
an increase of 2.8%.
“The IPI for overall 2020 recorded a
decline of 4.2% compared to the previ-
ous year. The drop was influenced by all
indices: mining index (-9.7%), electricity
index (-3.7%) and manufacturing index
(-2.7%),” the department said.
The better growth performance in De-
cember reflects the ease of restrictions and
pickup in economic activity towards the
end of 2020 as the manufacturing sector
benefited from sustained growth in rub-
ber gloves production, said RHB senior
economist Nazmi Idrus in a note.
CO N TI N UES O N PAGE 7
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Major palm
oil buyers are seeking to block FGV Hold-
ings and Sime Darby Plantations from their
global supply chain after the United States
banned imports from the two Malaysian pro-
ducers, four sources told Reuters.
US food company General Mills said it
has issued global ‘no buy orders’ for both the
companies, and the sources said other buy-
ers have also requested suppliers to reduce
or exclude FGV and Sime Darby products
for supplies entering not only the United
States, but also Europe, Australia and Japan.
FGV and Sime Darby are two of the
world’s biggest palm oil producers and
both were banned by the US Customs
and Border Protection (CBP) last year
over the alleged use of forced labour dur-
ing production.
Palm oil is one of the world’s cheapest
and fastest growing crops, but the indus-
try has faced scrutiny over the years with
rights groups blaming producers for vast
deforestation in Southeast Asia and ex-
ploitative labour practices.
The caution from buyers is another
blow to Malaysian palm oil, which has long
had the reputation as being more sustain-
able compared to bigger rival Indonesia.
The two countries together control nearly
85% of global production of palm oil — a
ubiquitous commodity used in everything
from cereal to soap.
“Customers are very afraid, and very
cautious... They are questioning to what
extent we are sourcing from them,” said
one source whose firm supplies palm oil
products to multinational consumer goods
manufacturers.
“Companies are fearing the risk to their
own reputation if they buy from Sime Dar-
by and FGV,” the source added.
None of the four sources wanted to be
identified as they were not authorised to
talk to the media.
“We have instructed all of our suppliers
globally to remove both Sime Darby and
FROM PAGE 6
MIDF, meanwhile, noted that the
4.2% full-year IPI decline was slightly
better than its estimate of 4.6%, given
that December’s performance turned out
to be stronger than expected. “Thanks to
strong external demand, positive growth
in rubber products and E&E products
helped to limit the decline in overall IPI in
2020,” MIDF wrote in a research report.
After December’s growth, however, the
IPI is expected to soften in the first quar-
ter of this year (1Q21) as economic activ-
ities will be largely affected by the second
Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0),
said economists, with infection clusters
7 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Buyers shun
major Malaysian
palm oil
producers after
forced labour
allegations
BY MEI MEI CHU
Reuters
We have instructed all of
our suppliers globally to
remove both Sime Darby
and FGV from our supply
chain; and have issued
‘no buy orders’ on both
suppliers.” — General Mills.
FGV from our supply chain; and have is-
sued ‘no buy orders’ on both suppliers,”
General Mills said in an emailed statement
to Reuters.
Chocolate maker Hershey said its North
American suppliers have removed all Sime
found in workplaces expected to hurt pro-
duction of the affected companies, thus
resulting in a softer quarter for the IPI.
RHB’s Nazmi, however, said ex-
port-oriented industries could provide
some support to the IPI in 1Q21.
“Production of electrical and electron-
ic products will grow at a healthy pace as
global demand for communications and
mobile devices could remain resilient, as
well as due to government-led digitisa-
tion efforts. Similarly, the petroleum and
chemicals sectors could remain well sup-
ported by high oil prices and demand
for pharmaceutical type products,” said
Nazmi.
Darby volumes in compliance with the US
order.
Some buyers including Nestle, Unilever
and Hershey had suspended FGV since 2018
after industry watchdog Roundtable on Sus-
tainable Palm Oil (RSPO) found “exploita-
tive” labour practices in the company.
But not all companies have moved
quickly to remove Sime Darby from their
supply chain. Sime Darby is the world’s
biggest producer of palm oil certified as
sustainable by the RSPO.
Kraft Heinz, Nestle and Unilever said
they were in discussions with Sime Darby
about the US allegation.
Sime Darby said many of its key cus-
tomers have expressed continued support
and that it has engaged with independent
firms to address the US ban.
“We believe our customers recognise
our honest commitment to continuous
improvement, and our credibility as the
world’s largest producer of RSPO-certi-
fied sustainable palm oil, accounting for
about 17% of total global CSPO supply,”
Sime Darby Oils Managing Director Mohd
Haris Mohd Arshad said.
FGV did not respond to a request for
comment.
Two sources said they were advising
buyers against fully shunning Sime Darby
— a key supplier of specialty oils and fats
that will be difficult to replace.
“Buyers are waiting for proof from CBP
(the US customs authority) before taking
further action... We are making contingen-
cy plans to look for alternative suppliers
if the situation worsens,” one trader said.
Sime Darby also said last month that it
has asked the CBP for more information
on the allegations. It has said it was com-
mitted to combating forced labour and has
robust policies to protect workers’ rights.
The United States accounts for only
3% of Malaysia’s palm oil exports and is
said to constitute only a small portion of
FGV and Sime’s sales.
Domestic-oriented IPI, meanwhile,
will face headwinds due to weak con-
sumer discretionary spending as the un-
employment rate is expected to remain
high in 1H21, he added.
MIDF forecasts that the IPI will re-
bound to a growth of 6.3% this yearm,
supported by recovering demand from
both domestic and external markets.
“The rollout of Covid-19 vaccination
programme locally and globally will help
to improve confidence, and the stronger
growth in major trading partners such as
the US and China will support Malaysia’s
exports and industrial production activity
to pick up this year,” it added.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1 8 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

In 1MDB,
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): The work 1MDB that if you don’t follow you’ll get
culture in 1Malaysia Development Bhd sacked?

either you follow

(1MDB) was such that one was expected Hazem: If you don’t follow you quit.
to follow instructions or resign immedi- Wan Aizuddin: You don’t have to follow

instructions or
ately, said former 1MDB chief executive Jho Low’s instructions carte blanche, you
officer Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman. can voice your concerns.

make your way

This was especially so when the instruc- Hazem: As CEO if you don’t do what’s
tion was given by master conspirator Low asked, you leave.

out, says former

Taek Jho (Jho Low) with the claim that Wan Aizuddin: But you are the CEO call-
it came from then prime minister Datuk ing the shots, how can you take instruc-

Seri Najib Razak, Hazem said when tes-
tifying in the 1MDB-Tanore trial at the
High Court today.
The prosecution witness was replying
to defence lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mo-
hamad about 1MDB’s acquisition of inde-
pendent power producers (IPPs) Genting
Sanyen Power Sdn Bhd and Tanjong En-
ergy Holdings Sdn Bhd in 2013.
Hazem said that at the time he was of
the opinion that both acquisitions were
exorbitantly expensive, and that it would
put 1MDB at a disadvantage based on his
experience in acquiring assets with pre-
dictable cash flows such power station
operators.
But although he could speak to Jho Low
directly, Hazem said he could not raise his
frustrations about the acquisitions through
email as he feared for his job. According
to him, in 1MDB, “either you follow [di-
rections] or make your way out”.
“This was the culture. Of course no one
said it, but if you work in any company, if
you’re not happy with the boss, you quit,”
Hazem added.
Wan Aizuddin: What was happening in
CEO
BY EMIR ZAINUL
theedgemarkets.com
SHAHRIN YAHYA/THE EDGE
Former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman
holding his smartphone at the Kuala Lumpur
Court Complex this morning.
tions?
Hazem: In 1MDB it was like that.
During his tenure as 1MDB CEO,
Hazem only oversaw the development and
operation of the IPPs.The business deals for
the acquisitions were arranged and conclud-
ed during the tenure of Hazem’s predecessor,
Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
Shahrol, who testified for the prosecu-
tion prior to Hazem, had agreed that in
hindsight, the acquisitions were nothing
but a sham deal to deceive the board of
directors which benefitted international
investment bank Goldman Sachs, Jho Low,
and other co-conspirators.
1MDB acquired Tanjong Energy with
borrowed funds for RM10.64 billion. Not
long after that, 1MDB borrowed more
money to buy Mastika Lagenda Sdn Bhd,
an investment holding company for Gen-
ting Sanyen, for RM2.75 billion.
In the 1MDB-Tanore trial, Najib is
charged with four counts of power abuse
to enrich himself with RM2.3 billion from
1MDB and 21 counts of laundering the
same amount. He faces up to 20 years’
imprisonment if convicted.

Malaysian govt a police notice issued on him.

The case management of the case is due

seeks RM68m in on Monday (tomorrow, Jan 8) and until

press time neither Tan nor his lawyer has

tax arrears from entered an appearance.

Tan, who turns 43 in six days’ time,

Jho Low’s trusted has a last registered address at Taman

Pusat Kepong and allegedly owed the

aide ‘Fat Eric’ government RM2.706 million in 2010,

BY HAFIZ YATIM
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): The Malay-
sian government, through the Inland Reve-
nue Board (IRB), had filed a RM68 million
suit against Jho Low’s right-hand man Eric
Tan Kim Loong, a.k.a “Fat Eric”, seeking
tax arrears from 2010 to 2013.
The application was filed at the KL
High Court on Jan 15, 2021, where Tan
is named as the sole defendant in docu-
ments sighted by theedgemarkets.com. His
Eric Tan IC number in the suit matches the one on
RM22.090 million (2011), RM35.479 mil-
lion (2012) and RM1.538 million (2013)
through notices issued on Sept 30, 2020.
The notices were sent to his last known
address on Nov 24 and there has been no
reply, the statement of claim by the Ma-
laysian government says.
“As the defendant had failed to pay
the amount owed as stipulated in the no-
tice under Section 103 of the Income Tax
Act 1967, a 10% surcharge is imposed
on the unpaid amount resulting in the
additional charges of RM270,602.18
(2010), RM2,209,094.99 (2011),
RM3,547,991.14 and RM153,847.30,
are imposed,” the statement of claim said.
CO N TI N U ES O N PAG E 10
T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1 9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
Warrant served
on UK law firm
over alleged
1MDB assets
— report
BY SURIN MURUGIAH
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): The US
Department of Justice (DoJ) has served
an arrest warrant on a top London law
firm in an effort to seize hundreds of
millions of dollars — alleged to be the
proceeds of a major international fraud
— which it is holding on behalf of a
client.
In a report yesterday, The Guardian
UK reported that according to court
records it had reviewed, the UK’s Na-
tional Crime Agency (NCA) served the
warrant at the central London offices
of the elite firm Clyde & Co, on behalf
of the DoJ.
It said the warrant, signed by a US
federal judge, identified the “defendant”
as the US$330 million (£243 million)
held by Clyde & Co in a bank account
at a NatWest branch in the City.
DoJ filings state that “an arrest war-
rant in rem” — a type of order used to
seize property or assets — was served
on the law firm on 29 October in an
attempt to secure the funds.
The report added that the DoJ alleges
the money is derived from a complex
fraud against the Malaysian state in-
vestment fund 1MDB, which embez-
zled more than US$4 billion from the
FROM PAGE 8
“The Malaysian government is entitled
to get the unpaid assessment taxes that are
owed and the additional charges.”
It noted that until now, Tan had not
paid the outstanding taxes, resulting in the
amount increasing to RM67.996 million.
As such, the government is seeking the
sum of RM67.996 million and 5% inter-
ests from the date of the judgement and
costs of the action.
It was previously reported that Tan, a
confidante of missing businessman Jho
Low — whose real name is Low Taek Jho
— had given his statement to the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission where he
claimed that he did not know the US$681
million “donation” recipient was former
10 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
fund and laundered money to pay bribes
and finance lavish lifestyles of its alleged
perpetrators.
Specialist DoJ anti-money-laundering
prosecutors allege the money held by
Clyde & Co is “about all that is left of
the proceeds” of the first phase of the
1MDB fraud, which allegedly misappro-
priated US$1 billion of 1MDB funds.
According to prosecutors, US$700
million of the money was used for the
“personal gratification of 1MDB con-
spirators” while US$300 million was di-
verted to a joint venture between 1MDB
and PetroSaudi, a little-known oil com-
pany established by the Saudi business-
man Tarek Obaid with a member of the
Saudi royal family.
Guardian said a spokesperson for
Clyde & Co insisted the funds were the
proceeds of the standby letters of credit
and that the court of appeal had ruled
prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The evidence was revealed during
the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial last
March, where MACC investigating of-
ficer Mohd Hafaz Nazar purportedly re-
corded Tan’s statement in the palace of
King Abdullah Abdulaziz in Riyadh on
Nov 29, 2015.
Tan was purportedly appointed a nom-
inee of the late King Abdullah Abdulaziz
Al Saud, Prince Faisal, Prince Saud and
other members of the royal family via a
letter dated Aug 3, 2009.
However, subsequent unspecified
events later cast doubts on his capacity
as their nominee, causing Prince Turki to
issue him another letter dated Sept 28,
2015 stating foreign investments and set-
REUTERS
that PetroSaudi was entitled to receive
the money.
He added: “Our involvement only
arises because we held the funds to the
order of, and at the direction of, an ar-
bitration tribunal.”
However, earlier this month the DoJ
told a federal court in California the
funds were the proceeds of the fraud on
1MDB, regardless of whether they were
paid willingly or in accordance with an
arbitration award.
PetroSaudi, which is contesting the
DoJ’s forfeiture claim, has rejected the
DoJ’s allegations and maintains the
money was generated through legiti-
mate business activity.
Read also: Malaysia has taken active
steps to recover 1MDB assets stated in
DoJ action in UK — lawyer Click here
ting up entities such as Blackstone Asia
Real Estate Partners Ltd and Tanore Fi-
nance Corp were done based on their in-
structions, said Tan in his statement to
the MACC.
On June 12, 2018, the MACC revealed
Tan as the purported signatory of numer-
ous bank accounts overseas through which
billions of ringgit that originated from
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)
were laundered.
One of the accounts was for Tanore
Finance at Falcon Bank in Singapore,
through which an alleged US$681 mil-
lion were moved to and from Najib’s Am-
Bank account.
The authorities had issued warrants of
arrest on both Low and Tan.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Kenanga In-
vestment Bank Bhd via its wholly-owned
Kenanga Private Equity Sdn Bhd is acquir-
ing a 19% stake in digital asset exchange
(DAX) operator Tokenize Technology (M)
Sdn Bhd (Tokenize Malaysia) to accelerate
its digital agenda. Tokenize Malaysia oper-
ates the Tokenize Xchange, which allows
the trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin
and Ethereum.
In a statement today, Kenanga Invest-
ment said Kenanga Private Equity has
inked a conditional agreement to acquire
the 19% equity interest in Tokenize Ma-
laysia.
It did not say how much Kenanga Pri-
vate Equity is paying for the stake buy, or
from whom the stake is being acquired.
“Operating under the brand Tokenize
Xchange, it (Tokenize Malaysia) is one
of the three licensed DAX by the Secu-
rities Commission Malaysia (SC), and is
currently the second largest DAX in the
country by traded market share. Tokenize
Xchange is an online exchange that allows
trading of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin
and Ethereum, and operates 24X7, whole
year round.
“Tokenize Xchange was initial-
ly launched in Singapore by tech savvy
founder Hong Qi Yu in 2018 and it has
since captured a customer base of over
100,000. Hong later on set up Tokenize
Malaysia to focus on the Malaysia mar-
ket. In June 2019, Tokenize Malaysia was
DNeX-led
consortium
wins bid for
Khazanah’s
SilTerra
BY ARJUNA CHANDRAN SHANKAR
theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): A consortium
led by Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX)
has won the bid to acquire semiconduc-
tor fabricating company SilTerra Malaysia
Sdn Bhd from Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
In a bourse filing today, DNeX said
Khazanah has informed it that it had won
its bid for the entire issued share capital
of SilTerra, subject to the signing of a de-
finitive agreement.
“Acceptance of the bid is still subject to
strict confidentiality with Khazanah and
no further details of the bid can be publicly
11 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Kenanga buying
19% stake in
cryptocurrency
exchange
operator Tokenize
BY ARJUNA CHANDRAN SHANKAR
theedgemarkets.com
awarded a Recognized Market Operator
licence to operate by SC and its platform,
Tokenize Xchange, which went live on
April 1, 2020.
“Currently, the market capitalisation
of the global crypto market stands at
US$1.007 trillion (about RM4.088 tril-
lion), a spike of threefold from four months
ago. Relative to the global equity market
capitalisation which is estimated to be
nearly in the hundred trillion worth, there
is still ample upside to the crypto market.
This investment in Tokenize Malaysia adds
to the line-up of digital initiatives Kenanga
Investment has embarked on over recent
years. These include the successful joint
venture, with Japan-based Rakuten Inc, to
introduce the first fully online stock trad-
ing platform in Malaysia, Rakuten Trade,
which has since seen remarkable record
disclosed until the signing of the definitive
agreement.
“The company will make the necessary
announcements on a timely basis in accord-
ance with the Listing Requirements when
there is any material development arising
from the above event or when the definitive
agreement has been entered into,” it said.
To recap, the consortium led by DNeX
was in the running to acquire SilTerra from
the sovereign wealth fund.
The Edge reported on Jan 11 that
DNeX offered a total of RM470 mil-
lion for the acquisition of a 100% stake in
the Kulim-based chip foundry, in which
it will hold 60% and its partner Beijing
volume growth,” Kenanga Investment said.
Kenanga Investment group managing
director Datuk Chay Wai Leong said the
group has been building a digital ecosystem
to offer its customers a wide spectrum of
financial products and services, including
digital assets.
Chay said the emergence of digital as-
sets including cryptocurrencies has been
gaining acceptance globally in the last few
years.
“While we are keen on cryptocurrencies
as an asset class, we are aware of the vol-
atility and the proliferation of unregulat-
ed players in the market. We are therefore
very pleased to be given the opportunity
to invest in one of the three licensed dig-
ital asset exchanges in Malaysia,” he said.
Tokenize Malaysia chief executive of-
ficer Hong believes that the technology be-
hind digital assets is very powerful and the
emergence of digital assets in the future is
inevitable. “We are hopeful that fundrais-
ing through the tokenisation of businesses
and assets will be a significant part of the
capital markets in the future for Malaysia.
We believe that through Tokenize Malaysia
we can be a key player in the digital capi-
tal market space in Malaysia,” said Hong,
who refers to Kenanga Investment as a
key investor.
At Bursa Malaysia’s 12.30pm break to-
day, Kenanga Investment’s share price rose
nine sen or 5.52% to RM1.72 for a mar-
ket capitalisation of about RM1.23 billion.
CGP Investment Co Ltd 40%.
The offer included the assumption of Sil-
Terra’s debts amounting to RM210 million.
However, on Jan 21, DNeX said through a
stock exchange filing that this was inaccurate.
Green Packet Bhd had announced
via another stock exchange filing that it
was funding the majority shareholder of
Nuglobal Ventures Sdn Bhd — which is
owned by majority local bumiputera and
minority Chinese shareholders. Nuglob-
al Ventures was also bidding for SilTerra.
Shares in DNeX were 17.86% or five
sen higher at 33 sen at noon market close,
yielding a market capitalisation of RM656.07
million. It saw 275.39 million shares.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): CGS-CIMB
Research foresees Telekom Malaysia Bhd
(TM) announcing a special dividend for
4Q20 due to its robust free cash flow (FCF).
In a note dated Feb 5, the research
house’s analysts Foong Choong Chen and
Sherman Lam Hsien Jin said they assumed
a 60% payout ratio for FY20 to FY22 (div-
idend per share [DPS]: 17.3 to 21.6 sen),
in line with TM’s dividend policy.
“However, we believe it has the capac-
ity to pay more as its net debt/EBITDA
(earnings before interest, taxes, depreci-
ation, and amortisation) eases from 1.2
time at end-FY20 to 0.9 time at end-
FY22.
“Specifically for FY20, given FCF per
share of 39.4 sen, we think there could be
a special dividend in 4Q20. Assuming ex-
tra 20% payout, FY20 DPS will be 23.1
sen (yield: 3.6%),” they said.
They also expect that TM 4Q20 core
earnings per share (EPS) may benefit from
strong Unifi net adds and seasonality.
Due to the imposition of the Condition-
al Movement Control Order since mid-Oc-
tober, they believed Unifi demand should
have spiked as employees worked and stu-
dents studied from home.
Besides robust internet growth, they es-
timate TM’s 4Q20 revenue benefitted from
positive seasonality, with voice (wholesale
minutes), data (indefeasible right of use)
and other (customer ICT projects) reve-
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Supermax
Corp Bhd could potentially benefit from
the US government’s plan to increase local
production of personal protective equip-
ment (PPE) including surgical gloves.
The US government recently said it
plans to use the Defence Production Act
(DPA) to produce 12 billion gloves per
annum by the end of 2021 to reduce its
reliance on imported PPE.
In a research note today, RHB Invest-
ment Bank said Supermax stands a great
chance of participating in this initiative giv-
en that it has distribution channels through
Aurelia Gloves in the US.
“From its website, Aurelia Gloves stat-
ed that it has been the top provider of ex-
amination gloves in the North American
market since 2000.
“As Supermax is also the glove manu-
facturer with a 26.2 billion pieces per an-
num capacity, it could be able to partici-
pate in this DPA initiative,” RHB research
analyst Alan Lim wrote.
Lim is keeping a “buy” call on the
stock with an unchanged target price of
RM10.60, and maintains his FY21 to
FY23 earnings projections.
“We also expect positive news flow on
12 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
CGS-CIMB sees
to 1% point quarter-on-quarter to about
38% due to seasonally higher costs but this
Telekom Malaysia
was still a major 5% to 6% point improve-
ment year-on-year. FY20 EBIT (earnings
announcing a
before interest and taxes) likely came in
at about RM1.7 billion, soundly beating
special dividend
TM’s guidance of RM1.3 billion to 1.5
billion,” they said.
for 4Q20
Factoring in more optimistic assump-
tions for fibre net adds and slightly lower
operating expense, they raised TM’s FY20
to FY22 EBITDA/core EPS by 2.7 to
BY TAN SIEW MUNG 5.1%/8.8 to 15.4%.
theedgemarkets.com “Post this revision, we now fore-
cast FY20/21/22F EBITDA to grow
0.6%/6.4%/4.2% year-on-year on revenue
recovery, with cost-saving initiatives help-
ing to buffer any pressure from fibre rollout
acceleration.
“Core EPS should rise 8.4%/15.4%/7.9%
year-on-year, partly offset by rising depreci-
ation (higher capital expenditure),’ they said.
They reiterate “add” call on the stock,
and raise its target price 25% to RM7.00
after FY20 to FY22 earnings hike.
TM will report its 4Q20 results on Feb 24.
At 10.36am, TM rose 18 sen or 2.86%
nues rising quarter-on-quarter. to RM6.48, valuing the group at RM23.77
“Hence, we believe 4Q20 total reve- billion.
nue rose 9% to 10% quarter-on-quarter
(down 2% to 3% year-on-year) and EBIT-
DA gained 7% to 8% quarter-on-quarter Read also: Telekom Malaysia to buy back
(up 11% to 13% year-on-year). all outstanding medium-term Islamic
“EBITDA margin likely eased 0.5% bonds Click here
Supermax’s
this matter in the next three to six months.
The company’s stronger earnings growth
North America
prospects in 3QFY21 and investors’ expecta-
tion of a special dividend should support its
operations to
share price performance, as well,” said Lim.
In a separate news report, the group’s
benefit from
Canadian unit Supermax Healthcare Can-
ada said it has ventured into the medical
increased local
equipment manufacturing segment.
According to a Canadian online news
production
portal article dated Feb 3, Supermax
Healthcare Canada created a new divi-
sion called Supermax Medical which pro-
duces surgical masks of ASTM levels 1, 2
BY SYAHIRAH SYED JAAFAR and 3 standards. ASTM is an international
theedgemarkets.com standard formerly known as American So-
ciety for Testing and Materials.
“In order to support the Canadian ef-
fort in the manufacturing of personal pro-
tective equipment, Supermax Medical is
proud to announce the creation of quality
jobs at our Longueuil facility,” Supermax
Healthcare Canada was quoted as saying.
The portal said the Supermax Medical
division will be led by executive vice pres-
ident, M Sylvain Bergeron.
At the midday break today, Supermax
fell 4.95% or 33 sen to RM6.34, valuing
it at RM17.25 billion.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
Nazir Razak is now the non-executive
chairman of PLS Plantations
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Datuk Sri Na-
zir Razak has been appointed as the non-ex-
ecutive independent chairman of PLS Plan-
tations Bhd with effect from Feb 10.
Nazir will assume the post from the
group’s current chairman, Tan Sri Datuk
Lim Kang Hoo, who will be redesignated
as executive vice chairman of PLS.
Lim is also the group executive chair-
man of Ekovest, which owns a 73.08%
stake in PLS.
Joining Nazir on the board is another
former CIMB senior ex-banker, Tan Hong
Kheng, who will join as an independent
non-executive director on the same date.
Nazir joins the board after the durian plant-
er placed out 19 million new shares to him
in a private placement exercise last month.
The new shares were issued at 95 sen each.
PLS said the private placement, which
includes share placements to other inde-
pendent third-party investors, was to raise
funds to partially repay the group’s bank
borrowings which stood at approximately
UEM Edgenta Unveils
Holistic Covid-19
Business Solutions for
Malaysian Businesses
UEM Edgenta Bhd, the region’s leading
Asset Management and Infrastructure
Solutions company, will unveil a suite of
business solutions which, together with
other service providers, will offer an
end-to-end Covid-19 management
solution to existing and potential clients.
“At the start of the pandemic, we
needed to seamlessly transition with our
clients’ new Covid-19 requirements at
the hospitals,” says Dr. Nik Fawaz Nik
Abdul Aziz, Managing Director of Edgen-
ta Mediserve, UEM Edgenta’s subsidiary
which provides hospital support services
at 32 MoH hospitals in Malaysia.
“Our rigorous efforts with MoH over
the years on improving operational
efficiency and preparing for disaster
scenarios meant that we managed to
pivot quickly to face the Covid-19
challenges.”
The culmination of UEM Edgenta’s
business solutions is a result of the
experience gained as a front-line player,
underlining UEM Edgenta's ability to
make nimble management decisions in
creating business opportunities and
13 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
BY SYAHIRAH SYED JAAFAR
theedgemarkets.com
RM121.48 million as at Dec 31, 2020.
Nazir is currently the chairman and
founding partner of Ikhlas Capital Sin-
gapore Pte Ltd, an ASEAN private equity
firm based in Singapore.
He retired as chairman of CIMB
Group Holdings Bhd in October 2018
Why choose us?
One-stop centre for all your
COVID-19 management needs
Trusted by over 150 hospitals in
the region for disinfection
services
Quick mobilisation to
implement solutions
Partner with us to keep your people
and assets safe against COVID-19
helping clients to work successfully in a
Covid-19 environment. Its recent accred-
itation by Bureau Veritas for the applica-
tion of new Covid-19 protocols and
standards at the Edgenta Headquarters
in Kuala Lumpur is further testament of
UEM Edgenta’s key competitive advan-
tages over its peers.
Low Chee Yen, CEO of UEMS Pte Ltd,
the company’s regional healthcare
support services provider which also
operates in Singapore and Taiwan, added
that UEM Edgenta’s experience in meet-
ing standards imposed by the authorities
across the region where it operates
allows the company to identify a set of
best practices that ensure solutions from
after a 29-year career with the ASEAN
banking group.
“I look forward to providing my guid-
ance and insights at a time when PLS is
moving to expand its durian plantation
and downstream businesses, and diversify
into other agri-food areas.
“In order to strengthen my alignment
with the future of PLS, in addition to taking
up a recent share placement by the company,
I have also acquired an option to purchase
existing warrants in PLS that, when exer-
cised, will allow me to increase my sharehold-
ing in PLS from 4.75% currently to 9.9%
based on its current share capital,” said Nazir.
Meanwhile, PLS announced the resig-
nation of Hisham Mahmood as senior
independent non-executive director on
Janu 29 and the earlier resignation of Da-
tuk Lim Kang Poh as non-independent
non-executive director on Jan 21.
Shares of PLS dropped two sen to
RM1.10, for a market capitalisation of
RM431.42 million.
Learn More About Edgenta’s
COVID-19
Business Solutions
Solutions we offer
For Your Business For Your People
• Hospital grade sanitisation and
disinfection protocols
• Drive-in and on-site COVID-19
screening services
• Risk assessments for return to - Rapid Test Kit (RTK – Ag) and
work preparations
Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT – PCR)
screening options
• Workplace safety audit and - Certified by MoH-licensed doctors and
accreditation
laboratories
Call us today 03-2773 3888 uemedgenta.com
covid19services@edgenta.com
UEM Edgenta are of the highest quality.
Kenny Lim, Head of Edgenta Property
& Facility Solutions, added, “We have the
experience and are here to customise
solutions for businesses to suit their
needs as well as design SOPs and proto-
cols to communicate with relevant
stakeholders.
“With our proven technology stack,
we can help businesses roll out new
procedures and workplace solutions to
allow businesses to live with Covid-19.”
UEM Edgenta’s business solutions
can be viewed at www.uemedgenta.com. For
enquiries, please call 03-2773 3888 or
email covid19services@edgenta.com.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
Chin Hin Group plans to launch
RM3.73b worth of projects in next
two years
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Chin Hin Group
Property Bhd (CHGP) plans to spend
RM268 million to acquire 81.9 acres of
land in the Klang Valley to develop five
different property projects, and aims to
launch projects worth RM3.73 billion in
gross development value in the next two
years. “We intend to expand our portfolio
of developments to various growth
corridors in the Klang Valley such as
Serendah, Bandar Kinrara, Bangsar South
and Cyberjaya,” said its executive director
Chiau Haw Choon in a statement. The
types of developments proposed include
townships, service apartments, mixed-
use and offices. “As a developer, this is a
good time for us to seize opportunities
with the currently attractive land prices
and expand our landbank at strategic
locations... We are targeting to launch
these properties in one to two years’
time, in line with the expected recovery
of the property market,” said Chiau. The
group also announced it is acquiring an
11.53 acre plot in Cyberjaya for RM50.22
million, with plans to build a mixed-
development on the freehold plot with
an estimated RM1.1 billion GDV. — by
Syafiqah Salim/theedgemarkets.com
Mitsui 3Q equity-accounted
earnings amount to RM84.71m
from associate IHH Healthcare
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Mitsui & Co
Ltd, which owns a 32.9% stake in IHH
Healthcare Bhd, said its third-quarter
(3Q) equity-accounted earnings from
IHH amounted to ¥2.2 billion (about
RM84.71 million), which brought
Mitsui’s cumulative nine-month equity-
accounted loss from IHH to ¥1.3 billion.
According to Mitsui’s data book on its
consolidated financial results for the
nine-month period ended Dec 31, 2020
(9MFY21), the cumulative 9MFY21
equity-accounted loss was a decrease
from earnings of ¥3.3 billion a year
earlier. The Japan-based diversified
group announced its 9MFY21 financial
results last Wednesday. IHH, which
is listed in Malaysia and Singapore, is
scheduled to announce this month its
financial results for its 4Q of financial
year 2020 (4QFY20) and full FY20
ended Dec 31, 2020. For 9MFY20,
IHH registered a cumulative net loss at
RM130.48 million versus a net profit of
RM510.85 million a year earlier. — by
Chong Jin Hun/theedgemarkets.com
14 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
NEWS IN BRIEF
BNM’s international reserves stood at US$108.6b as at Jan 29
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) international reserves
rose to US$108.6 billion as at Jan 29, 2021, from US$107.8 billion as at Jan 15. The
reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.6 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times
total short-term external debt, the central bank said in a statement today. Of the five
components of the international reserves, the largest — foreign currency reserves
— rose to US$100.4 billion from US$97.8 billion as recorded two weeks ago, while
International Monetary Fund reserves position (US$1.4 billion), Special Drawing Rights
(SDRs) (US$1.2 billion) and gold (US$2.4 billion) were unchanged. The last component,
other reserve assets, sank to US$3.2 billion from US$5 billion. The central bank’s total
assets, meanwhile, stood at RM490.38 billion, as opposed to RM489.18 billion as at Jan
15. — theedgemarkets.com
Tomei 4Q net profit up four times
on lower expenses
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Tomei
Consolidated Bhd’s net profit jumped by
more than four-folds to RM11.67 million
in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020,
from RM2.68 million a year ago, thanks to
lower expenses. Quarterly revenue grew
23% to RM167.84 million from RM136.51
Maybank’s foreign shareholding million, on higher sales volume and selling
dropped to 16.75% at end-January price. Tomei said in filing that its selling
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Malayan Banking and distribution expenses for the quarter
Bhd’s (Maybank) foreign shareholding had were down 26% to RM17.14 million from
dropped to 16.75% as of Jan 29, 2021, RM23.15 million, while finance cost fell
according to the latest figures on the 31% to RM2.09 million from RM3.01
banking group’s website. This is lower than million. For the full year ended Dec 31,
16.87% just over a month ago on Dec 31, 2020, Tomei’s net profit surged 257% to
2020. In the past nine-year period, the group RM31.17 million from RM8.74 million
reported its highest foreign shareholding of in the previous year, while revenue rose
25.99% on May 24, 2013 while the lowest 3.4% to RM552.4 million from RM534.07
was on Jan 6, 2017 at 15.65%. At the time of million. On prospects, Tomei warned about
writing, Maybank shares were down 0.38% the negative impact from its bricks and
or three sen to RM7.83. — by Hamsaveni mortar outlets, due to the reimposition
Visuvaseven/theedgemarkets.com of movement control order from Jan 13,
2021. — by Wong Ee Lin/theedgemarkets.com
QL Resources’ stake in Boilermech
rises to 50.19% as offer closes Mentiga unaware of reason for spike
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): QL Resources Bhd in share price, trading volume
has received valid acceptances for 4.88 million KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Mentiga Corp
of Boilermech Holdings Bhd’s shares as at the Bhd, whose share price rose 21% to a high
closing of its takeover offer today, bringing its of RM1.17 earlier today, said it is unaware
equity interest in the latter to 258.99 million of any reason that may account for the
shares or a 50.19% stake. According to a sharp rise in its share price and trading
bourse filing, QL Resources owned 248.66 volume recently, in response to an unusual
million shares or 48.19% in Boilermech prior to market activity (UMA) query from Bursa
launching the takeover offer in December last Malaysia last Friday. At noon break, shares
year at 95 sen per share. The takeover offer of Mentiga was up 10.17% or nine sen
came after QL Resources had entered into an to 98 sen, valuing the group at RM68.25
unconditional share acquisition agreement million. It saw some 7.74 million shares
with Boilermech managing director Leong done. Year to date, the stock has climbed
Yew Cheong to buy 20.64 million shares, 63.33% from when it was trading at 60
representing a 4% equity stake, for RM19.61 sen apiece on Dec 31, 2020. According to
million or 95 sen per share. The acquisition Mentiga’s website, the principal activities
was part of the group’s strategy to increase its of the company are investment holding,
exposure to businesses in the environmental, oil palm plantation, timber extraction and
social and governance (ESG) sector. — by trading in timber-related products. — by
Ahmad Naqib Idris/theedgemarkets.com Syafiqah Salim/theedgemarkets.com
T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1 15 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): A lower net
foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow
is not necessarily an unfavourable sign,
the Malaysian Investment Development
Authority (MIDA) said today as net FDI
flows indicate the maturity of Malaysia’s
monetary policy which allows for the re-
patriation of capital, interest, dividends
and profits, which is a prerequisite for a
trading nation such as Malaysia.
This business-friendly investment
policy has also strengthened Malaysia’s
position as a regional and global supply
chain hub, MIDA, an agency under the
Ministry of International Trade and In-
dustry (MITI), said in a statement today.
“The net FDI flows are determined by
many factors including abnormal disrup-
tions in the global economy which could
result in larger repatriations due to loan
repayments and borrowings from their
headquarters and affiliates overseas for
the particular year.
“The decline in 2020 mirrors the sit-
uation Malaysia experienced in 2009 af-
ter the subprime crisis in the US. MNCs
(multinational corporations) in Malaysia
were repatriating higher amounts of their
profits for loan repayments and retaining
earnings to help their HQ and affiliates
faced with financial difficulties.
“The same can be said for 2020 when
the world was hit by the (Covid-19) pan-
demic,” MIDA said.
MIDA’s statement today was in re-
sponse to a report by The Straits Times
in Singapore on Friday (Feb 5) quoting
the UN Conference on Trade and Devel-
opment (Unctad) claiming that foreign
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Former At-
torney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas
will cooperate with the police in their probe
into his controversial memoir My Story:
Justice in the Wilderness, his lawyer said
today.
However, the police have so far not
reached out to Thomas or set a date to
interview him, lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo
16 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Lower net FDI
inflow may not be
an unfavourable
sign — MIDA
BY AHMAD NAQIB IDRIS
theedgemarkets.com
investors were fleeing Malaysia amid the
country’s increasingly unstable political
situation.
It was reported that Unctad said FDI
into Malaysia plunged by more than two-
thirds to just US$2.5 billion last year,
the worst drop in the region amid the
Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the United Nations’
(UN) website, FDI is defined as invest-
ment made to acquire a lasting interest
Tommy Thomas
will cooperate
with police in
probe into his
memoir — lawyer
BY TIMOTHY ACHARIAM
theedgemarkets.com
told theedgemarkets.com.
Sangeet had earlier said that her firm
had written to Inspector General of Police
Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador to say that
Thomas will fully cooperate in the matter
and give his statements when called.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation De-
partment (CID) director Datuk Huzir Mo-
hamed was quoted as saying yesterday that
in or effective control over an enterprise
operating outside of the economy of the
investor while FDI net inflows are the
value of inward direct investment made
by non-resident investors in the reporting
economy, including reinvested earnings
and intra-company loans, net of repatri-
ation of capital and repayment of loans.
“FDI net outflows are the value of
outward direct investment made by the
residents of the reporting economy to
external economies, including reinvested
earnings and intra-company loans, net of
receipts from the repatriation of capital
and repayment of loans,” the UN said.
Today, MIDA said Malaysia contin-
ues to attract high levels of gross FDI.
Quoting Department of Statistics Malay-
sia data for January to September 2020,
MIDA said total gross FDI inflow into
Malaysia was valued at RM108.2 billion
compared with RM102.3 billion in the
same period in 2019, an increase of 5.8%.
“This is a considerable achievement
given the Movement Control Order
(MCO) and Recovery Movement Con-
trol Order (RMCO) in Q2 and Q3 of last
year, respectively. The gross FDI inflow
is also reflective of the high levels of FDI
projects approved and implemented in
the economy (manufacturing, services
and primary sectors) over the last few
years. It is noted that the total FDI ap-
proved throughout 2018 to September
2020 was valued at RM206.02 billion.
“The FDI stock in Malaysia is promi-
nently high, totalled to RM689.1 billion
as at end of September 2020,” MIDA
said.
police have received 134 reports nationwide
with regard to the book.
He said the investigations are being car-
ried out by the Classified Criminal Inves-
tigation Unit and the complaints would
be studied in detail before any party, in-
cluding Thomas, is called to record their
statements.
“One of the investigation papers opened
is in accordance with Section 500 of the
Penal Code for defamation and another in-
vestigation paper is opened in accordance
with Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act
1972 (which deals with information leaks).
“The third investigation paper was
opened in accordance with Section 4(1)
of the Sedition Act 1948 (which touches
on acts that have a tendency to incite),”
Huzir said.
Among the individuals who lodged po-
lice reports against Thomas were his pre-
decessor Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali and
former Solicitor-General III Datuk Mo-
hamad Hanafiah Zakaria.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): The Sessions
Court here today has granted a discharge not
amounting to an acquittal to Datuk Abdul
Latif Abdul Rahim for abetting his brother,
former Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri
Abdul Azeez, with accepting bribes involv-
ing highway construction projects and road
upgrades in Perak and Kedah.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Adam Mo-
hamed said Judge Azura Alwi made the de-
cision after the prosecution applied for Abdul
Latiff to be given a discharge not amounting
to an acquittal by making him a prosecution
witness.
“The Attorney-General’s Chamber
(AGC) considered the application by the
defence to drop the charges against Abdul
Latif after two representations were submit-
ted to the AGC three months ago.
“Therefore, we requested that the ac-
cused (Abdul Latif) be granted a discharge
not amounting to an acquittal from the charg-
es. The court then granted the application,”
he said when contacted today.
The trial of Abdul Azeez and his brother
was supposed to continue before Azura today.
Meanwhile, Adam said the trial, which
was scheduled to be held from today until
Wednesday, was vacated after the prosecu-
tion informed that High Court Judge Datuk
Muhammad Jamil Hussin had allowed Ab-
dul Azeez’s application to adjourn the trial
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8):The hearing of
PKR lawmaker Hassan Karim’s leave appli-
cation to initiate judicial review proceedings
to challenge the suspension of Parliament
did not proceed at the Johor Bahru High
Court today, after the Attorney-General’s
Chambers (AGC) applied to transfer the
hearing to Kuala Lumpur.
This was supposed to be the first leave
hearing after several individuals filed legal
challenges against the decision to suspend
Parliament, following the proclamation of
Emergency on Jan 11.
Hassan had filed the judicial review at
the Johor Bahru court and named Prime
Minister Tan Sri MuhyiddinYassin and the
government as respondents. He is seeking
several declarations including that Section
14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Or-
dinance 2021 is unconstitutional and incon-
sistent with Articles 44, 150(3), 150(5) of
the Federal Constitution.
He is also wants Section 15 of the or-
dinance to be declared as unconstitution-
al and inconsistent with Article 71 of the
constitution.
Sections 14 and Sections 15 relate to
Parliament and state legislative assembly
seatings, which have been suspended un-
til Aug 1.
A statement issued by Hassan’s legal
17 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Corruption:
Abdul Azeez’s
brother granted
discharge not
amounting to
an acquittal for
abettment
Bernama
pending his application to quash the three
corruption charges and 10 money laundering
charges he is facing on Feb 23.
According to Adam, Abdul Azeez did not
attend today’s proceedings and that lawyer
Hisyam Teh Poh Teik had produced a medi-
cal certificate (MC) on behalf of the accused
valid from Feb 5-11.
Meanwhile, lawyer Datuk Seri Jahaber-
deen Mohamed Yunoos, who is represent-
ing Abdul Latif, said he had applied for his
client to be discharged and acquitted of the
two charges.
“… actually my client should be dis-
AG Chambers
wants Johor MP’s
leave application
to challenge
Parliament’s
suspension to be
heard in KL
BY HAFIZ YATIM
theedgemarkets.com
team led by Datuk Prof Gurdial Singh Ni-
jar said the Pasir Gudang MP filed the ap-
plication for leave on Jan 27, with a certif-
icate of urgency.
“The said application was to be heard on
an ex-parte basis today. The cause papers
were lodged with the AGC in accordance
with the applicable procedure. However, the
AGC’s role at this stage is limited, as they
do not represent any party.
“However, the AGC filed an application
to transfer this matter to the Kuala Lumpur
charged and acquitted because it is not fair
and he will think that the prosecution will
charge him again if he is not freed of the
charges,” he said.
Abdul Azeez, 54, who is also Baling MP, is
charged with three counts of accepting bribes
totalling RM5.2 million in connection with
road projects in Perak and Kedah, as well as
10 counts of money laundering.
He is accused of committing the offence at
CIMB Bank, Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lum-
pur on Dec 8, 2010, and at Affin Bank, Pusat
Bandar Puchong in Selangor on June 13,
2017, and April 10, 2018, while the money
laundering offences were allegedly commit-
ted in the Klang Valley area between March
8, 2010, and Aug 30, 2018.
His brother, Abdul Latif, 63, is accused
of abetting his brother in obtaining a RM4
million bribe from Mohammad Redzuan
Mohanan Abdullah as gratification to help
Syarikat Menuju Asas Sdn Bhd secure road
projects through limited tender from the
Works Ministry.
The project involved the Pantai Baru
Coastal Expressway Project, upgrading
works of Federal Road FT005 (Teluk In-
tan to Kampung Lekir, Perak) valued at
RM644,480,000.
He is accused of committing both offences
at Affin Bank, Pusat Bandar Puchong in Se-
langor on June 13, 2017 and April 10, 2018.
High Court and be heard together with two
other judicial review applications fixed on
Wednesday (Feb 10) and Thursday (Feb
11),” the statement said.
The legal team objected to the transfer
bid on the basis that the AGC had no stand-
ing or right to make such an application at
this juncture for leave.
Judicial Commissioner Evrol Mariotte
Peters ruled that the application to transfer
would be heard on Feb 18, while today’s
leave hearing is vacated.
Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan ap-
peared for the AGC, while counsel Steven
Thiru held a watching brief for the Malay-
sian Bar.
Besides Hassan, Opposition Leader Da-
tuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Parti Amanah Ne-
gara deputy president and Pulai MP Datuk
Seri Salahuddin Ayub, PKR’s Sungai Petani
MP Datuk Johari Abdul, DAP assemblyman
for Tebing Tinggi Dr Abdul Aziz Bari, and
staunch Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sup-
porter Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan,
have also initiated legal challenges against
the suspension of Parliament.
Read also: Anwar poses further questions to
court on legality of suspension of Parliament
sitting under emergency Click here
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 0 18 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

An unstoppable quality
Pandemic or not, EY’s Entrepreneur Of The Year Malaysia goes on as planned — almost

BY ANANDHI GOPINATH

U
nder ordinary circumstances, the
announcement of the finalists of the
annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
Malaysia awards would have been held
over delightful evening cocktails. The finalists
and their friends as well as members of the
corporate community would have ducked out
of work a little earlier for some merriment and
networking, and cocktails would have led to
a scrumptious dinner, a panel discussion and
then the announcement of the finalists across
four categories.
But these are extraordinary times. The
effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the
resulting movement control orders have
thrown all well-laid plans asunder. But while
physical events related to the awards may
have been cancelled, the spirit of the entire
event remained intact as submissions, in-
terviews and finalist announcements were
done virtually. Bereft of the usual fanfare,
it was still with much anticipation that 580
viewers tuned into EY’s announcement of the
top nominees for the EY Entrepreneur Of The
Year (EOY) 2020 Malaysia.
Philip Rao, consulting partner at
Ernst & Young Advisory Services and programme
director of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
Malaysia awards, said, “The EY Entrepreneur
Of The Year Malaysia programme has had the
privilege of showcasing many of Malaysia’s
remarkable entrepreneurial stories and successes importantly, their enduring legacy and far-reaching • Armi Majid - OFO Tech Sdn Bhd
on the national and global platforms over the impact on our communities and country.” • Wong Whei Meng - Speedrent Technology
years. We are especially proud of how many of The winners of the four category awards as well Sdn Bhd
them, undeterred by the enormity and severity of as the coveted EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020 • Cindy Kua - Sunday Ins Holdings Pte Ltd
the challenges brought about by the pandemic Malaysia award will be announced and celebrated
in the past year, have responded to the crisis at a virtual gala event in March. The Malaysian EY Technology Entrepreneur category
by immediately stepping up to take the lead Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020 will then join country • Kamarul A Muhamed - Aerodyne Ventures
and lend a hand in support of their industries, award recipients from around the globe in June to Sdn Bhd
employees and communities. compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year • C C Puan - Green Packet Bhd
“These exceptional entrepreneurs have (WEOY) 2021 award. • Datuk Chevy Beh - Health4U Solutions Sdn Bhd
once again raised the bar by stepping forward Although there will be no black-tie affair in March
and doing what they do best — and no live celebrations in Monaco, the spirit that Woman Entrepreneur category
defining, creating, drives this global awards event is much more than • Natalie Sit - Acestar Sdn Bhd
inspiring, instigating and glitzy events and stunning photographs. It is about • Fiona Rebecca Limus - CompuMed Services
disrupting — to frame a commemorating and celebrating the tenacity and Sdn Bhd
future that moves toward grit of entrepreneurs all over the world, whose de- • Soraya Rahim Ismail - Vitality Boost Sdn Bhd
‘better’. It is an honour termination to succeed in the face of adversity while
to be able to share their defining their own purpose in the world is nothing Master Entrepreneur category
success stories and, more short of unstoppable. • Datuk Lim Soon Huat - Asia File
Corporation Bhd
Emerging Entrepreneur • Dr Lim Li Sze - Medical Innovation Ventures
category Sdn Bhd
• Eric Cheng - Carsome Sdn Bhd • K H Lim - Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd
• Shannics Teh - Muzart • David Mizan Hashim - VERITAS Architects
International Sdn Bhd Sdn Bhd
PHILIP RAO
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1 19 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

W O R L D

Tesla bets big

on bitcoin,
plans to accept
cryptocurrency
BY CHESTER DAWSON & ESHA DEY
Bloomberg

SOUTHFIELD (Feb 8):Tesla Inc invested

US$1.5 billion in bitcoin and signaled its
intent to begin accepting the cryptocurren-
cy as a form of payment, sending prices to
a new record after the vote of confidence
from the electric-car market leader.
The Palo Alto, California-based man-
ufacturer said in a filing Monday that it
made the bet on Bitcoin, after updating its
investment policy last month to allow the
company to invest in digital assets, as well
as gold bullion and gold exchange-trad-
ed funds.
“We expect to begin accepting bitcoin
as a form of payment for our products in
the near future, subject to applicable laws
and initially on a limited basis,” Tesla said
in the securities filing.
The leading electric-car maker’s em-
brace of bitcoin lends increased legitimacy
to electronic currencies, which have be-
come more of a mainstream asset in re-
cent years, despite skepticism from some.
The embrace of a digital currency fits the
maverick image of Tesla Chief Executive
Officer Elon Musk who upended the au-
tomotive industry with battery-powered
vehicles and disrupted the equities market
with the stock’s ascension to the blue chip
S&P 500 index last year.
Bitcoin rose as much as 16% to an all-
time high of US$44,795.20 on the news.
It was up about 12% at US$43,218.69 at
8:59 a.m. in New York.
Musk has often tweeted about cryp-
tocurrency-related topics and earlier this
month called bitcoin “a good thing” in
an interview. Dogecoin, the once tongue-
in-cheek cryptocurrency, hit a record on
Monday after Musk, rapper Snoop Dogg
and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons all tweet-
ed about it.

Tesla summoned
by China
regulators over
quality, safety
issues
BY CHARLIE ZHU, JING YANG
& CHUNYING ZHANG
Bloomberg

SHANGHAI (Feb 8): Five Chinese regula-

tors recently summoned Tesla Inc represent-
atives over quality and safety issues with its
vehicles in the world’s biggest auto market.
Authorities including the State Admin-
istration for Market Regulation held talks
with Tesla’s Beijing and Shanghai units,
after customers complained of problems
including abnormal acceleration and bat-
tery fires, the market watchdog said in a
statement Monday. Tesla was asked to im-
prove internal management, comply with
Chinese law and regulations and protect
consumers’ rights.
A Tesla representative said the compa-
ny accepted the government departments’
guidance, has reflected on shortcomings
in its business processes and strengthened
self-inspection and internal-management
pracatices. The company issued a public
apology to China’s state grid last week,
after a video purportedly showed one its
staff telling a customer that an overload in
the national grid was to blame for damag-
ing their electric vehicle.
China is Tesla’s largest market after the
US, with sales in Asia’s biggest economy
topping 120,000 units in 2020. The car-
maker is still ramping up production at
its factory on the outskirts of Shanghai.
Tesla sold 15,484 locally made vehi-
cles in China last month, ranking third in
electric-vehicle sales, the China Passen-
ger Car Association said Monday. PCA
Secretary General Cui Dongshu said Te-
sla may have “explosive” sales growth in
China next month on rising production
of its Model Y.
Read also: Dogecoin soars to new record
as Musk fires off new tweet Click here
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
Asian chipmakers rush to boost
production to meet global shortage
TAIPEI/SEOUL (Feb 8): Asian chipmak-
ers are rushing to expand their production
capacity to meet a global shortage that has
been acutely felt by carmakers, but the
firms warn that the supply gap may take
many months to plug as they struggle to
keep up with strong demand.
Automakers from General Motors to
Stellantis and Honda Motor are shutting
assembly lines due to the shortages, which
in some cases have been exacerbated by
the former US administration’s sanctions
against Chinese chip factories. Some firms
have also furloughed staff.
Eight-inch chip manufacturing plants
owned mostly by Asian firms, which tend
to make older, less sophisticated chips, are
particularly under strain primarily due to
under-investment in recent years. The ma-
jority of such factories are used to make
auto chips.
Consumer demand in China, especially
for cars, has snapped back unexpectedly
quickly from the coronavirus crisis, and
orders for products such as laptops and
mobile phones in regions still struggling
with pandemic restrictions, such as Europe
and the United States, have also picked up.
The global concerns about the chip
shortage were underscored at recent
quarterly earnings calls held by compa-
nies from Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-
facturing Co Ltd (TSMC) to South Ko-
rea’s SK Hynix.
“We are under great pressure now,”
said Zhao Haijun, co-CEO of China’s top
chipmaker Semiconductor Manufactur-
ing International Corp, which last week
announced plans to expand capacity by
20 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
BY BEN BLANCHARD & JOYCE LEE
Reuters
45,000 wafers per month at its 8-inch fab-
rication plant this year.
However, the company cautioned that
the capacity boost would not occur quick-
ly due to longer lead times for equipment
procurement, as it grapples with supply
chain disruptions caused by sanctions
imposed by the former Trump adminis-
tration.
“We basically have at least one video
conference a day with a customer on how
we can increase capacity, what adjustments
we can make on products,” Zhao said.
TSMC, the world’s top contract chip-
maker, said it was “expediting” auto-relat-
ed products through its wafer fabs and re-
allocating wafer capacity and now expects
to lift capital spending on the production
and development of advanced chips to
between US$25-28 billion this year, as
much as 60% higher than the amount it
spent in 2020.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC),
another Taiwanese chipmaker, plans to
spend US$1.5 billion on new equipment
this year, up 50% from US$1 billion last
year, it said.
South Korea’s SK Hynix, the world’s
No.2 memory chip maker, said it was
speeding up plans to relocate its 8-inch
facilities to China, which is expected to
reduce costs, in light of the 8-inch boom.
The company wants the relocation to hap-
pen “as soon as possible” rather than over
an initially planned two-year period.
Renesas Electronics Corp said on Mon-
REUTERS
day it is in talks to buy Anglo-German
chip designer Dialog Semiconductor for
about US$6 billion in cash, as the Japa-
nese chipmaker looks to take advantage
of the growing demand for automotive
chips. Renesas is due to release its latest
result on Wednesday.
The combination of supply shortages
and surging demand has put pressure on
prices. UMC expects overall chip prices
to rise 4-6% this year due to supply con-
straints set to last for another few quar-
ters, while Renasas told Reuters that they
have been negotiating for a 15% increase
on auto chips and between 10% to 20%
for other chips.
Japanese companies with automotive
semiconductor related business have so far
provided few details related to any short-
ages or how customers have been affected.
“We are working hard with semicon-
ductor manufacturers, and the supply
crunch should ease as capacity growth
catches up this summer,” Yasushi Mat-
sui, the chief financial officer at key Toyota
Motor Corp part supplier Denso Corp,
said last week.
Fang Leuh, the chairman of Vanguard
International Semiconductor Corp, whose
biggest single shareholder is TSMC, said
the demand frenzy “would not last for-
ever”.
“Sooner or later it will overheat, there
will be some come down or set back.”
Read also: Focus on chip shortage hurting
production as Japanese automakers report
results Click here
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
(Feb 8): Tesco Plc is leading calls for an
online sales tax to be imposed on dig-
ital retailers such as Amazon, as U.K.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Su-
nak weighs up reforms to business levies
ahead of next month’s budget.
The bosses of supermarkets, retail
property owners and other store chains
are pushing for action to ease their tax
burden with a permanent reduction in
business rates when the current tempo-
rary relief comes to an end in April.
In a letter to Sunak, 18 signatories
including Tesco Chief Executive Officer
Ken Murphy, say the government should
“ensure online retailers pay a fair share of
tax” to help high street stores that have
been forced to close during the pandem-
ic. In a separate statement, Tesco pro-
posed a 1% online sales tax.
The push from stores including su-
permarkets Morrisons and Asda, book-
store Waterstones, and the shopworkers’
union Usdaw comes as Sunak considers
options for changing taxation ahead of
the March 3 budget.
The Treasury is already examining the
future of business rates property tax after
offering companies a holiday from the
charges during the pandemic. As part
of this review, an online sales tax is also
being examined by officials, though no
decisions have been reached, according
to a person familiar with the matter.
The U.K. has been in its third lock-
down for the past month, with all non-es-
sential stores forced to close and pubs
and restaurants shut except for sales of
takeaway food. Prime Minister Boris
Johnson has promised to do whatever it
takes to keep supporting businesses and
workers but Sunak is conscious that the
SHANGHAI (Feb 8): Chinese regula-
tors have hit online discount retailer Vip-
shop Holdings Ltd with a 3 million yuan
($464,000) fine, the biggest to date in a
recent clampdown on anti-competitive
behaviour among internet firms.
In a sign that regulators are increasing-
ly willing to use more tools in a newfound
zeal to rein in monopolistic behaviour in
the tech sector, Vipshop was punished
for violations of a law prohibiting unfair
competition, which allows for fines of up
to 5 million yuan.
By comparison, other firms that have
been hit with penalties since late last year
were fined under China’s 2008 anti-mo-
nopoly law, which allows for a much lower
maximum fine of 500,000 yuan.
The Vipshop fine comes on the heels of
State Administration for Market Regula-
tion (SAMR) publishing updated guide-
21 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Tesco calls on
warned that “many more” retail jobs will
be lost before the impact of the pan-
U.K.’s Sunak to
demic fades.
The U.K. economy has already suf-
introduce higher
fered its deepest recession since the Great
Frost of 1709 and is lagging behind all
online sales tax
its peers in the Group of Seven.
“Not all shops have been able to re-
main open during the pandemic, many
have seen a sharp drop in footfall, accel-
BY TIM ROSS erating existing trends in the sector,” the
Bloomberg letter said. “Reducing business rates for
retailers and re-balancing the tax system
country’s borrowing must be brought to ensure online retailers pay a fair share
back to sustainable levels. of tax would be revenue-neutral, provide
The letter to the chancellor was also a vital boost to bricks and mortar retail-
signed by leading executives from prop- ers and support communities in need of
erty developer Hammerson Plc, retail leveling up.”
group Kingfisher Plc, Pets at Home, and Such action “would make the U.K.
groups representing retailers and shop- more competitive and show the Govern-
keepers, among others. The signatories ment is backing British shops.”
BLOOMBERG
Chinese
nipulate the market.
SAMR said on Monday that from Au-
authorities
gust through December last year, Vip-
shop had developed a system to obtain
slap Vipshop
information on brands that gave Vipshop
a competitive advantage. It added that
with large fine
Vipshop used its system to influence user
choices, transaction opportunities and to
as regulatory
block sales of particular brands.
New York-listed Vipshop, which has a
arsenal expanded
market value of about $22 billion, said on
Monday that it accepted SAMR’s find-
ings and would strengthen compliance.
The heightened scrutiny by Chinese
BY SEBASTIAN TONG & ANTONIO VANUZZO regulators since December has included
Bloomberg the announcement of a probe into e-com-
merce giant Alibaba, penalising Aliba-
lines on how the anti-monopoly law af- ba-backed and Tencent-backed firms for
fects internet firms, which said regulators not seeking anti-trust reviews for deals,
were keen to prevent price fixing as well while other firms have also been fined
as the use of data and algorithms to ma- for irregular pricing.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
Hyundai, Kia
say Apple car
deal now off, see
US$8.5 bil wiped
off market value
BY HEEKYONG YANG & JOYCE LEE
Reuters
SEOUL (Feb 8): South Korea’s Hyundai
Motor Co said on Monday it is now not in
talks with Apple Inc on autonomous elec-
tric cars, just a month after it confirmed
early-stage talks with the tech giant, send-
ing the automaker’s shares skidding.
Wiping US$3 billion off its market val-
ue, Hyundai’s stock slid 6.2%. Shares in its
affiliate Kia Corp, which had been tipped
in local media reports as the likely oper-
ational partner for Apple, tumbled 15%
— a US$5.5 billion hit.
The announcement brings the curtain
down on weeks of internal divisions at
Hyundai Motor Co Group — parent to
both automakers — about the potential
tie-up, with some executives raising con-
cerns about becoming a contract manu-
facturer for the US tech giant in a tie-up
reminiscent of electronics firm Foxconn’s
role in making device for Apple like the
iPhone.
“We are receiving requests for cooper-
ation in joint development of autonomous
electric vehicles from various companies,
but they are at early stage and nothing
has been decided,” the automakers said on
Monday, in compliance with stock market
rules requiring regular updates to investors
regarding market rumours.
“We are not having talks with Apple on
developing autonomous vehicles.”
Kia shares had jumped 61% since
Hyundai initially confirmed a local me-
dia report early in January that Apple and
Hyundai were in discussions to develop
self-driving electric vehicles by 2027 and
develop batteries at US factories operated
by either Hyundai or Kia.
“Apple and Hyundai are in discussion,
but as it is at early stage, nothing has been
decided,” Hyundai said, before releasing
subsequent statements that removed all
mentions of Apple but said Hyundai was
receiving electric car cooperation requests
from parties it did not identify.
As recently as last week, media outlets
including CNBC reported that a deal was
close to being finalised. One South Korean
report said the two companies were set to
sign the deal on Feb 17.
22 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
‘Agonising’
Hyundai is traditionally known for its reluc-
tance to work with outsiders, making engines,
transmissions, and even its own steel in-house
in a vertically integrated supply chain as
South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate.
Although shares in Kia and Hyundai
had surged on news of the talks, internal
opposition to becoming an Apple contract
manufacturer was considerable, according
to people familiar with the matter.
“We are agonising over how to do it, wheth-
er it is good to do it or not,” a Hyundai ex-
ecutive aware of internal discussions on the
tie-up told Reuters in January. “We are not a
company which manufactures cars for others,”
he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Apple and Hyundai first started talks
over a car partnership in 2018, another
person familiar with the matter previously
told Reuters. But progress was hampered by
the South Korean automaker’s reticence
on working with outsiders, the person said.
Reuters reported in December that Ap-
ple was moving forward with autonomous
car technology and aimed to produce a
passenger vehicle that could include its
own breakthrough battery technology as
early as 2024.
Apple, known to keep product plans
under tight wraps, has never acknowledged
talks with the automaker about building
vehicles, and was not immediately avail-
able for comment outside business hours
in the United States.
Analysts said talks might have collapsed
over leaks of the partnership plan to me-
dia, or over possible insistence by Apple
that Hyundai’s role in any tie-up would be
that of an equipment manufacturer, rather
than a strategic partner.
“With numerous news reports over
discussions between the two companies,
which should have been held to non-dis-
closure agreements, it would have been
uncomfortable,” said Kwon Soon-woo, an
analyst at SK Securities.
Kevin Yoo, an analyst at eBEST In-
vestment & Securities, said, “It seems
clear that Hyundai Motor Group has not
been too happy with dealing with Apple...
They made it clear that they do not want
to be treated just as Apple’s supplier or
manufacturer.”
Seadrill
Asia files for
bankruptcy
as virus ends
recovery bet
BY SEBASTIAN TONG &
ANTONIO VANUZZO
Bloomberg
(Feb 8): Seadrill Ltd, the rig operator
controlled by billionaire John Fre-
driksen, filed for bankruptcy pro-
tection for its Asian units after the
economic downturn triggered by the
coronavirus pandemic worsened a
crisis in offshore oil drilling.
The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in the Southern District of
Texas is the second within four years
by the driller that was once the indus-
try’s largest by market value.The filing
covers Seadrill GCC Operations, Asia
Offshore Drilling Ltd., Asia Offshore
Rig 1 Ltd., Asia Offshore Rig 2 Ltd.
and Asia Offshore Rig 3 Ltd., the com-
pany said in a statement early Monday.
On Feb. 3, the company said it ob-
tained a new forbearance agreement
from the majority of its senior se-
cured lenders, which gave it time until
mid-February to come up with a plan
to shore up its finances. Nine of the
group’s 12 senior secured credit facility
agreements have now been terminated.
Norwegian-born shipping tycoon
Fredriksen founded Seadrill in 2005
and turned it into the crown jewel of
his business empire. But the collapse
of crude prices in 2014 forced the
company to shrink its operations as oil
companies slashed spending on rigs.
Seadrill completed an overhaul
of its finances in July 2018 but left
bankruptcy protection with bank
debt of almost US$6 billion. The
drilling market recovered at a slow-
er pace than the company expected
and Seadrill engaged in talks with
creditors again last year.
BLOOMBERG
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
EV company with almost no revenue
posts 3,000% gain in eight months
(Feb 8):There is nothing about the finances
of Blink Charging Co that would suggest
it’s one of the hottest stocks in America.
It’s never posted an annual profit in its
11-year history; it warned last year it could
go bankrupt; it’s losing market share, pulls
in anemic revenue and has churned through
management in recent years.
And yet a hot stock it is. Investors have
bid Blink’s share price up 3,000% over the
past eight months. Only seven stocks —
out of about 2,700 that are worth at least
US$1 billion — have risen more over that
time. The reason: Blink is a green-energy
company, an owner and operator of charg-
ing stations that power up electric vehicles.
And if investors are certain of one thing
in the mania that is sweeping through fi-
nancial markets, it is that green companies
are can’t-miss, must-own investments of
the future.
No stock better captures this eupho-
ria than Blink. With a market cap today of
US$2.2 billion, its enterprise value-to-sales
ratio — a common metric to gauge wheth-
er a stock is overvalued — has blown out
to 493. For some context, at Tesla Inc —
the darling of the EV world and a compa-
ny with a very rich valuation itself — that
number is just 25.
“Everything about it is wrong,” said An-
drew Left, the founder of Citron Research.
“It is just a cute name which caught the eye
of retail investors.”
Citron was one of a handful of firms
23 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
BY MARK CHEDIAK &
CATHERINE TRAYWICK
Bloomberg
If investors are certain
of one thing in the mania
that is sweeping through
financial markets, it is
that green companies are
can’t-miss, must-own
investments of the future.
that bet against Blink last year, putting on
short-sale trades that would pay off if the
share price fell. It’s one of several wagers
against stocks favored by the retail-invest-
ment crowd that have gone against Citron
— with GameStop Corp being the most
high-profile — and prompted Left to de-
clare Jan 29 that the firm was abandoning
its research into short-selling targets. Over-
all short interest on Blink — a gauge of the
amount of wagers against the stock — has
fallen to under 25% of free-floating shares
from more than 40% in late December.
For the short-sellers, one of the things
that raised alarms is that several figures tied
to Blink, including CEO and Chairman Mi-
chael Farkas, were linked to companies that
ran afoul of securities regulations years ago.
Farkas dismisses this and the other crit-
icisms lobbied by the shorts. “There have
been and always will be naysayers,” Farkas
said in an email. “When I founded the busi-
ness, the naysayers questioned whether the
shift to EV was real. Now, as the value of
our business grows, the naysayers tend to
be the short sellers.”
In the crosshairs
Making money on charging is, historical-
ly, a losing proposition. In theory, a model
like Blink’s that involves both equipment
sales and collecting user fees could become
consistently profitable as government sup-
port accelerates EV adoption. But no one’s
done it yet.
“This market is still too small and ear-
ly-stage,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst
at Raymond James & Associates. “It will
take time for economies of scale to ma-
terialize.”
Even by the industry’s fairly forgiving
standards, Blink’s revenue is meager, total-
ing an estimated US$5.5 million in 2020.
ChargePoint Inc, which announced
plans to go public via aspecial purpose
acquisition company last year, generated
US$144.5 million in revenue in 2020, ac-
cording to a January filing. EVgo Services
LLC, which is nearing a similar deal to
CO N TI N U ES O N PAG E 24
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
FROM PAG E 23
go public through a SPAC, has a smaller
charging network than Blink but more than
double the sales — an estimated US$14 mil-
lion in 2020.
Despite the wildly different revenue fig-
ures, all three companies have an enterprise
value of between US$2.1 billion and US$2.4
billion.
Blink warned in a May filing that its fi-
nances “raise substantial doubt about the
Company’s ability to continue as a going
concern within a year,” a required disclosure
when a company doesn’t have enough cash
on hand for 18 months of expenses.
“Electric is real.The stock prices of com-
panies in the space are not,” said Erik Gordon,
an assistant professor at University of Michi-
gan’s Ross School of Business. “The dot-com
boom produced some real companies, but
most of the overpriced dot-com companies
were lousy investments.The electric boom will
be the same story. Some great companies will
be built, but most of the investors who chase
insanely-priced companies will be crying.”
Still, the recent market boom has breathed
new life into Blink, allowing it to raise
US$232.1 million though a share offering
in January. Roth Capital Partners as recent-
ly as Friday recommended buying the stock,
giving it a price target of US$67, 26% above
the current level. The company’s prospects
rely on exponential EV growth, and Farkas
in January discussed plans to deploy rough-
ly 250,000 chargers “over the next several
years” and often touts the company’s ability to
generate recurring revenue from its network.
Currently, the company says it has 6,944
charging stations in its network. An internal
map of Blink’s public fleet lists about 3,700
stations available in the US. By contrast,
ChargePoint boasts a global public and pri-
vate charging network that’s more than 15
times larger.
Unlike some of its competitors, Blink’s
revenue model hinges in part on driving up
utilization rates, which for now remain in the
“low-single-digits,” too scant to generate sig-
nificant revenue, Farkas said during a Novem-
ber earnings call. He told Bloomberg that use
will increase as EVs become more popular.
24 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
For most chargers in operation now, uti-
lization probably must reach 10%-15% to
break even, although profitability depends
on many other factors such as a company’s
business model, electricity rates and capital
costs, according to BloombergNEF Senior
Associate Ryan Fisher.
Blink was an early market leader among
charging companies but has lost its lead and
now controls about 4% of the sector in Level
2 public charging, said Nick Nigro, founder of
Atlas Public Policy, an electric car consulting
and policy firm.
Blink has also acknowledged “materi-
al weaknesses” over its financial reporting,
disclosed in US Securities and Exchange
Commission filings dating back to 2011.The
company says it has hired an accounting con-
sultant to review its controls and is making
necessary changes.
Blink’s colorful
origin story has
been a prime target
of short-sellers.
Origin story
Blink’s colorful origin story has been a prime
target of short-sellers. It traces back to 2006
when it formed as shell company New Image
Concepts Inc to provide “top-drawer” per-
sonal consulting services related to groom-
ing, wardrobe and entertainment, according
to an SEC filing.
In December 2009, the company entered
a share exchange agreement with Car Charg-
ing Inc. Farkas joined the company as CEO
in 2010, after working as a stockbroker and
investing in companies including Skyway
Communications Holding Corp, which the
SEC deemed a “pump-and-dumpscheme”
during the years Farkas held shares. (Farkas
said he was a passive investor, was unaware
of any misdeeds and “had no involvement
in any capacity in the activities of Skyway.”)
In 2013, Farkas oversaw Car Charging’s
US$3.3 million purchase of bankrupt Eco-
tality, which had received more than US$100
million in US Department of Energy grants
to install chargers nationwide.The company
later changed its name to Blink.
Since then, Blink has been plagued by
executive turnover, with three of five board
members departing between November 2018
and November 2019.
The company has had two chief finan-
cial officers and three chief operating officers
since 2017. One former COO, James Chris-
todoulou, was fired in March 2020. He sued
the company, accusing it of potential secu-
rities violations, and reached a settlement
with Blink, which denied any wrongdoing,
for US$400,000 in October.
Financier Justin Keener, a one-time major
Blink shareholder whose capital assisted the
company’s 2018 Nasdaq listing, and the com-
pany he operated were charged last year for
failing to register as a securities dealer while
allegedly selling billions of penny-stock shares
unrelated to Blink. He said he has since di-
vested from Blink and now owns “a relatively
small number of common shares” as a result
of a settlement of a warrant dispute with the
company. Keener denies the SEC allegations.
Farkas told Bloomberg he has cut all ties
to Keener, was unaware of any investigations
going on while they worked together and has
no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Keener.
The surging stock has brought a wind-
fall to Farkas, Blink’s largest shareholder. On
Jan 12, after shares rallied to records, he sold
US$22 million of stock, according to Bloomb-
erg data. Farkas’s total compensation, includ-
ing stock awards, totaled US$6.5 million from
2016 to 2019, equivalent to more than half
the company’s revenue. Included in his 2018
compensation were US$394,466 in commis-
sions to Farkas Group Inc, a third-party en-
tity he controlled that Blink hired to install
chargers.
Farkas said his compensation is justified
given that he had personally invested in the
company’s formation and had for many years
received shares in lieu of salary.
More recently, Blink board member Don-
ald Engel followed the CEO’s lead. He sold
more than US$18 million of shares during
the past two weeks.
 T U E S D AY F E B R U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 1
M A R K E T S
CPO RM 3,426.0051.00 OIL US$ 60.080.74 RM/USD 4.0655 RM/SGD 3.0439 RM/AUD 3.1173 RM/GBP 5.5751 RM/EUR 4.8916
Top 20 active stocks
NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
DAGANG NEXCHANGE BHD 668.2 0.090 0.370 64.44 735.6
LUSTER INDUSTRIES BHD 214.6 0.005 0.220 25.71 636.4
AT SYSTEMATIZATION BHD 125.6 0.000 0.165 -10.81 697.8
TRIVE PROPERTY GROUP BHD 114.8 -0.050 0.205 51.15 35.4
PASUKHAS GROUP BHD 106.3 -0.005 0.050 -28.57 64.2
OCR GROUP BHD 97.6 0.015 0.265 0.00 121.1
YONG TAI BHD 96.8 0.005 0.250 -21.88 306.2
HB GLOBAL LTD 91.3 0.030 0.190 31.03 88.9
IRIS CORP BHD 89.9 0.005 0.365 -16.09 1110.1
FINTEC GLOBAL BHD 89.1 0.000 0.080 0.00 250.5
METRONIC GLOBAL BHD 84.9 -0.010 0.080 -20.00 102.9
MTOUCHE TECHNOLOGY BHD 83.5 -0.010 0.045 -40.00 59.6
XIDELANG HOLDINGS LTD 80.4 -0.005 0.060 -14.29 127.0
AEMULUS HOLDINGS BHD 75.5 -0.040 0.830 37.19 502.9
BUMI ARMADA BHD 72.8 0.015 0.360 2.86 2118.9
SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 72.4 -0.005 0.035 -36.36 70.2
I-STONE GROUP BHD 66.7 -0.005 0.245 13.95 299.3
QES GROUP BHD 61.3 0.015 0.510 72.88 425.4
PA RESOURCES BHD 55.0 0.010 0.490 40.00 584.7
ES CERAMICS TECHNOLOGY BHD 54.7 0.045 0.775 58.16 357.2
Date as compiled on Feb 8, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top gainers (ranked by %)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
ARK RESOURCES HOLDINGS BHD 0.410 57.69 154.2 41.38 25.9
WOODLANDOR HOLDINGS BHD 1.010 42.25 1844.8 75.65 40.4
KNUSFORD BHD 1.020 41.67 587.4 38.78 101.6
LBI CAPITAL BHD 0.915 33.58 7055.9 39.69 88.0
COMPUGATES HOLDINGS BHD 0.020 33.33 4853.5 0.00 56.6
DAGANG NEXCHANGE BHD 0.370 32.14 668198.0 64.44 735.6
CENTRAL GLOBAL BHD 1.250 31.58 115.0 252.11 112.5
ADVANCE INFORMATION MARKETIN 0.320 30.61 668.6 20.75 77.4
SENI JAYA CORP BHD 1.780 29.93 908.7 122.50 72.1
RALCO CORP BHD 0.970 22.78 2016.7 8.99 49.3
TECHBOND GROUP BHD 1.840 22.67 21204.1 47.20 429.9
CHIN HIN GROUP PROPERTY BHD 0.900 21.62 21142.2 71.43 311.5
PARAGON UNION BHD 1.500 20.97 2909.1 123.88 97.0
SARAWAK CONSOLIDATED IND 2.500 19.05 50827.0 76.06 1226.3
MCLEAN TECHNOLOGIES BHD 0.440 18.92 48524.0 120.00 86.8
HB GLOBAL LTD 0.190 18.75 91325.6 31.03 88.9
STELLA HOLDINGS BHD 0.920 17.20 18.9 13.58 61.6
SHH RESOURCES HOLDINGS BHD 1.190 16.67 49.8 14.42 59.5
TIMBERWELL BHD 0.590 15.69 1202.9 31.11 52.5
LYSAGHT GALVANIZED STEEL BHD 2.450 15.02 268.6 4.70 101.9
Date as compiled on Feb 8, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top gainers (ranked by RM)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
HEINEKEN MALAYSIA BHD 23.700 0.620 422.1 2.95 7159.7
TASCO BHD 5.000 0.510 3681.8 66.11 1000.0
SENI JAYA CORP BHD 1.780 0.410 908.7 122.50 72.1
SARAWAK CONSOLIDATED IND 2.500 0.400 50827.0 76.06 1226.3
HENGYUAN REFINING CO BHD 5.830 0.360 4612.3 -2.67 1749.0
TECHBOND GROUP BHD 1.840 0.340 21204.1 47.20 429.9
LYSAGHT GALVANIZED STEEL BHD 2.450 0.320 268.6 4.70 101.9
HONG LEONG CAPITAL BHD 6.380 0.310 1265.4 3.07 1575.2
WOODLANDOR HOLDINGS BHD 1.010 0.300 1844.8 75.65 40.4
CENTRAL GLOBAL BHD 1.250 0.300 115.0 252.11 112.5
KNUSFORD BHD 1.020 0.300 587.4 38.78 101.6
NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 137.300 0.300 118.3 -1.15 32196.9
RAPID SYNERGY BHD 7.380 0.280 39.4 11.82 788.9
PETRON MALAYSIA REFINING 5.130 0.270 943.8 -2.29 1385.1
PARAGON UNION BHD 1.500 0.260 2909.1 123.88 97.0
MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 36.140 0.240 668.6 39.21 7188.1
LBI CAPITAL BHD 0.915 0.230 7055.9 39.69 88.0
COMPUTER FORMS MALAYSIA BHD 2.600 0.220 4.4 15.04 106.6
ALLIANZ MALAYSIA BHD 13.480 0.200 32.7 -8.80 2384.5
TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD 6.500 0.200 11332.1 20.15 24529.1
Date as compiled on Feb 8, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
25 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
World equity indices
CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
(%) (%)
DOW JONES 31,148.24 92.38 0.30 INDONESIA 6,208.87 57.14 0.93
S&P 500 3,886.83 15.09 0.39 JAPAN 29,388.50 609.31 2.12
NASDAQ 100 13,603.96 43.07 0.32 KOREA 3,091.24 -29.39 -0.94
FTSE 100 6,522.28 32.95 0.51 PHILIPPINES 7,024.48 5.30 0.08
AUSTRALIA 6,880.68 40.15 0.59 SINGAPORE 2,931.40 24.29 0.84
CHINA 3,532.45 36.11 1.03 TAIWAN 15,802.40 96.18 0.61
HONG KONG 29,319.47 30.79 0.11 THAILAND 1,516.15 19.54 1.31
INDIA 51,330.69 599.06 1.18 VIETNAM 1,083.18 -43.73 -3.88
Date as compiled on Feb 8, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top losers (ranked by %)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
TRIVE PROPERTY GROUP BHD 0.205 -19.61 114847.3 51.15 35.4
MTOUCHE TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.045 -18.18 83538.6 -40.00 59.6
SEE HUP CONSOLIDATED BHD 1.820 -14.15 677.6 82.00 145.7
SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.035 -12.50 72428.2 -36.36 70.2
METRONIC GLOBAL BHD 0.080 -11.11 84909.4 -20.00 102.9
BARAKAH OFFSHORE PETROLEUM 0.040 -11.11 3334.5 -27.27 33.4
HUBLINE BHD 0.045 -10.00 3908.8 -10.00 175.5
VIVOCOM INTERNATIONAL 0.910 -9.90 22757.9 5.81 520.8
CHEETAH HOLDINGS BHD 0.905 -9.50 2703.4 77.45 104.3
PASUKHAS GROUP BHD 0.050 -9.09 106314.2 -28.57 64.2
CME GROUP BHD 0.050 -9.09 2512.2 -16.67 44.0
K-STAR SPORTS LTD 0.105 -8.70 8258.8 -58.82 51.9
XIDELANG HOLDINGS LTD 0.060 -7.69 80430.6 -14.29 127.0
MACPIE BHD 0.440 -7.37 12710.9 -7.37 155.4
EKA NOODLES BHD 0.065 -7.14 429.4 -7.14 20.3
BCB BHD 0.330 -7.04 1094.9 -8.33 131.9
UMS-NEIKEN GROUP BHD 1.060 -7.02 708.8 24.71 83.0
SUPERCOMNET TECHNOLOGIES 1.940 -6.73 1672.1 4.86 1314.3
FSBM HOLDINGS BHD 0.140 -6.67 91.4 40.00 19.8
LION INDUSTRIES CORP BHD 0.575 -6.50 14225.1 -16.67 391.5
Date as compiled on Feb 8, 2021 Source: Bloomberg
Top losers (ranked by RM)
NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
BLD PLANTATION BHD 7.510 -0.490 0.5 -9.52 702.2
DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES BHD 34.400 -0.460 25.9 -8.27 2201.6
HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BHD 12.900 -0.340 5742.2 6.26 44216.1
HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP 16.760 -0.340 42.1 -7.20 19194.3
UWC BHD 12.880 -0.340 1731.1 31.43 7086.6
TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 6.270 -0.340 39538.8 2.45 50307.4
SUPERMAX CORP BHD 6.340 -0.330 20314.3 5.49 16595.8
SEE HUP CONSOLIDATED BHD 1.820 -0.300 677.6 82.00 145.7
KESM INDUSTRIES BHD 16.380 -0.280 78.2 20.62 704.6
HAP SENG CONSOLIDATED BHD 8.080 -0.220 118.8 -6.05 20116.5
AJINOMOTO MALAYSIA BHD 15.680 -0.220 6.2 -2.12 953.3
PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD 19.340 -0.200 108.9 -9.63 19213.4
KUALA LUMPUR KEPONG BHD 23.100 -0.200 315.5 -2.45 24912.9
BINTULU PORT HOLDINGS BHD 4.050 -0.180 20.0 5.74 1863.0
VITROX CORP BHD 17.300 -0.160 52.4 17.69 8167.6
AMTEL HOLDINGS BHD 4.060 -0.160 1654.1 118.28 264.0
SUPERCOMNET TECHNOLOGIES 1.940 -0.140 1672.1 4.86 1314.3
PIE INDUSTRIAL BHD 3.490 -0.130 3142.8 44.21 1340.3
COMFORT GLOVE BHD 2.920 -0.130 5506.3 -2.34 1702.2
SOLARVEST HOLDINGS BHD 2.990 -0.120 16165.3 58.20 1263.6
Date as compiled on Feb 8, 2021 Source: Bloomberg