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T U E S DAY, JA N UA R Y 9 , 2 0 2 4 t h e e d g e m a l ay s i a . c o m
ISSUE 698/2024

CEOMorningBrief
HOME: Ex-PM, aides to be called in by MACC over RM700 mil govt publicity spend in 2020-2022 p2
Arbitrator Stampa in US$15 bil ‘Sulu’ dispute found guilty of contempt of court — Azalina p4
Sarawak confirms in talks with LTAT to buy more shares in Affin Bank p5
JCorp confirms IPO of plantation assets with prospectus exposure p6
Najib complains about MACC IO’s testimony, wants Netflix’s ‘Man on the Run’ to be barred p14

Federal statutory bodies’ appointees

to be vetted by MACC and police
Report on Page 2.
THE EDGE FILE PHOTO

AirAsia-AAX merger to involve

Thai ops, Tony to meet Thai PM
to address foreign ownership cap
Report on Page 3.
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
the edge ceo morning brief
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Individuals
selected as the chairmen of boards of fed-
eral statutory bodies will undergo scrutiny
by both the police and the Malaysian An-
ti-Corruption Commission (MACC), in
line with a newly established guideline for
the management of these agencies.
In a statement released on Monday,
the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) an-
nounced that the Special Cabinet Com-
mittee on National Governance had unan-
imously agreed to adopt the new guideline,
replacing the outdated General Circular
Letter No 3 of 1998.
Under the updated guideline, the board
of directors of statutory bodies will partic-
ipate in a dedicated programme outlined
in the guideline. Additionally, the role of
internal audit departments across federal
statutory bodies, including companies and
corporations, will be reinforced.
The PMO added that periodic reports
on the management and governance of
these organisations will be submitted to
the prime minister through the statutory
body system.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): A former
prime minister and individuals who
served as his aides during his tenure are
among “no less than four individuals” to
be called in by the Malaysian Anti-Cor-
ruption Commission (MACC) in relation
to investigations into RM700 million gov-
ernment publicity spending in 2020-2022.
Chief commissioner of the anti-graft
agency Tan Sri Azam Baki told reporters
that the ex-prime minister will be called
in “very soon”, sometime between this
week and the next, but did not specify the
individual, according to reports.
Malaysia saw three prime ministers
in the period, namely Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad, who served from May 2018
up until February 2020, Tan Sri Muhyid-
din Yassin from February 2020 to August
2021, and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob
from August 2021 to November 2022.
The investigation will be more on how
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H O M E
LOW YEN YEING/THE EDGE
“Statutory bodies are integral compo-
Federal
nents of the public sector, necessitating
effective governance. Their impact ex-
statutory bodies’
tends beyond economic growth, support-
ing the implementation of strategies by
appointees to
central agencies and other government
departments.
be vetted by
“The monitoring of statutory bodies
will be enhanced through the empower-
MACC and
ment of the Implementation Coordination
Unit (ICU), the Ministry of Finance, the
police
National Audit Department, and the Pro-
ject Acceleration and Coordination Unit
(Pacu),” it said.
The PMO also revealed that the Special
BY CHOY NYEN YIAU Cabinet Committee discussed the reintro-
theedgemalaysia.com duction of a new format for members of
the administration and Members of Parlia-
ment to declare their assets. This updated
format is expected to be presented in the
upcoming Cabinet meeting.
“The government remains unwaver-
ing in its commitment to strengthening
the good governance agenda, in line with
the aspirations of Madani Malaysia,” the
PMO said.
Ex-PM, aides
Only one ex-prime minister will be
called in to assist with the investigation
to be called in
for now, Azam said. The MACC has
also called in the companies, according
by MACC over
to him.
The MACC started investigations into
RM700 mil govt
the RM700 million spending last week,
following a statement by Prime Minister
publicity spend in
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the mat-
ter in the Dewan Rakyat in November
2020-2022
last year.
At the time, Anwar said RM500 mil-
lion was earmarked during Muhyiddin’s
tenure, while the balance RM200 million
BY ADAM AZIZ was utilised during Ismail Sabri’s time.
theedgemalaysia.com “This means that, on average, over
RM300 million per year was expended
government funds were spent, and which on advertising, promotion and publicity
companies received the funding, Azam to publicise the government’s efforts. I
reportedly said after attending the 2024 personally believe this breached rules and
National Good Governance Symposium regulations, showing excessive spending,”
in Sepang. Anwar said at the time.
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
SEPANG (Jan 8): Capital A Bhd chief exec-
utive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes
will be meeting Thai Prime Minister Srettha
Thavisin on Wednesday (Jan 10) to address
foreign ownership limits for airlines of no
more than 49% in Southeast Asia’s second
largest economy.
“I am seeing [the Thai] prime minister on
Wednesday; I am hoping [that] eventually,
we can be one Asean airline,” he told report-
ers here on Monday, after announcing the
merger of airline businesses under Capital
A with AirAsia X Bhd (AAX).
The deal would involve Capital A divest-
ing all of its short haul airline businesses to
AAX, includingThai AirAsia Co Ltd (TAA),
which is held under Capital A’s 43%-owned
Thai-listed Asia Aviation PCL.
AAX, meanwhile, owns 49% of Thai
AirAsia X Co Ltd, and a consolidation with
TAA may result in changes to the eventu-
al foreign shareholdings in these two Thai
companies.
Fernandes said Capital A’s board of di-
rectors has approved the merger but ne-
gotiation is still ongoing, with both parties
aiming to ink definitive agreements over the
next few weeks.
Capital A disclosed to Bursa Malaysia that
it has entered into a non-binding letter of of-
fer with AAX to divest AirAsia Bhd, which
houses its Malaysian airline operations, and
AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd, the holding unit
of its airlines in Indonesia, Philippines and
Thailand, in a cash and/or share deal.
Urusharta Jamaah chief Farouk Kamal, ex-CAAM CEO Chester Voo
join AirAsia Aviation Group as deputy CEOs
SEPANG (Jan 8): Capital A Bhd’s avi-
ation arm AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd
(AAG) has appointed Datuk Captain
Chester Voo as the deputy group chief ex-
ecutive officer of airline operations, and
Farouk Kamal as the deputy group CEO
of corporate, effective from Monday.
Voo, who was formerly the CEO of
the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia
(CAAM), will lead the airline operations,
with a focus on optimising and enhancing
efficiencies across core airline functions,
as well as identifying and mitigating po-
tential risks to improve the airline’s overall
performance.
Farouk, who until his AAG appointment
was the CEO of Urusharta Jamaah Sdn
Bhd — the special purpose vehicle of the
Ministry of Finance that took over Lembaga
Tabung Haji’s distressed assets in 2019 —
will be responsible for corporate functions
involving finance, aircraft leasing, legal, in-
vestor relations and strategy, as well as in-
3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
AirAsia-AAX
merger to involve
Thai ops,Tony to
meet Thai PM to
address foreign
ownership cap
BY ANIS HAZIM & CHESTER TAY
theedgemalaysia.com
LOW YEN YEING/THE EDGE
Capital A Bhd’s chief Tan Sri Tony Fernandes says
its board of directors has approved the merger
but negotiation is still ongoing, with both parties
aiming to ink definitive agreements over the
next two weeks.
BY CHESTER TAY & ANIS HAZIM
theedgemalaysia.com
ternal audit and risk management for AAG.
Farouk was also appointed as an inde-
pendent director of AirAsia X Bhd (AAX)
in June last year.
Speaking at a press conference announcing
the consolidation of Capital A Bhd’s aviation
business into AAX, AAG president and group
CEO Bo Lingam said that combined efforts
of Chester and Farouk will allow the low-cost
airline group to continue focus on its strate-
gic decision-making, long-term planning, and
overall organisational direction of the group.
“The synergy between the seasoned lead-
ers and the existing team is expected to fuel
further innovation, and drive us towards
continued success. I am confident that both
Chester and Farouk’s invaluable experience,
within and outside of AirAsia, will be great
assets to achieve our short-, medium- and
long-term goals,” said Bo.
While no value was revealed as talks are
still in progress, Kenanga Research has val-
ued Capital A’s airline assets at RM2.5 bil-
lion in a report in August last year, based on
10 times the group’s forward price-earnings
ratio (PER) for the financial year ending
Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024). Maybank IB Re-
search ascribed a much higher valuation of
RM5.47 billion, or 91 sen per share based
on a forward PER (FY2024) of eight times.
Other analysts have said a valuation of be-
tween RM2.5 billion and RM5 billion is a
more appropriate figure.
“How long will this process take? Proba-
bly three or four months, maybe five months.
And then, this [RedQ in Sepang] will be
home of AirAsia Aviation (AAX’s new
name); Capital A will be [in] Damansara
Heights. I will be CEO of Capital A, and
advisor to Bo [Lingam],” Fernandes said
on Monday.
“PN17 has been a little bit of a blessing;
in some ways, [it] has been painful but I
think it forced us to rethink and recreate,”
he added.
Fernandes said post-merger, Capital A
will be left with four businesses, namely the
aviation maintenance unit Asia Digital En-
gineering Sdn Bhd; the super app segment
carried out by 96.19%-owned AirAsia Su-
perApp Sdn Bhd; the 77.56%-owned logis-
tics unit Teleport Everywhere Pte Ltd; and
the 99.56%-owned digital payments busi-
ness under BigPay Pte Ltd.
CO N TI N UES O N PAGE 4
Upon the appointment announcement,
Chester expressed his excitement to lead the
charge in ensuring that AirAsia continues to
set new benchmarks across all its businesses.
“The focus on efficiency, risk mitiga-
tion, and performance improvement will
be instrumental in navigating the challenges
and opportunities that lie ahead,” he said.
On Dec 30 last year, AAG appoint-
ed Riad Asmat to its board of advisers,
following his resignation as the CEO of
AirAsia Bhd (AirAsia Malaysia) on Dec
31, 2023.
AAG said that Riad will continue to
sit on the board of AirAsia Malaysia and
Ground Team Red — a joint venture be-
tween AirAsia Malaysia and SATS Ltd
— while providing consultancy work for
Capital A Aviation Services.
At the time of writing on Monday,
shares in Capital A were three sen or
3.61% higher at 86 sen, with a market
capitalisation of RM3.66 billion.
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4 4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

Arbitrator
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Dr Gon- ernment to nullify Stampa’s US$14.92
zalo Stampa has been found guilty of billion award that he granted through a

Stampa in
contempt of court for ignoring a Span- Paris court in 2022.
ish court ruling to drop an arbitration Malaysia is fighting the award in the

US$15 bil
which saw him awarding a controver- Paris Court of Appeal, in order to quash
sial US$14.92 billion (RM69.39 billion) any attempts to affect the claim in differ-

‘Sulu’ dispute
claim to the self-proclaimed Sulu sul- ent jurisdictions around the world.
tanate heirs against the Malaysian gov- Stampa first awarded a preliminary

found guilty of
ernment. award to the eight Philippine citizens
Minister in the Prime Minister’s De- claiming to be heirs of the Sulu sultan-

contempt of
partment (Law and Institutional Reform) ate back in 2020, which he arbitrated in
Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who France after ignoring the Spanish court

led Malaysia’s legal action in the Sulu
claim episode, revealed this in a post on
X, where she congratulated “all Malay-
sians” following the Spanish court’s de-
cision.
The “rogue” Spanish arbitrator has
been sentenced to six months in pris-
on, together with a ban from practising
as an arbitrator for the year, according
to Azalina.
“Efforts by the Madani goverment in
addressing and putting a stop to the Sulu
court — Azalina
BY ADAM AZIZ
theedgemalaysia.com
fraud have not been in vain.
“We persist in the fight for justice,
and will continue our efforts to annul
the final award,” said Azalina, referring to
an ongoing effort by the Malaysian gov-
ruling to drop the case.
The dispute originated from an al-
leged breach of an 1878 contract for the
annual payment of RM5,300 to the Sulu
sultanate, in exchange for perpetual sov-
ereign rights over part of what is now
known as Sabah.
Malaysia reportedly stopped the pay-
ment following an armed incursion in
2013, in Sabah’s east-coast township of
Lahad Datu by militants also claiming
to be tied to the Sulu sultanate.

FROM PAGE 3
“We built five amazing companies and AirAsia fleet AirAsia X fleet
in Asean, we really want to grow [in] In- Reactivation schedule Reactivation schedule
donesia and Philippines. We think the Total operational aircraft Total operational aircraft
tourism potential in both those coun- Total spare aircraft Total spare aircraft
tries are huge. We would love a licence (maintenance & operational) (maintenance & operational)
in Vietnam and Singapore but that is not Total reactivated aircraft: 204
achievable right now, so really, our growth 200
Total reactivated aircraft: 18
is going to be very heavily driven by the 190 193 196 17 17 17 18 18 18 18
180 20
Philippines and Indonesia, on top of Ma- 166 26 26 27 1 1
laysia and Thailand,” he said. 157 26 2 2
20 3
The Covid-19 outbreak had led all 21 6 6
AirAsia aircraft to be grounded in 2020,
leading both Capital A and AAX to be
categorised as PN17 financial distress
companies.
AAX’s PN17 was lifted by the lo-
cal stock exchange last November, and
Fernandes on Monday said the merger, 136 146 154 164 167 169 180 11 11 14 16 16 17 17
coupled with the upcoming listing of 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q Jan Feb Mar 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q Jan Feb Mar
Capital A’s brand royalty business and 2023 2024 2023 2024
aircraft leasing unit in the US, would (Scheduled) (Scheduled)
help Capital A in lifting its PN17 sta-
tus as well. Source: Capital A Source: Capital A
Capital A had in November proposed
to inject its brand royalty business and
aircraft leasing unit into a Nasdaq-list- differentiate anymore,” said Fernandes. 20 spare aircraft capacities by 1Q2024,
ed special purpose acquisition company Meanwhile, he shared that AirAsia while AAX will reactivate 17 aircraft and
(SPAC), aiming for an indicative valua- has 164 aircraft in operation as at fourth one spare aircraft.
tion of US$1 billion (RM4.77 billion). quarter last year, with 26 more spare air- Overall, the airlines are expecting their
“With this merger between AAX, it craft capacity, and an orderbook of 412 capacity to rebound to 83% of pre-pan-
gives us much more flexibility in Indone- aircraft. demic levels by the end of 1Q2024.
sia, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, AAX, on the other hand, was running
to have a much more exciting new struc- 16 aircraft in 4Q2023, with two spare
ture. To investors now, you are getting an aircraft capacities. Read also: AAX shares perk up, Capital
airline that is like Emirates and Qatar; it Additionally, AirAsia is expected to A muted on consolidation plan involving
has widebody aircraft. We don’t need to reactivate 180 aircraft in operation and short-haul flights
 t u e s d ay j a n u a ry 9 , 2 0 2 4
Sarawak confirms
in talks with LTAT
to buy more shares
in Affin Bank
by Syafiqah Salim
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): The Sarawak
State Financial Secretary is in talks with
the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) to
potentially buy more shares in Affin Bank
Bhd, said the bank in a Bursa Malaysia
filing on Monday.
According to Affin Bank, the state gov-
ernment held a 4.80% stake in the bank
as at Dec 29, 2023.
“Any transaction that may result from
the discussions will be done in accordance
with the relevant rules and regulations,”
said Affin Bank in the filing.
Shares in Affin Bank jumped to a nine-
year high of RM2.38 at Monday’s closing
bell — up 20 sen or 9.17% from last Fri-
day’s closing price of RM2.18 — giving it
a market capitalisation of RM5.58 billion.
Over the past year, the counter has ris-
en over 17%.
“LTAT is obligated to inform Affin Bank
of any changes to its shareholding in com-
pliance with the requirements or significant
divestment of major shareholders. Similarly,
any party who acquires an interest of 5% or
more will be required to notify Affin Bank of
the same,” said the banking group.
“Affin Bank will make an announce-
ment upon receipt of the notification on
any changes in shareholdings involving its
major shareholders,” it added.
The latest announcement confirmed
The Edge Malaysia weekly’s report titled
Sarawak on verge of raising stake in Affin
Bank, published for the week of Jan 8 to 14.
According to the report, the Sarawak state
is keen to buy an additional 15% of Affin
KUCHING (Jan 8): Bintulu Port, which
is currently under the purview of the Min-
istry of Transport (MOT), will be officially
handed over to the Sarawak government
in June this year.
It was a decision reached at the Feder-
al-State Joint Committee meeting chaired
by Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas
Uggah, who is also the Sarawak minister
for infrastructure and port development,
and federal Transport Minister Anthony
Loke Siew Fook here on Monday.
A joint statement issued after the meet-
ing stated that the MOT and the Sarawak
5 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
Affin Bank Bhd
15
Vol (mil)
10
5 RM1.92
0 1.5
Dec 15, 2022
12 corporate
As at market close, Jan 8, 2024.
Source: Bloomberg
NEWSBREAK
Sarawak on verge
of raising stake
in Affin Bank
B Y J OS E B A R R O C K
T
he Sarawak State Financial
Secretary is understood to be
close to concluding a mem-
orandum of understanding
(MoU) which will lead to a deal
to acquire an additional stake in Af-
fin Bank Bhd from Lembaga Tabung
FLASHBACK:
Angkatan Tentera (LTAT).
At present, Sarawak has a 4.95%
The Edge Malaysia Jan 8, 2024
stake in the bank.The state bought
the 112.56 million shares in mid-
April last year at RM1.97 per share
or RM221.74 million in total.
The Edge learns that Sarawak state
from LTAT with a direct 29.7% in the bank-
is keen to acquire an additional 15% in
Affin from the armed forces fund that
ing group, while LTAT’s wholly-owned unit
has a direct 29.7% in the banking group
while its wholly-owned unit Boust-
Boustead Holdings Bhd has a 20.65% stake.
ead Holdings Bhd has a 20.65% stake.
The talks for the MoU were more
If the deal is successful, the Sarawak state
or less concluded late last year, ac-
cording to sources. However, an
will become the third-largest shareholder of
agreement has yet to be signed.
Should the shares successfully
Affin, holding an approximate 20% stake.
change hands, Sarawak state will
be Affin’s third-largest shareholder
The second-largest shareholder is The Bank
with approximately 20% after Bank
of East Asia, with a 23.79% stake.
of East Asia, which has a 23.79%
stake. LTAT will remain the single
Meanwhile, LTAT will retain its position
largest shareholder with a direct
and indirect stake of 35.3%.
as the largest shareholder, maintaining a
It is understood that the target
was to conclude the MoU before
combined direct and indirect stake of 35.3%.
the year ended.
“It (the MoU) was supposed to have
For the third quarter ended Sept 30,
been formalised,signed and sealed late
last year,but for some reason,there has
2023, Affin Bank’s net profit dropped 88.5%
been a delay … but it should be con-
cluded soon,” one banking source says.
to RM100.45 million, from RM872.36 mil-
Another source says that talks
had been going very well for the past
lion a year earlier, as revenue tumbled 69.2%
few months with LTAT holding out
for a better price.
to RM500.44 million from RM1.62 billion.
“I think they (LTAT) got what
they wanted,” he says.
When contacted, LTAT declined
to comment on the matter.
Affin’s share price has been on a
Bintulu Port
steady climb over the past two years.
The banking stock has gained roughly
53%,or 75.9 sen,since the start of 2022.
At last Friday’s close of RM2.18,Affin
to be handed
was valued at a price-to-book value
of 0.45 times — the lowest among its
banking peers on Bursa Malaysia —
despite the share price rally. Affin’s
over to Sarawak
book value per share is about RM4.79.
In April last year when LTAT sold
4.95% to Sarawak, it was tied to its
in June
privatisation of Boustead Holdings,
which was announced in April last
year as well.
The Boustead Holdings privatisa-
tion by LTAT was concluded at 85.5
sen a share or RM703.25 million, for
the 40.58% LTAT did not own, and
Boustead Holdings was delisted at
end-June last year. Bernama such intervention and the
To recap, in placing out 5% to Sar-
awak state, it helped LTAT reduce its
shareholding in Affin to below the 50%
band so it would avoid having to obtain
Bank Negara Malaysia’s approval under
section 87 of the Financial Services Act luck this time as the sale of a stake
2013 to take Boustead Holdings private.
LTAT and Boustead Holdings’ ef-
RM
2.5
RM2.38
2.0
Jan 8, 2024
fective stake in Affin would have been
54.1% without the minor stake sale
upon completion of the privatisation.
It is known that Sarawak has been
looking to buy into a financial insti-
tution for some time now.
The state has a long history of
banking groups being controlled by
Sarawakian businessmen, such as
Kwong Lee Bank, Hock Hua Bank,
Wah Tat Bank,Bian Chiang Bank and
Kong Ming Bank, but many of these
were merged with larger banks, and
lost their Sarawak DNA.Even Wee Cho
Yaw of United Overseas Bank (UOB)
in Singapore can be connected to the
state by virtue of his Kuching-based
businessman father.
In May 2007,Cahya Mata Sarawak
Bhd (CMS) ceased to be a substantial
shareholder of RHB Bank Bhd,after it
sold out of the banking group.CMS via
its Utama Banking Group Bhd had in
2003 sold off Bank Utama (M) to RHB
for RM1.8 billion in cash and shares,
giving CMS and the Employees Prov-
ident Fund control of RHB. CMS is
the vehicle of former chief minister
and current governor of Sarawak Tun
Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family.
While previous banks were con-
trolled by individuals from Sarawak,
this time around it will be the state
that has the equity in the bank.
What will transpire remains to be
seen, but it has to be noted that sec-
tion 46 of the Banking and Financial
Institutions Act 1989 limits the share-
holding of a banking institution to
not more than 20% for corporations
and 10% for individuals, and while
there are exceptions, whether Bank
Negara will allow Sarawak a larger
stake in Affin remains to be seen.
Without a doubt,Affin is LTAT’s
jewel in the crown.
For its nine months ended Sep-
tember last year,Affin — the country’s
second-smallest bank — chalked up
net profits of RM362.66 million on the
back of RM1.5 billion in revenue. For
the corresponding period a year ago,
it raked in net profits of RM1.16 bil-
lion from RM2.73 billion in revenue.
Earnings in 2022 were given a
shot in the arm from the sale of its
68.35% stake in Affin Hwang Asset
Management to CVC Capital Part-
ners for RM1.54 billion.
LTAT, which has some RM11 bil-
lion in assets under management,
is also reeling from its plan to sell
a 33% stake in Boustead Plantations
Bhd to Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd
(KLK) for RM1.15 billion or RM1.55
per share, after it was scuttled by
political intervention.
LTAT and KLK were all set to
privatise Boustead Plantations, but
following
sale falling through, LTAT has to
fork out RM1.11 billion to privatise
its plantation arm on its own while
its financials are already stressed.
Hopefully, LTAT will have better
in Affin to Sarawak should give its
coffers a boost.
Abang Abdillah
Izzarim ups stake
in Minetech to
16.34%
by Syafiqah Salim
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Abang Abdillah
Izzarim Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari, the
newly appointed executive chairman as well
as the largest shareholder of Minetech Re-
sources Bhd, has upped his stake in the com-
MALAYSIA JANUA
pany to 16.338% from 15.58% previously.
The son of Sarawak Premier Tan Sri
Abang Johari Tun Openg acquired the
Ismet Yusoff set to become
additional 0.758% stake comprising 12
new CEO of MSWG, say source
million shares via a direct business trans-
action last Friday, at 17 sen per share or
a total of RM2.04 million, according to
Minetech in a bourse filing.
BY LIEW JIA TENG
LINKEDIN
D
Minetech executive director of advisory
r Ismet Yusoff is set to be
appointed as the new CEO
Choy
of MinoritySen @ Chin Kim Sang, who is also
Shareholders
Watch Group (MSWG),ac-
the
cordingfounder
to sources.“MSWG
has identified Ismet as its new chief.
of the company, is the second
largest
He was previously withshareholder
the Securi-
ties Commission Malaysia (SC) and
with a 9.95% stake,
Ismet is currently the CEO of MICG and Devanesan: The incoming CEO
followed
he is someone who has by executive
a strong was previouslydirector
with the SC of business
blank canvas before him/her t
corporate governance background,” his/her own aspirations for MS
a sourcedevelopment
tells The Edge. and operations Chin Leong
Another source confirms the eight years at the helm. are that legal action cost
Choy
appointment with
of Ismet, adding a that5.28% During stake.
the transition period, and legal proceedings ta
Minetech,
typically, the CEO of MSWG is giv-
en an initial two-year contract, the civil engineering
of MSWG, had special-
the late Lya Rahman, a former
general manager
— neither of which the m
retail shareholders have
ist and bituminous
subject to extension every two
years thereafter. of theproducts manufacturer
been the unofficial “caretaker”
monitoring organisation.
“If successful, they r
damages and compensa
which recently diversified
Ismet was chosen to succeed
Devanesan Evanson, an account-
into renewable
Today, with just a small team
of 20-odd people — including Rita
ing awarded to the com
such, minority shareho
energy,
ant by profession, whoregistered
CEO and board member of MSWG
retired as Foo a turnaround
(head of corporate monitor-
ing), Norhisham Sidek, Elaine
in the
not lat-
directly receive the
es awarded,” he says, add
with effest
ect fromquarter after
Dec 19, 2023, after
six years at the helm of the minor-
nine
Choo, Lee Cheeconsecutive
Meng, Ooi Beng
Hooi, Jackson Tan, Lim Cian Yai,
quar-
MSWG could consider in
such legal action if som
ters of
ity shareholder losses.
protection group. Nur Amirah Amirudin and Lam prepared to fund derivativ
In a statement on Dec 29 last Jun Ket (managers of corporate “What we then ne
year, MSWGThe chairman company
Datuk posted
monitoring) — MSWG acovers
netsomeprofitpanel ofof lawyers who a
Mohd Nasir Ali said a new CEO 450 public-listed companies (PLCs). cause-oriented as oppose
had been RM348,000
identified and approved,for the second
Devanesan, who joinedquarter
MSWG end- to help the flo
it-oriented
and that the board is scheduled to in December 2017, points out that of such derivative action
make an ed Sept
official 30, 2023,
announcement versus
the organisation has a net loss
increased capitalof market ecosyst
“TheRM778,000
candidate brings a wealth a coverage
by mid-January 2024.
year from earlier,
about 250as
the number of PLCs under its
to 450revenue
will take shareholder a
to the next level,” he sa
ing withgrew 23.4%to to over
of experience and expertise,align-
MSWG’s commitment RM33.24
words, one in two PLCsmillion
the last six years. In other
on Bursa from
MSWG, formerly kn
Minority Shareholder W
RM26.94
upholding minority shareholders’
interests and advancing corpo-
million.Malaysia come under its cover-
age, which means that there is a
Group,was set up in 2000
ernment initiative to be p
rate governance Shares in Minetech
and sustainability
standards in Malaysia,” he had said.
fair degree ofcontinued
multi-tasking andto climb
overlapping of functions among
broader capital market fra
to bring about awareness p
to
Ismet’s close
LinkedIn profi at 22
le shows
that he is currently the CEO of the
sen on
his former Monday,
colleagues at MSWG.
“My message to them will be
its highest
on minority shareholder
and corporate governance
Malaysian level in over three years. This valued
Institute of Corporate to keep up the good work and theshareholder activ
through
Governance (MICG), a role he has commitment to MSWG, and we engagement with stakeh
held sincecompany
August last year. at RM331.23
all have blind spotsmillion.
that we can A self-governing and n
It is not immediately known if improve on. I am reminded of a it professional body lice
The
he will relinquish counter
his position at hasthatrisen
saying I apply toby over
myself: ‘Try 214%
der the Capital Markets
MICG, which was established in to be the best, but never think you vices Act 2007, MSWG is
1998 toin theandpast
promote month.
encourage are the best’,” he says. substantially by the CM
corporate governance develop- Devanesan adds that his six- Ismet graduated from t
ment in the country. year tenure was a meaningful and national Islamic Universi
fulfilling experience, as MSWG, sia where he wrote a docto
Devanesan: Incoming new being a capital market-licensed on the effect of corporate
Ministry of Infrastructure and Port De-
CEO has a blank canvas
When contacted by The Edge, for-
intermediary, was able to play a
pivotal role in keeping compa-
ance and capital structur
performance of Malaysia
velopment will be signing a memorandum
mer MSWG CEO Devanesan said
the incoming CEO is joining at a
nies accountable to shareholders
through the questions it raised at
His 14-year stint wit
commenced in Septemb
of understanding (MOU) in February to
time when MSWG will be coming
up with its strategic plan for 2025
annual general meetings (AGMs)
and extraordinary general meet-
when he joined the reg
an executive, rising to be
finalise the Bintulu Port handover.
to 2027, which in turn will be the ings (EGMs). assistant manager of the c
basis for requesting funding from “Attending AGMs was a breath governance unit,markets a
It said the MOU would enable the Sar-
the Capital Market Development of fresh experience as I was able ucts department in Septem
Fund (CMDF). to understand a company more His last role in the SC
awak government to establish a Bintulu Port
“As such,the incoming CEO has intimately.Our questions also had sistant general manage
a blank canvas before him/her to the corollary benefit of sharing porate governance depa
Authority (Sarawak) under the Port Author-
map out his/her own aspirations how questions should be asked at market development, fr
ity Ordinance 1961, while ensuring that the
for MSWG with the blessings of
the board, of course. The fact that
general meetings — an education
of sorts.As a non-regulator,we only
2022 to August 2023.
Over the years, Ism
operations of Bintulu Port will not be affect-
the CMDF has been supportive of
MSWG’s endeavours in the past
have the tools of persuasion and in-
fluence going for MSWG,” he says.
helped develop a number
gic programmes on corpo
ed or disturbed during the transition period.
has been a blessing and there is no
reason to doubt that such blessings
Going forward,Devanesan sug-
gests one area on which MSWG
ernance, including the M
Corporate Governance B
“The MOT will table a Bill to repeal
will continue for MSWG,” he says.
Before the appointment of Dev-
could consider improving is the
initiation of derivative actions on
2011, Malaysia Corporate
ance Strategic Priorities 2
the Bintulu Port Authority Act 1981 in
anesan in December 2017, MSWG
had been without a permanent
behalf of minority shareholders.
“Derivative actions are sharehold-
and 2021-2023, and the M
Code on Corporate Gov
the next Parliament session,” the state-
leader for about a year. er rights available under the Com- (MCCG) (revised 2017 an
His predecessor Rita Benoy panies Act 2016. Such actions hold He also led the establ
ment read.
Bushon, a founding director of directors and boards accountable of the Institute of Corpora
MSWG, decided to call it a day through legal action. The chal- tors Malaysia (ICDM), w
E in October 2016, after almost lenges in initiating such actions managed in its inaugura
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Johor Plan-
tations Group Bhd has filed its prospec-
tus exposure for its initial public offering
(IPO) with the Securities Commission
Malaysia (SC), with Johor Corp, through
Kulim (M) Bhd, seeking to retain 65%
stake post-listing.
This confirmed The Edge report in No-
vember that JCorp is going ahead with its
plantation assets IPO under Kulim despite
weaker crude palm oil price environment,
and letting go of a stake of about 30% to
40% in Johor Plantations.
The prospectus exposure on Monday
revealed that the IPO involves up to 875
million shares in Johor Plantations, com-
prising an offer for sale of up to 411 mil-
lion existing shares and public issue of up
to 464 million new shares.
Among these shares, 797.5 million
shares are slated for institutional inves-
tors while 77.5 million are allocated for
the retail offering.
Within the institutional offering portion
which represents 31.9% stake of Johor
Plantations’ enlarged share base, 312.5
million are meant for Bumiputera inves-
tors approved by Miti and 485 million
for Malaysian and foreign institutional or
selector investors.
In the retail offering, 50 million shares
representing 3.1% of Johor Plantations’
enlarged share base will be made availa-
ble for the Malaysian public, of which half
of them will be set aside for Bumiputera
investors.
Meanwhile, 27.5 million shares of the
retail offering will be reserved for applica-
tion by eligible staff of the group.
Johor Plantations is an upstream oil
palm plantation company operating main-
ly in Johor, and the IPO aims to raise funds
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Contraves
Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd (CAD) and
Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd
(CED) — subcontractors of the RM9.13
billion littoral combat ship (LCS) project
awarded to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn
Bhd (BNS) — have dropped their lawsuit
against BNS over the termination of their
contracts.
Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd
(BHIC), the parent company of BNS, an-
nounced in a bourse filing on Monday that
CAD and CED filed a notice of discontin-
uance with the High Court last Thursday
to drop the suit. As such, BNS had, on
the same day, withdrawn its application
to strike out the lawsuit.
No reason was provided for the discon-
tinuance of the lawsuit.
The Edge Malaysia weekly reported in
April 2023 that BNS had reached a set-
JCorp confirms
IPO of plantation
assets with
prospectus
exposure
18 corporate
NEWSBREAK
JCorp tipped to go ahead with plantation assets IPO
at lower valuation of about RM2.5 bil
B Y C H E S T E R TAY
J
ohor Corporation (JCorp) is understood
to be going ahead with the initial pub-
lic offering (IPO) of its plantation as-
sets under Kulim (M) Bhd, despite the
weaker crude palm oil (CPO) price envi-
ronment that has resulted in a lower valua-
tion of about RM2.5 billion for the business,
according to sources.
Slightly over a year ago,it was widely specu-
lated that JCorp was targeting US$1 billion,or
over RM4.5 billion market capitalisation,upon
listing but The Edge understands that the IPO
would likely go ahead with a reduced valuation.
“The entity to go on IPO will not be Kulim;
it will be Johor Plantations Bhd, the consoli-
dated vehicle for all the plantation businesses
under Kulim, so EA Technique (M) Bhd will
not be part of the exercise,” says one of the
people familiar with JCorp.
Johor Plantations is wholly owned by Kulim.
“The size of the portion of shares to be
offered for sale will also be smaller. Previ-
ously, we were looking at 40% to 50% of the
FLASHBACK:
enlarged share capital upon listing; now
we are talking about 30% to 40%,” he adds.
Assuming Kulim offers 35% of the en-
larged share capital for sale, it could be rais-
ing over RM800 million proceeds from the
The Edge Malaysia Nov 13, 2023
Johor Plantations IPO, the largest on the lo-
cal stock exchange since the listing of Farm
Fresh Bhd in March 2022.
Both Kulim and Johor Plantations had yet to
respond to requests for comment at press time.
The downsizing of the IPO came amid
the normalisation of CPO prices, where the
benchmark third-month contract traded
above RM8,000 per tonne last year, follow-
ing the Feb 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine,
a major producer of edible oil globally.
Year to date, the benchmark CPO contract
has fallen 9.5% to RM3,779 last Thursday (Nov
9). The commodity fell 41% from its peak to
end at RM4,174 last year.
for it to enter into the downstream plan-
Kulim was previously listed on the Kuala
Lumpur Stock Exchange in 1975 and JCorp
became a major shareholder a year later. The
state-owned firm took Kulim private in 2016.
tation business, repayment of bank bor-
Currently, Kulim is 96.33% owned by JCorp
and 3.67% owned by JCorp Capital Solutions
Sdn Bhd, according to data from the Compa-
nies Commission Malaysia (SSM).
Johor Plantations is currently headed by
rowings and working capital.
As at Nov 10, 2023, the group operates
23 plantation estates, 22 of them in Johor
and one in Pahang, with a total landbank
of 59,860 hectares (ha), and a total oil
palm planted area of 55,982ha.
Johor Plantations sells its crude palm
oil (CPO) to third-party downstream re-
fineries in Malaysia for further process-
ing into edible oils or oleochemicals prod-
ucts, while selling palm kernel (PK) to
third-party PK crushing plants in Malaysia
LCS
subcontractors
drop lawsuit
against Boustead
Naval Shipyard
over contract
termination
H O M E
BY CHESTER TAY
theedgemalaysia.com
Bursa Plantation Index constituents with over RM1 bil valuation
NAME
Sime Darby Plantation Bhd
IOI Corp Bhd
Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd
Batu Kawan Bhd
United Plantations Bhd
Genting Plantations Bhd
FGV Holdings Bhd
Boustead Plantations Bhd
Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd
Far East Holdings Bhd
Kim Loong Resources Bhd
Ta Ann Holdings Bhd
Kretam Holdings Bhd
Hap Seng Plantations Hldgs
TSH Resources Bhd
United Malacca Bhd
BLD Plantation Bhd
CPO third-month
contract
RM
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
Oct 18
2021
managing director Mohd Faris Adli Shuk-
ery, who has been tasked to spearhead its
reorganisation and transformation agenda.
Tan Sri Dr Ismail Bakar,who was appointed
as Kulim’s chairman in May 2022, is leading
the Johor Plantations 10-member board of
directors, comprising four non-independent
directors and six independent directors.
BY SYAFIQAH SALIM
theedgemalaysia.com
6 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
to produce PK products.
“While we are principally involved in
upstream oil palm operations, we are eval-
uating opportunities to venture into the
downstream market, including the refinery
business, in order to diversify our offerings
to include downstream products such as
specialty oils and fats,” said the group in
the prospectus exposure.
“Through this diversification, we seek to
enhance our position as a fully integrated
oil palm producer and generate addition-
al revenue across the entire value chain.
“We believe that further expansion of
MALAYSIA NOVEMBER 13, 2023
our integrated business model offers us
the potential to better manage commod-
ity price volatility by giving us the flex-
ibility to channel our CPO and PK to
the various segments of our downstream
BLOOMBERG
last week that Voultier Sdn Bhd — 70% owned
by Datuk Wira Mubarak Hussain Akhtar
MARKET CAP LAST PRICE FORWARD P/E YTD SHARE Husni and 30% by Kinergy Advancement Bhd
(RM BIL) (RM) (TIMES) PRICE CHANGE (%)
managing director Datuk Lai Keng Onn —
processes at the appropriate time, thus
30.01 4.34 28.7 -4.65 is stepping in to take up 51% shareholding
24.57 3.96 18.0 0.59 as part of the group’s regularisation plan to
23.60 21.88 18.3 2.43
lift its PN17 status.
While weaker CPO prices have dampened
benefiting from the different price char-
8.02 20.38 NA -3.99 investors’ appetite for palm oil producers, the
6.88 16.58 NA 15.44 lacklustre performances of certain industry
4.94 5.51 18.3 -9.79 players,such as Boustead Plantations Bhd and
FGV Holdings Bhd, coupled with allegations
4.85 1.33 32.9 8.51 of deforestation and poor treatment of labour,
acteristics and feedstock types in various
3.27 1.46 117.7 140.58 also weighed on their attractiveness,especial-
2.27 2.55 9.5 0.44 ly amid the rising adoption of environmental,
social and governance (ESG) standards.
2.17 3.65 NA 1.36
If the IPO of Johor Plantations material-
downstream segments,” it said.
1.85 1.90 11.8 10.64 ises, which sources say could be sometime
1.54 3.50 8.8 -4.57 in the middle of next year, it would be the
first oil palm grower’s listing since that of
1.46 0.63 NA 7.57
Matang Bhd in December 2016, Boustead
1.44 1.80 15.3 -3.02 Plantations in June 2014 and FGV in June
Johor Plantations’ board of directors
1.35 0.98 15.5 -6.40 2012. FGV’s IPO raised RM4.5 billion, mak-
1.05 5.00 25.6 -7.00
ing it the world’s third largest public listing
globally that year, after Meta Platforms Inc
1.02 10.90 NA 6.53 and Japan Airlines Co Ltd’s re-listing.
Matang, which is 17.7% controlled by the
Apart from Ismail and Mohd Faris,the other Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), is a
also expressed their intention to recom-
BLOOMBERG
two non-independent directors are Datuk Sr relatively smaller player, with a land bank
Hisham Jafrey and Shamsul Anuar Abdul Majid. of 1,076.33ha as at June 30 this year, of which
Nov 9 The six independent directors are Abdul- 100.94ha are planted with durian while the
mend and distribute a dividend of at least
3,779 lah Abu Samah, Fawzi Ahmad, Mohd Fazillah remaining are planted with oil palm.
Kamaruddin, Ong Li Lee, Norita Ja’afar and Boustead Plantations, which has a land
Vinie Chong Pui Ling. bank of 97,400ha, is undergoing a privati-
Kulim, meanwhile, owns a 2.43% stake sation exercise by the Armed Forces Fund
in EA Technique and 50.05% shareholding Board (LTAT) after years of underperformance
50% of the group’s annual net profit.
in the oil and gas marine transport and compared with industry peers, in terms of
offshore storage services provider through profitability and yields.
wholly-owned Sindora Bhd. For FGV, one of the largest among the list-
Kulim announced in March this year that ed plantation players, with a land bank of
For the first seven-month period
it had consolidated all of its plantation busi- 439,051ha across Malaysia and Indonesia,there
nesses under Johor Plantations, as part of a had also been an attempt by its largest share-
business transformation to manage its land holder,the Federal Land Development Author-
Nov 9 bank of more than 60,000ha, 23 estates, five ity (FELDA),to take it private at RM1.30 a share
2023
mills, and trading and services activities in in late 2020. However, the privatisation exer-
of financial year ended Dec 31, 2023
Malaysia, including its renewable energy cise failed as FELDA only managed to acquire
initiatives comprising a biomethane plant 80.99% of FGV, short of the minimum 90% to
and five biogas plants. privatise and delist from the stock exchange.
It is unclear whether the move to group It is worth noting that Johor Plantations
(7MFY2023), net profit fell 80% to
all plantation assets under Johor Plantations has been a member of the Roundtable on
is related to EA Technique, a PN17 company, Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since 2009. Its
which is widely seen as a sore point among mills and Malaysian estates are RSPO-certi-
Kulim’s range of assets. fied, which market observers say could give
Nonetheless, EA Technique announced the IPO a leg-up on the ESG front. E
RM58.34 million from RM292.13 mil-
lion in the previous corresponding period,
while revenue declined 44% to RM622.36
million from RM1.11 billion.
This is in contrast with its performance
in FY2022, with net profit growing 44% to
RM495.59 million from RM344.8 million
in FY2021, while revenue increased 13%
to RM1.75 billion from RM1.55 billion.
The change in its fortunes in the past
two years was mainly influenced by the
prices of CPO.
tlement agreement with both CAD and
CED, citing a term sheet it saw. Accord-
ing to the report, BNS was to pay CAD
roughly RM464.33 million as settlement
to resolve commercial issues between them
regarding the LCS project.
CAD and CED initiated the lawsuit
against BNS in October 2022 to claim for
outstanding payments, and a declaration
that the contracts awarded to them were
not void, two months after BNS terminated
the letters of award (LOAs) issued to them
in August 2022. CED is a wholly-owned
unit of CAD, a 51:49 joint venture between
BHIC and Germany’s Rheinmetall Group.
The two subcontractors were the re-
cipients of 12 LOAs from BNS for the
procurement, engineering, integration
and supply of equipment and weaponry
to build six LCS.
CO N TI N UES O N PAGE 8
T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4 7 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 t u e s d ay j a n u a ry 9 , 2 0 2 4 8 TheEdge CEO morning brief

h o m e

Boost Bank,
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8):Two more dig- formerly known as ACS Digital Bhd, to
ital banks have received regulatory approval commence what would be Malaysia’s first

AEON Bank
to begin commercial operations, namely Islamic digital bank.
Axiata Group Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd- AEON Bank is also a subsidiary of

get nod to
linked Boost Bank, as well as AEON Bank AEON Financial Service Co Ltd.
linked to AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd. “As part of one of Malaysia’s most

commence digital
Boost Bank Bhd, the 40:60 digital bank recognised retail household brands, we
venture by RHB and Boost Holdings Sdn aim to provide accessible, inclusive, and

bank operations
Bhd, has received the Ministry of Finance’s shariah-compliant digital banking solu-
(MOF) agreement for the issuance of a tions to our AEON group of custom-

physical digital bank licence, which takes
effect from Jan 15.
This follows a letter from Bank Ne-
gara Malaysia on Monday notifying that
the central bank is satisfied with the op-
erational readiness review of Boost Bank,
formerly known as Boost Bhd, the com-
panies said.
The regulatory approval was received
“ahead of the scheduled timeline”, said
the companies. Boost Holdings is a
75.43%-owned unit of telco outfit Axiata.
“Spearheading the team is Fozia
Amanulla, who was recently appointed
as the CEO of Boost Bank,” they said
in a statement.
Fozia leads a digital bank team, en-
compassing expertise across technolo-
gy, information security, product, risk
and compliance, and more, leveraging fi-
nancial technology (fintech) talent from
Boost, banking expertise from RHB, and
new capabilities from the wider industry,
the statement added.
As part of the conditions for the reg-
ulatory approval, Boost Holdings and
RHB will provide adequate funds “to
ensure that Boost Bank has sufficient
funds to satisfy all its remaining obliga-
tions and liabilities due, including cus-
tomer deposits” in the event the digital
bank is wound down.
Fozia, in the statement, said that Boost
Bank is “uniquely positioned to offer em-
in Malaysia
ers as well as to all Malaysians,” said
AEON Bank CEO Raja Teh Maimunah
in a statement.
“With the bank within its stable group
by Adam Aziz of companies, the AEON group aims to
theedgemalaysia.com further expand and enhance the provision
of its services to its retail and wholesale
the edge customers as well as ecosystem partners,
such as its auto dealers, merchants, sup-
pliers, and tenants, among others,” AEON
Credit said in the statement.
Separately, Boost Bank said it will kick
off the alpha testing phase “involving in-
ternal employees, family, friends, and a
selected group of customers”.
AEON Bank, meanwhile, said it will
begin an “exclusive beta testing phase with
AEON group employees”, with a target to
unveil its phased roll-out within the first
half of this year.
The two consortiums are among five
successful applicants of BNM’s digital
bank licences in April 2022.
The first to reach commercial operation
bedded finance” — essentially the integra- was GXBank, launched by a consortium
tion of financial services into non-financial led by Grab-linked GXS Bank Pte Ltd
offerings — backed by the consortium’s and Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd. GXBank
combined ecosystem and wealth of data. was officially launched on Nov 30 last year.
Boost Holdings currently has over 10 The other licence holders are a con-
million customers able to enjoy digital wal- sortium led by Singapore’s Sea Ltd and a
let services. unit of the YTL group, and a consortium
Separately, AEON Credit also said led by KAF Investment Bank Bhd.
it had received the nod from BNM and The licences won by AEON and KAF
the MOF to run AEON Bank (M) Bhd, are for Islamic digital banks.

10 corporate MALAYSIA APRIL 17, 2023

NEWSBREAK

from Page 6 Boustead Naval Shipyard to reach settlement with
It is understood that BNS terminated CAD and CED, according to term sheet
CAD and CED as intermediaries of the B Y J OS E B A R R O C K
B
oustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd
(BNS) is understood to have reached
ject as the termination would allow BNS to
negotiate directly with the relevant origi-
nal equipment manufacturers (OEMs).The
terminations came amid allegations of mis-
forces fund Lembaga Tabung Angkatan
Tentera (LTAT).
The flagship Boustead Holdings Bhd holds
a 68.85% stake in BNS, while its listed sub-
But the planned disposal has yet to be
completed. BHIC announced last week
of August last year, while the others were
that the conditional period for the sale
between 0% and 35% completed. The gov-
ernment has forked out RM6.08 billion, or
66.59% of the total contract cost, to date.

project to allow BNS to negotiate directly an agreement with its contractors

Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd
(CAD) and Contraves Electrodynam-
ics Sdn Bhd (CED) over the RM9.13 billion
with the relevant original equipment man-
contract awarded in 2011 for the building
of six littoral combat ships (LCS).
According to the term sheet sighted by
The Edge,BNS will pay CAD roughly RM464.33
million (based on the prevailing exchange
conduct, illegality and fraudulent dealings
in relation to the LOAs issued to the con-
tractors, in the wake of the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) report on the LCS project
delays and cost overruns.
According to BNS shareholder Boustead
Heavy Industries Corp Bhd’s (BHIC) filing
with Bursa Malaysia, the other defendants
named in the suit by CAD and CED are BHIC
sidiary BHIC has 20.77% equity interest.The
other shareholders of BNS are LTAT with a
10.38% stake and Minister of Finance Inc
with a single golden share in BNS.
The settlement amount casts a spotlight
on the financials of BNS shareholders.The
settlement coincides with LTAT’s sale of a
4.95% stake in Affin Bank Bhd for RM221.74
million to State Financial Secretary Sarawak.
In February, Defence Minister Datuk Seri
Mohamad Hasan told the Dewan Rakyat
that the cost of the LCS project would re-
main at RM9 billion even though the num-
had been extended for a fourth time to
Jan 31, 2024, as the parties involved re-
ber of vessels procured had been reduced to
five from six previously. He explained that
the cost remained the same due to the many
variation orders and escalation of costs.
Last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri

ufacturers. This came amid allegations of
rate last Thursday) as the settlement amount.
The term sheet states that the parties
(CAD, CED and BNS) hereinbelow agree to
execute a settlement agreement with a view
and its wholly-owned subsidiary BHIC De-
fence Technologies Sdn Bhd (BHICDT).
The suit further named two BHICDT di-
rectors Dr Salihin Abang and Vice-Admiral
Besides, LTAT is taking Boustead Holdings
private at 85.5 sen per share.
Since the announcement of the priva-
tisation exercise, LTAT has raised its stake
quire more time to fulfil some conditions
Anwar Ibrahim said in parliament that the
government had to find out who caused
the delay in the LCS project.
“My instruction is that although there

misconduct, illegality and fraudulent deal- precedent.

to achieve, among others, the objectives in-
cluding to enable BNS to resolve commercial
issues with CAD and CED in relation to the
Royal Malaysian Navy Littoral Combat Ships
(LCS) Programme. “For avoidance of doubt,
Datuk Syed Zahiruddin Putra Syed Osman
as defendants. Salihin is a nominee director
at CAD and CED, while Syed Zahiruddin is
a nominee director at CAD.
In the latest development,the term sheet
in Boustead to 74.796% from 59.42%. LTAT’s
takeover offer, which will cost RM703.25
million, values Boustead at RM1.73 billion.
Boustead Holdings owns 65% of BHIC,
which was responsible for the running of BNS.
is prosecution, it is not enough because
the scandal was [on a] large scale ... Leak-
ages occurred, so there must be follow-up
action,” he said in reply to a supplemen-
tary question.

ings in relation to the LOAs issued to the Among the conditions precedent is the
CAD and CED will not be providing BNS with dated March 2023 indicates that the settle- In its financial year ended Dec 31, 2022, The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commis-
any technical questions and/or any technical ment amount will be remitted in the exact BHIC suffered a net loss of RM21.55 mil- sion (MACC) has told the public that it will

FLASHBACK:
assistance for the LCS Programme,” it adds. currencies as stated to CAD and CED.The full lion from RM141.76 million in revenue. In call more witnesses, locals and those from
CAD, which wholly owns CED, is a 51:49 sum is to be settled no later than June 30,2025. FY2021, it chalked up a net profit of RM15.19 abroad, to give statements on the investiga-

subcontractors, in the wake of the Public execution of a conditional inter-company

joint venture between BNS and German The settlement amount stands at RM222.53 million from RM149.19 million in revenue. tion into the LCS project.Chief commissioner
defence outfit Rheinmetall Air Defence AG. million, €40.77 million, £3.78 million and At end-2022, BHIC had cash balances of Tan Sri Azam Baki gave his assurance that
In October last year, CAD and CED sued SEK55.94 million (Swedish krona), which RM26.35 million, while its short-term bor- no party would be protected in this probe.
BNS for outstanding payments and a dec- comes to a total of RM464.33 million based on rowings and long-term debt commitments “I got information from the investigat-

The Edge Malaysia Apr 17, 2023

laration that the contracts are not void two the prevailing exchange rate last Thursday. came to RM182.74 million and RM63.28 ing officer that many more witnesses will

Accounts Committee report on LCS pro- trade receivables reorganisation agreement

months after BNS terminated the letters It was stated, however, that the term million respectively. During the year, the be called to testify, not only in the country
of award in August 2022. The two contrac- sheet would lapse should all parties fail company amassed an accumulated loss of but also involving those from abroad. I will
tors are the recipients of 12 letters of award to form a settlement agreement within 30 RM181.41 million. not reject anyone [from giving statements],
(LOAs) from BNS for the procurement, days of the day of execution. To recap, BNS bungled a RM9.13 billion whether VIPs or ministers involved in this

ject delays and cost overruns.
engineering, integration and supply of
equipment and weaponry for the six LCS.
It is understood that BNS had terminated
CAD and CED as intermediaries of the pro-
Who foots the bill?
BNS is a member of the beleaguered Boust-
ead group, which is controlled by armed
contract to build six LCS awarded in 2011.
The first of the six vessels had been slat-
ed for delivery in April 2019, but the first
ship was only 44% completed at the end
between BHIC and BNS to settle the re-
case. All will be called to ensure that the
investigation of this case can be carried
out,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama
on March 16. E

In response, CAD and CED initiated
the legal action, demanding that BNS set-
tle the alleged outstanding amount of over
Salutica sees interest spike amid Apple patent payment of RM383.94 million or any oth-
Abang andclaim
infringement Vicecourt
Admiral
case (Retired) Datuk er amount owed by BNS to BHIC. Other
Syed Zahiruddin Putra Syed Osman.
B Y I N TA N FA R H A N A Z AI N U L
A N D IZZUL IKRAM
claiming the latter used a wireless
pairing process that is similar to the
(hereinafter the ‘Infringing Tech-
nology’).”
Sdn Bhd,and Apple’s Malaysian sub-
sidiary for a patent infringement
at an average price of 55.77 sen and
53.5 sen, respectively.
prerequisites involve obtaining the neces-
I
content of Salutica’s patent. Saluti- While there is no specific mon- claim on some of Apple’s products. The company also saw the emer-
nvestors are showing interest in ca alleges the pairing method used etary value mentioned in the court “The patent relates to pairing gence of a new substantial share-

RM444 million. BHIC, in the meantime, is in the midst of sary written consent from BNS’ lenders
Salutica Bhd, an otherwise thinly by Apple infringes upon its patent, case, Salutica is “seeking aggravat- information of wireless accessories holder, Cheong Siew Chyuan, who
traded counter, as its court case which it applied for in 2012. ed and/or exemplary damages”, an that can be stored and transmit- bought 4.43 million shares in Sa-
with Apple Malaysia Sdn Bhd According to the patents, the account of profits made by Apple ted between smart devices.Salutica lutica on April 10 — increasing his
nears. The Ipoh-based electron- technology allows pairing infor- and its related companies from all wants to ensure that its intellectual direct stake to 16.22 million shares

Apart from BNS and BHIC, other de-
selling its 20.77% stake in BNS to Minister
ics component maker has seen a
sharp rise in its share price over
the last three weeks.
“Although the lawsuit by Saluti-
ca was filed in January last year,the
mation of Salutica’s Bluetooth ac-
cessories — FOBO Tag and FOBO
Tire — to be transferred to a new
device and shared across multiple
smart devices without the need to
products that use the “infringing
technology” either within or out-
side of Malaysia.
In response to the claim under
the “defendant’s summary of case”,
property rights are respected accord-
ingly and proper compensation is
made for the use of its IP rights,” he
tells The Edge.
For the first half of its financial
and BHIC’s financiers or creditors.
or 3.83%, at a time when the share
price was trading at 68 sen apiece.
Cheong also holds an indirect stake
of 8.17 million shares or 1.9%.
Cheong continued to buy shares

fendants named in the suit were BHIC’s
of Finance Inc for RM1, as the government
trial date of the case has been set for
mid-June. It will be an interesting
one to watch,” a market observer
tells The Edge.
reinitiate the pairing process,which
it refers to as “CrossPair Technology”.
Salutica says it was granted a pat-
ent for CrossPair Technology in De-
Apple Malaysia said the system and
method by Salutica did not fall within
the scope of the relevant patent claim.
It claimed that the “MY’803 Pat-
year ending June 30,2023 (1HFY2023),
Salutica saw its net loss widen to
RM6.59 million from RM4.9 mil-
lion a year earlier, on the back of a
BHIC shares closed unchanged at 51.5
in Salutica a few days later, increas-
ing his direct stake to 4.57% and in-
direct stake to 2.65% as at April 14.
He is also a shareholder in Vitrox

wholly owned BHIC Defence Technologies
wants to assume full control of the LCS pro- sen on Monday, giving the group a market
Shares of Salutica, which is cember 2019.In addition to Malaysia, ent” was invalid on account that it is 48.6% decline in revenue to RM37.27 Corp Bhd,with 11.88 million shares
known for manufacturing wireless the company says it was also granted not patentable as it is neither novel million from RM72.5 million during or a 1.26% stake, which are valued
Bluetooth products, have quadru- patents for the technology in the US, and/or inventive,citing two US pat- the period. at RM94.8 million based on the last
pled to close at RM1.09 per share China, Japan, Singapore and South ents as arguments. Amid the recent interest in the closing price of RM7.98 apiece.
last Friday from 25 sen on March Korea, among others. Apple Malaysia is also requesting stock,Salutica chairman Leow Chan Salutica was listed on the ACE

Sdn Bhd and its two directors, Dr Salihin
ject, which BNS had failed to deliver on time.
28. Its market capitalisation stood
at RM461.62 million.
The sudden surge in its share
price has raised eyebrows given that
the company has been loss-making
since the financial year ended June
30, 2019 (FY2019).
Last year, Salutica launched le-
gal action against Apple Malaysia,
According to a court paper seen
by The Edge, Salutica says: “In July
2021, Salutica discovered that Ap-
ple uses a system and method that
incorporate the features as claimed
by the MY’803 Patent, or at the very
least, their equivalents with imma-
terial differences,without Salutica’s
authority,permission and/or license
that the “MY’803 Patent” be can-
celled, revoked and removed from
the Register of Patents in Malaysia.
The trial dates have been fixed
for June 19 to 22 and June 26 to 28.
When contacted, a Salutica
spokesman says that the lawsuit is
between Salutica’s wholly-owned
subsidiary,Salutica Allied Solutions
Khiang and several of its directors,
including Chia Chee Hoong and Low
Teng Lum,disposed of some of their
shares as they took advantage of the
spike in share price.
Chia offloaded 470,000 shares at
between 70 sen and 85 sen from April
11 to 13, while Leow and Low sold
700,000 shares and 400,000 shares
capitalisation of RM287.81 million.
Market of Bursa Malaysia in May
2016 before migrating to the Main
Market in March 2017.
The company is currently 50.65%
controlled by Ocean Enlightenment
Sdn Bhd, a family vehicle held by
managing director Joshua Lim and
his father James Lim Chong Shyh,
the former CEO of Salutica. E
 t u e s d ay j a n u a ry 9 , 2 0 2 4 9 TheEdge CEO morning brief

h o m e

The Edge filepix by Shahrill Basri

PM: Digital In pursuit of driving economic and digi-

Ministry formed
to enable country
to compete
in the sector
Bernama
PUTRAJAYA (Jan 8): The Digital Minis-
try was formed to lead the government’s
digital transformation efforts, so that the
country does not fall behind and can com-
pete quickly, said Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said the special ministry, formed
following the Cabinet reshuffle last month,
was on the thought that Malaysia would
not be able to compete quickly as per the
speed achieved by other countries without
focusing on the digital field.
“The digital programme should be carried
out more drastically, and aggressively than
before. Otherwise, we will be left behind,”
he said at a meeting with staff of the Prime
Minister’s Department here on Monday.
tal growth, as well as improving the quality PM instructs
of education and health, issues of human
values, justice and good morals should not ministries’ sec-
be left out, he said.
Although the digital sector emphasised gens, dept heads
new technology, the issue of value also
needed to be given attention, the prime
to submit monthly
progress reports
minister added.
As such, any efforts made related to
the matter are to be across ministries and
on govt projects
departments, he said.
“We must be rooted to the earth. We Bernama
have a system of beliefs and values. We
must approach this and that’s why (it needs
to) cross departments and ministries; don’t
think of the old way... (as in thinking) this
is my department, my ministry... it needs
to cross ministries.
“If the law (portfolio) involves every-
one, so is Jakim (Department of Islamic
Development Malaysia). Otherwise, it will
become a branch of the religious ministry
that has nothing to do with the others.
The prime minister also said that the
country’s education sector can no longer
remain in the old mould.
The mastery of the Malay language
should be better, but efforts to improve
mastery of the English language should
also be given priority, he added. Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim

Gobind: Digital Ministry to meet state govts
to facilitate transformation process
Bernama
KUCHING (Jan 8): The Digital Minis-
try will hold discussions with all states to
gather feedback to ensure no discrepan-
cies in adapting to the digital direction
adopted by the government.
Its minister Gobind Singh Deo said the
meetings will also ensure that the goals of
the existing digital sector in all states can be
aligned with the direction of the ministry,
which will be announced by May the latest.
“We hope that in the next three or four
months, we will be able to make an an-
nouncement on the direction of the Digital
Ministry that aligns with what we see as the
direction in each state,” he said after paying
a courtesy call to Sarawak Premier Tan Sri
Abang Johari Tun Openg here on Monday.
He said close cooperation and sharing
of views between the federal and state
governments are important to facilitate
the digital transformation process.
“I find that most states have started the
digitalisation process and have their own
state directions... we want to move the na-
tional agenda, and this (meeting) saves time
bernama
Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo:
“I find that most states have started the
digitalisation process and have their own
state directions... we want to move the
national agenda, and this (meeting) saves
time because work has already begun (at the
state level), so we just move from there”.
because work has already begun (at the state
level), so we just move from there,” he said.
Earlier, Abang Johari and Gobind ex-
changed views on Sarawak’s goals and
challenges in facing the digital world, in
line with the Post-Covid-19 Develop-
ment Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030) de-
veloped by the state government.
PUTRAJAYA (Jan 8): Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim instructed
on Monday, the secretary-generals of
the respective ministries (KSU) and
department heads to submit monthly
reports on the progress of government
projects and the contributions of civil
servants.
In his speech at the monthly assem-
bly with staff of the Prime Minister’s
Department here, Anwar who is also
finance minister, said the report has
to be submitted to the Chief Secre-
tary to the Government (KSN) Tan
Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.
“Normally, in my discussions with
department heads, KSUs, they will
request for allocations, (and) more
projects. Yes, they can do that but
there is a new method that we want
to introduce.
“There must be a monthly report
of what has been done, what have the
civil servants contributed in the effort
to implement the projects.
“This monthly report is to be sent
through the KP (director-general),
(and) KSUs to the KSN,” he added.
Anwar also called on the ministries
to use a different and bolder approach
in implementing projects.
co n ti n u es o n Pag e 10
 t u e s d ay j a n u a ry 9 , 2 0 2 4 10 TheEdge CEO morning brief

h o m e

Silver Valley
chief executive officer Datuk Redza Rafiq
Abdul Razak, who exchanged the JDA doc-

Technology ument with Perak Corp CEO Rosmin Mo-

hamed and Avancecon CEO Datuk Phum

Park to bring
Ang Khia.
“The development of the SVTP has

in RM14 bil in
received strategic collaboration from Ad-
vancecon, an expert in earthworks and

investments,
engineering with over 30 years of experi-
ence in developing large-scale projects,”

says Perak MB
Saarani said.
Meanwhile, the chief minister said he
is optimistic that the SVTP’s development
and the job opportunities created will en-
Shahrin Yahya/The Edge
Bernama courage Perakian graduates to return and
contribute to the state.

Johari wants
IPOH (Jan 8): The Silver Valley Technol- “There will be no compromise on the
ogy Park (SVTP) high-impact project is project’s quality and safety aspects to en-

MPOB to
expected to bring an estimated RM14 bil- sure that it is a catalyst and driver of Per-
lion in domestic direct and foreign direct ak’s industrial development, and [it will]

be global
investments, said Perak Menteri Besar Da- become the state’s new industrial hub,”
tuk Seri Saarani Mohamad. he added.

benchmark in
The menteri besar said that the project, In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Perak
spanning 330.2 hectares and strategically Corp said that as it is classified as an af-

palm oil-related
located between the Kanthan Industrial fected listed issuer under Practice Note
Park and Bandar Meru Raya in Ipoh, will 17 status, the JDA provides an avenue to

offer up to 13,000 job opportunities once
completed within the next five to 10 years.
He said the project, estimated to have
a gross development value of RM1.03
billion, involves the collaboration be-
tween the Perak State Development
Corporation (PKNPk) and its subsid-
iary, Perak Corp Bhd, with strategic
partner Advancecon Holdings Bhd.
Saarani told reporters this after wit-
nessing the SVTP joint development
agreement (JDA) exchange ceremony
between PKNPk, Perak Corp
and Advancecon here
on Monday.
PKNKPk was
represented by its
from Pag e 9
“I am confident, InsyaAllah; our gov-
ernment is stable. Because of this stabil-
ity, we want to use it fully to implement
programmes to raise the dignity of our
country,” he added.
The government will continue with
the old policy that brings benefits to all,
but the approach to be used will be dif-
ferent, he said.
“That’s why, for example, we don’t
continue with direct negotiations to
avoid confusion and misuse,” he added.
The assembly was also attended by
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fa-
dillah Yusof, who is also the Minister of
Energy Transition and Public Utilities;
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Depart-
generate sustainable and recurring income
towards the group’s business
operations, which will im-
prove Perak Corp’s overall
cash flow position, as well
as strengthening its finan-
cial position as part of its
regularisation efforts.
It said the JDA is part
of the measure required for
the group’s business regu-
larisation plan, which is still
being finalised.
bernama
ment (Law and Institutional Reform)
Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said; and
the Minister in the Prime Minister’s De-
partment (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha
Mustafa and Mohd Zuki.
Regarding the Central Database Hub
(Padu) which was launched on Jan 2,
Anwar said the government will make
several improvements based on the views
given by the public.
Padu, which contains individual and
household profiles of citizens and per-
manent residents in Malaysia, is an inte-
grated national socio-economic database
that combines data from government de-
partments and agencies to provide a fair
picture of the socio-economic position
of every Malaysian household.
research
Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Plantation
Industries and Commodities Minister
Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
should be the global benchmark in all
research from the upstream sector to the
downstream sector related to palm oil.
The minister said the plantation sec-
tor needs to work with the MPOB by
taking the opportunity to highlight re-
search findings, such as the use of quality
planting materials produced through ad-
vances in biotechnology and tissue cul-
ture techniques.
“The palm oil industry makes an im-
portant contribution to the national econ-
omy, generating more than RM130 billion
in national income,” he said in a statement
by the MPOB, in conjunction with the
minister’s visit to the agency’s office, here
on Monday.
During his visit, Johari received an
overview of the MPOB’s functions, and
the progress made in palm oil-related
research and development.
To date, the MPOB has developed
714 technologies covering all sectors in
the palm oil industry, including formula-
tions of palm-based food and non-food
products.
A total of 233 technologies or 32.7%
of these technologies have been commer-
cialised and adopted by local industries
and entrepreneurs.
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
Sime Darby’s
RM5 per share
takeover bid for
UMW not fair
but reasonable —
Kenanga IB
BY SYAFIQAH SALIM
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Kenanga In-
vestment Bank Bhd (Kenanga IB) said the
unconditional mandatory takeover offer by
Sime Darby Bhd to acquire the remaining
shares in UMW Holdings Bhd at RM5 per
share is “not fair but reasonable”.
In an independent advice circular,
Kenanga IB said the offer price of RM5 per
share represents a discount of 60.8 sen to
RM1.017 or about 10.84% to 16.9% to the
estimated value of between RM5.608 and
RM6.017 per UMW share, derived from
the sum-of-parts valuation methodology.
The offer price also represents a pre-
mium ranging from 44.8 sen (9.83%) to
RM1.578 (46.11%), over the last traded
market price of UMW shares as at Aug 23,
2023 (being the last trading date (LTD)
prior to the signing of the share purchase
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): The Advisory
Committee on Sustainability Reporting
(ACSR) will be conducting an online pub-
lic consultation next month on the use of
sustainability disclosure standards issued
by the International Sustainability Stand-
ards Board (ISSB) in Malaysia.
ACSR is chaired by the Securities Com-
mission Malaysia (SC) and formed with
the endorsement of the Ministry of Fi-
nance, which comprises representatives
from Bank Negara Malaysia, Bursa Ma-
laysia Bhd, the Companies Commission
of Malaysia, the Audit Oversight Board
and the Financial Reporting Foundation.
In a statement on Monday, the SC
stated that the online public consulta-
tion is scheduled for six weeks, during
which the public can provide views and
feedback on critical considerations in-
cluding the implementation approach,
timing and assurance of sustainability
disclosures in Malaysia.
The ISSB developed its first two stand-
ards after extensive feedback and calls from
the G20, the Financial Stability Standards
Boards, the International Organisation of
11 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
agreement (SPA) and the five-day, one-
month, three-month, six-month, one-year
and three-year volume weighted average
market prices up to and including the SPA
LTD.
“We further noted that the market
prices of UMW shares have been trend-
ing close to the offer price after the SPA
LTD and up to the latest practicable date
(LPD),” said Kenanga IB, which deemed
the offer price as not “fair”.
On the reasonableness of the offer,
Kenanga IB said Sime Darby does not in-
tend to maintain the listing status of UMW.
As such, the group will not be taking
any steps to address any shortfall in the
public shareholding spread of UMW in
the event UMW does not meet the public
spread requirement after the closing date.
The first closing date of the offer is at
5pm on Jan 17. As at the LPD, Sime Dar-
by directly holds 83.6% of the total issued
UMW shares, while UMW’s public share-
holding spread stood at 16.4%.
Save for the offer, UMW confirmed that
it had not received any competing offer
or alternative offer for its securities, or its
business, assets and liabilities, which pro-
vides an opportunity to Sime Darby to re-
alise their investments, Kenanga IB added.
At Monday’s noon break, Sime Dar-
by’s share price rose six sen or 2.56% to
RM2.40, giving it a market capitalisation
of RM16.36 billion.
UMW was unchanged at RM5, valuing
the group at RM5.84 billion.
SC’s ACSR to
seek public view
next month on use
of sustainability
disclosure
standards
BY LEE MING HUI
theedgemalaysia.com
Securities Commissions (IOSCO), and the
business and investor communities for a
common standard to disclose sustainabil-
ity information, including climate-related
risks and opportunities, it said.
The first two standards are IFRS S1
(General Requirements for Disclosure of
Sustainability-related Financial Informa-
tion) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Dis-
closures), it added.
Development authority
sets new Iskandar
Malaysia cumulative
investment target of
RM636 bil by 2030
Bernama
JOHOR BAHRU (Jan 8): The Iskandar
Development Regional Authority (IRDA)
has set a new cumulative investment tar-
get for Iskandar Malaysia of RM636 bil-
lion by 2030, after the initial target set
during the inception of the economic re-
gion was surpassed successfully.
Its chief executive Datuk Dr Badrul
Hisham Kassim said the region had re-
corded total cumulative investments of
RM409.5 billion since the establishment
of Iskandar Malaysia in 2006 till Septem-
ber last year, exceeding the initial target of
RM383 billion that the IRDA had aimed
for based on the Comprehensive Devel-
opment Plan (CDP) 2006 to 2025.
He said the RM383 billion target, which
was recorded in February last year, was
achieved almost three years ahead of the
19-year-long target, showing that Iskandar
Malaysia and Malaysia’s offering of various
competitive advantages continue to attract
investors’ interest and trust in the country.
“This gives us the confidence to dou-
ble our cumulative investment target by
2030, which we stamped in our latest
CDPiii Iskandar Malaysia 2022-2030.
“At the end of the next seven years, we
are targeting to achieve RM636 billion in
cumulative investments and we believe that
this is possible, especially with the full sup-
port of the government through the Jo-
hor-Singapore Special Economic Zone and
the Special Financial Zone initiatives, as
announced by the government recently,”
he said in a statement here on Monday.
Badrul Hisham said both the special
economic and financial zones would play a
big role in the future of Iskandar Malaysia.
He said Iskandar Malaysia recorded
committed investments of RM33.6 bil-
lion from January to September last year,
with RM11 billion having been realised.
“The main contributors are from the
business services sector, which includes in-
vestments in regional data centres amount-
ing to RM22.4 billion; and the manufactur-
ing sector, with RM7.7 billion,” he added.
Apart from this, Badrul Hisham said
the IRDA has also projected around
400,000 new jobs to be created in Iskan-
dar Malaysia between 2020 and 2030,
resulting in total employment of nearly
1.4 million by 2030.
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Genting
Malaysia Bhd’s Resorts World Genting
(RWG) may see its earnings increase
by 60% year-on-year in 2024, aided by
the recovery of visitor arrivals back to
pre-Covid levels.
Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank
IB) said this in an outlook over the week-
end, after Genting Malaysia reported a
net profit of RM158.3 million for the
three months to Sept 30, 2023, reversing
an RM8.2 million loss from a year earli-
er primarily thanks to the performance
of RWG.
Maybank IB said visitor arrivals will
recover to 24 million this year, up from
21 million last year, as international tour-
ists return in greater numbers.
“While Malaysian and Singaporean
visitation (around 85% of total visitation
pre-Covid) has recovered to pre-Covid
levels, Indonesian (around 10% dur-
ing pre-Covid) and Chinese visitations
(around 4% during pre-Covid) have not.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): TA Secu-
rities has downgraded S P Setia Bhd
to “hold”, with a lower target price of
RM1.05 (from RM1.07) based on calen-
dar year 2024 (CY2024) price-to-book
multiple of 0.35 times, as it expects only
a total return of 11% following the re-
cent 28% price rally.
In a note on Monday, the research
house said S P Setia’s conditional sale
and purchase agreement (SPA) to sell 960
acres (388.5ha) of land in Tebrau, Johor,
to Scientex Lestari Sdn Bhd was terminat-
ed due to non-fulfilment of the condition
precedent relating to the approval of the
Economic Planning Unit.
This marks the second time the deal
has fallen through, after Scientex re-en-
tered the SPA with S P Setia in July 2023
to acquire the land for RM547.7 million
and formed a joint venture with Datuk
Azman Mahmud to fulfil the Bumiputera
equity condition.
“Following this, we have revised down
S P Setia’s financial year 2024 (FY2024)
earnings forecast by 52% due to the exclu-
sion of the land sales contribution, while
raising our FY2025 earnings forecast by
4.3%,” TA Securities said.
Despite the disappointment, the re-
Analyst recommendations for S P Setia Bhd More from brokers:
Research house Recommendation
Maybank Investment Bank buy
RHB Research neutral
TA Securities Holdings hold
Source: Bloomberg
12 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Visitor arrivals
effective March 1, 2024, we expect
Genting Malaysia’s FY2024 estimat-
to Resorts
ed earnings to recover 60% year-on-
year,” it said.
World Genting
Maybank IB said that such a recovery
would allow Genting Malaysia to pay div-
may fully recover
idends of 15 sen per annum, a “decent”
yield of at least 5.4%.
in 2024, says
Notably, however, both earnings and
share price estimates would increase sig-
Maybank IB
nificantly should the company prove suc-
cessful in winning a full casino licence
in New York.
“We hope results for Resorts World
BY SURIN MURUGIAH New York City’s bid for a down-state
theedgemalaysia.com commercial casino licence will be made
known before year end,” it said.
“We are hopeful that air connectivity “Should Resorts World New York
from the latter two source markets will City be successful, we expect this to
be fully restored this year. It also helps spur foreign interest in Genting Malay-
that Malaysia recently granted 30-day sia shares. Note that the current foreign
visa-free entry to Chinese visitors. shareholding in Genting Malaysia is at
“Thanks to the above and despite a multi-year low (of 15% as of Sept 30,
the service tax hike to 8% from 6% 2023),” it said.
TA Securities
search house believes the group can still
improve its net gearing, driven by repatri-
downgrades S P
ating funds from overseas projects, recog-
nising land sales proceeds totalling RM733
Setia after recent
million from the disposal of 960 acres of
land in Bandar Kinrara, Selangor, and
28% price rally
clearing unsold inventory.
“With a positive outlook for the Johor
property market, anticipating increased
demand driven by the region’s improved
BY LUQMAN AMIN investment climate and economic opportu-
theedgemalaysia.com nities, we remain optimistic that S P Setia
could secure a better price for the land if
disposal opportunities emerge once more,”
S P Setia Bhd TA Securities added.
Vol (mil) RM/sen The research house also said manage-
1.2
ment can still achieve its sales target of
80
RM4.2 billion for FY2023, despite the
exclusion of the Tebrau land sales, as it
60 95.5 sen 1.0
has achieved property sales of RM3.33
billion in the first nine months of 2023,
40 0.8 secured a RM229 million land sale to
KSL Holdings Bhd on Nov 23, and has
59.5 sen
RM450 million in bookings to be con-
20 0.6
verted to sales.
At the time of writing on Monday, S P
0 0.4 Setia shares traded two sen or 2.15% high-
Jan 9, 2023 Jan 8, 2024 er at 95 sen, valuing the group at RM4.14
*As at 9.30am on Jan 8, 2024 billion.
Source: Bloomberg
Target price (RM) Property sector still underowned, says
1.18 RHB IB
0.93
1.05
HLIB forecasts sustainable growth in
utilities earnings throughout 2024
 t u e s d ay j a n u a ry 9 , 2 0 2 4
EXIM Bank appoints Charon Wardini
as its new chairman
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): EXIM Bank
has appointed Malaysian Industrial
Development Finance Bhd (MIDF) group
managing director Datuk Charon Wardini
Mokhzani as its new chairman. In a
statement on Monday, the bank said Charon
will be succeeding Datuk Azman Mahmud,
who ended his term late last year following
his appointment to the role on Oct 4, 2021.
Notably, Charon also previously held
leadership positions which include founding
CEO of Khazanah Research Institute,
executive director of Khazanah Nasional
Bhd, deputy CEO of CIMB Group, CEO of
CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, chairman of
CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd
(now Principal Asset Management Berhad)
and managing partner of Zaid Ibrahim &
Co. He currently serves on the boards of
Yayasan Tuanku Fauziah, Yayasan Tuanku
Syed Putra Perlis, and the Kuala Lumpur
Business Club, and was on the board of
Universiti Putra Malaysia. — by Sulhi Khalid
DOSM: Almost 800,000 registered
with Padu as at Jan 7
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): The central
database hub (Padu) system continues to
receive good response from the Malaysian
public, as a total of 798,528 individuals had
registered with the system as of Sunday (Jan
7). The Department of Statistics Malaysia
(DOSM), through a post on X (formerly
Twitter) on Monday, said that Selangor,
Johor and Sarawak recorded the most
individuals registering with Padu. According
to statistics shared in the DOSM infographic,
a total of 182,943 individuals have
registered with Padu in Selangor, followed
by Johor (85,975) and Sarawak (72,775).
Padu registration is open to the public from
Jan 2 to March 31, and users can update and
verify 30 personal details, including ID card
number, household number and residential
address. It aims to improve the efficiency of
policy planning and resource distribution,
especially the distribution of targeted
government subsidies and assistance to
people who deserve it. — Bernama
13 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
news In brief
PTP appoints Mark Hardiman
as CEO
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Pelabuhan
Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd (PTP), which
operates the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, has
appointed Mark Hardiman as its new chief
executive officer, effective from Jan 2.
Hardiman is succeeding Marco Neelsen,
who has stepped down from the role
after seven years at the helm since 2016.
In a statement, PTP said Hardiman was
formerly the CEO of the Port of Salalah,
Oman, after holding leadership roles as
the chief operations officer and managing
director of the Khalifa Bin Salman Port,
Bahrain, and general manager for the
Africa, Middle East and India region under
the APM Terminals Regional Office Dubai,
Straits Energy Resources secures
RM41 mil hospital upgrading job
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Straits Energy
Resources Bhd has bagged a contract to
upgrade Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz,
Pusat Perubatan Univerisity Kebangsaan
Malaysia for RM40.73 million. In a bourse
filing on Monday, Straits Energy Resources
said its indirect 70%-owned subsidiary
Straits CommNet Solutions Sdn Bhd (SCS)
had accepted the letter of award from
Puncabahan Sdn Bhd for the job, which
involves adding more space to the hospital,
besides upgrading its emergency medical
department and carrying out electrical and
information and communications technology
works, and to provide a smart building
system for the hospital. Puncabahan is the
main contractor that has been awarded the
project by the Public Works Department.
SCS is principally involved in the designing,
developing, researching and handling of
all types of telecommunications products.
It also provides a broad range of network
development services. The job, which started
on Monday, is targeted to be completed on
Sept 23, 2026, taking 140 weeks. Straits
Energy Resources shares closed up half a sen
or 3.85% at 13.5 sen on Monday, bringing the
group a market capitalisation of RM134.25
million. — by Justin Lim
hctm.ukm.my
the United Arab Emirates. PTP is a joint
venture between MMC Corp Bhd (70%)
and APM Terminals (30%), a global ports
group with 67 port and terminal facilities.
The Port of Tanjung Pelepas is Malaysia’s
busiest transhipment hub, with a
capacity to handle 13 million twenty-foot
equivalent units annually. — by Emir Zainul
GHL offers Mastercard Click to Pay
for seamless online payments
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): GHL Systems
Bhd said it is offering Mastercard Click to
Pay — designed to drive higher conversion
rates for merchants while ensuring a secure
payment solution for consumers — to 2,000
of its e-commerce merchants. “Click to
Pay’s intelligent recognition facilitates a
faster and improved checkout experience,
giving consumers instant access to their
preferred cards on every device, eliminating
the need to manually enter card details
or remember passwords,” said GHL in a
statement. The group said Click to Pay
simplifies online shopping by allowing
consumers to use a single, secure profile for
all their payment cards. The convenience is
accessible across various devices, including
smartphones, tablets, and PCs. “With Click
to Pay, merchants can now seamlessly
meet evolving consumer demands, offering
a user-friendly, secure, and convenient
payment experience that aligns perfectly
with the expectations of the modern age,”
said GHL chief executive officer Kevin
Lee. Mastercard country manager for
Malaysia and Brunei Beena Pothen added:
“The solution delivers a more consistent
experience for consumers that is fast and
safe, without the need to enter their card
credentials or store sensitive information
with different merchants. Consumers have
peace of mind, knowing that every purchase
is transparent and protected by the highest
industry standards.” GHL said cinema
operator TGV Cinemas will be among the
key merchants to enable Mastercard Click
to Pay, providing a hassle-free payment
experience when purchasing movie tickets
through their website. — by Justin Lim
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
Najib complains about MACC IO’s testimony,
wants Netflix’s ‘Man on the Run’ to be barred
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Former prime
minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Mon-
day complained about Malaysian Anti-Cor-
ruption Commission (MACC) investigat-
ing officer (IO) Nur Aida Arifin’s testimony
over a yacht meeting in 2009, and is also
seeking to bar the airing of the Netflix mov-
ie “Man on the Run”.
His lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad
Shafee Abdullah said he watched the Net-
flix movie on Sunday night, and described
that it broke the rule of subjudice, and had
contemptuous comments, citing the com-
ments made by former attorney general
Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, former US am-
bassador John Malott, and Sarawak Report
editor Claire Rewcastle Brown as being the
major complaint.
“Malott’s comments claiming abuses and
no check and balance — where Najib was
the chairman of 1MDB (1Malaysia Devel-
opment Bhd), also the finance minister and
prime minister — were uncalled for.
“Tommy’s description of Najib and [fugi-
tive] Low Taek Jho’s (Jho Low) relationship,
and description of who was the puppet mas-
ter and who was the puppet in the scandal
were also uncalled for,” Shafee said.
He, however, commended The Edge pub-
lisher Datuk Ho Kay Tat’s comments in the
movie, which he described were made care-
fully and not reckless like the rest.
Following this, Shafee said he had asked
deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad
Akram Gharib to view the Netflix pro-
gramme, and move the attorney general and
the Malaysian Communications and Multi-
media Commission to bar the programme.
Ahmad Akram verified that he had yet to
see the show, and would do the necessary.
Shafee said he had received instructions to
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak seen at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex on Monday
for the 1MDB-Tanore trial.
14 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
BY HAFIZ YATIM & TARANI PALANI
theedgemalaysia.com
The documentary was
already shown in local
cinemas prior to its
Netflix debut. However,
Shafee is bringing it up
now as it is now available
on a wider platform.
file contempt against Tommy, and a defama-
tion suit against Brown for their comments.
“Najib has already taken a defamation
action against Tommy,” he added.
The senior lawyer also said that Brown’s
statement on the show linking the murder
of DPP Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais to his
client had painted a picture that Najib is a
“serial murderer”, after also linking the for-
mer Pekan Member of Parliament with the
murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Shafee added that they found about 160
contemptuous comments in the documen-
tary, and had asked the prosecution’s help
to take it down.
The one hour, 38 minutes show, which
also featured Najib and other individuals,
has been put up on subscription-based vid-
eo-streaming service. The show debuted
in several cinemas nationwide in October
last year.
Complaint about Nur Aida’s testimony
Shafee earlier also complained about the
MACC IO’s testimony over the yacht meet-
ing in 2009, claiming that Nur Aida was
coming to her own conclusions, which she
PATRICK GOH/THE EDGE
should not make as an IO.
“It is derogatory to announce [as in
her testimony] that this was a govern-
ment-to-government initiative. I would never
use the vacation meeting to conclude the dip-
lomatic venture. She has never interviewed
Najib, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor,
their children or Prince Turki.”
Ahmad Akram explained that what Nur
Aida was telling was the outcome of her in-
vestigation, and it was based on Prince Turki
and Tarek Obaid’s letter to Najib.
The DPP said Nur Aida is the IO, and
this was based on documents that came to
her possession and were introduced by for-
mer 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk
Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
Ahmad Akram proposed an amendment
to that portion of Nur Aida’s statement.
However, presiding judge Datuk Collin
Lawrence Sequerah agreed to expunge a
huge part of the MACC IO’s testimony
over her feelings about the yacht meeting,
and only take note of the meeting on the
yacht in 2009.
‘Najib in prison, how can he watch?’
At a press conference after the proceedings
on Monday, Shafee said that his client ap-
peared in the documentary because Najib
“was misled” by the director that the docu-
mentary would only concern Jho Low.
“He was misled. [he was told that] the
programme only had to do with Jho Low.
What Najib said in the programme was
100% accurate,” the lawyer said.
When asked if the former prime min-
ister had watched the one-and-a-half-hour
documentary, Shafee merely said: “He is in
prison. How can he watch it?”
The senior lawyer said that statements
from the documentary cannot be allowed
since the trial is still ongoing.
The documentary was already shown
in local cinemas prior to its Netflix debut.
However, Shafee is bringing it up now as it
is now available on a wider platform.
Read also:
Sparks fly in 1MDB-Tanore proceedings
over MACC IO’s statement, judge grows
frustrated
Najib kept US$3.5 bil 1MDB bond
issuance hidden from Cabinet, alleges
MACC officer
T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4 15 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Datuk Seri
Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, the son of Sar-
awak governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud,
has filed a judicial review application in
the High Court to set aside a notice of
additional assessment for 2017 imposed
by the Inland Revenue Board under the
Income Tax Act (ITA) involving a sum of
RM36.494 million, following the dispos-
al of a 99% stake in Radiant Lagoon Sdn
Bhd (RLSB).
Abu Bekir filed the application through
Messrs Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partner-
ship on Jan 16 last year, where he named
the finance minister as a respondent. He
claimed the said assessment was illegal,
void and unlawful, and in excess of au-
thority, after he obtained a certificate of
clearance over the real property gains tax
(RPGT).
He is also seeking a declaration that the
gains arising from his disposal of RLSB
shares fell within the scope of the RPGT
Act 1976.
Furthermore, he sought a stay of pro-
ceedings, for the enforcement and effect
of the additional assessment to be stayed,
pending the outcome of this judicial re-
view challenge.
RLSB is a company that Swiss-based
non-governmental organisation (NGO)
Bruno Manser Fonds said was granted
two palm oil concessions covering 4,400
hectares of land near the Unesco-listed
Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak in
2008. According to the NGO, the conces-
sions were revoked by the state government
in 2019, following a suit filed by plaintiffs
from the indigenous Penan, Berawan and
Tering communities.
Abu Bekir obtained a stay of proceedings
in March and on Sept 21 last year obtained
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): Controversial
blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris
has been charged at the Sessions Court
under the Sedition Act 1948, for alleging
the present government under Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim is pro-Israel.
Wan Azri or better known as Papago-
mo, who was previously with Umno and
is now linked to Perikatan Nasional, has
claimed trial before judge Priscilla He-
mamalini Nadarajan.
Wan Azri was charged with posting the
comment on another person’s Facebook
(ie Halid Hamidi) that has been viewed by
one Hisham Sharudin on Nov 8.
Deputy public prosecutor Mustafa P
Kunyalam applied for bail at RM10,000
with one surety.
However, Wan Azri’s counsel Rafique
Rashid Ali argued for a lower bail, as bail
was to secure attendance and that Wan Azri
16 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
Taib Mahmud’s
son Abu Bekir
seeks to set aside
2017 notice
of extra tax
assessment for
RM36 mil
BY HAFIZ YATIM
theedgemalaysia.com
leave for a judicial review before judge Datuk
Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh for the merits
of the judicial review to be heard.
However, the finance minister is appeal-
ing against the judge’s decision. In judicial
review proceedings, leave permission has
to be gained for the merits of the applica-
tion to be heard.
In his affidavit in support of the judi-
cial review application, Abu Bekir said he
used to own the 99% stake in RLSB, a
dormant investment and holding company
formed in 2007.
He said that on Dec 3, 2008, two lands
were alienated by the Sarawak government,
and they were classified as fixed assets for
accounting purposes. Abu Bekir said on
Aug 25, 2017, he sold his RLSB stake to
Onlyee Plantations Sdn Bhd.
He said that on Oct 20 that year, he
submitted the RPGT to the IRB director
general (DG) via the IRB office in Kuch-
ing, and on Nov 30 that year, the DG said
Papagomo
hauled to court
for sedition
against Anwar,
claims trial
BY HAFIZ YATIM
theedgemalaysia.com
is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Rafique further said that the person who
posted bail is Wan Azri’s housewife, and
the couple has five children.
Following that, Priscilla set bail at
RM7,000 and fixed Feb 5 for mention.
the application was in order, and a certifi-
cate of clearance was issued.
According to Abu Bekir, on Sept 8, 2021,
he received a letter from the DG that there
were badges of trade in the share sale trans-
action, and hence it would be subjected to in-
come tax for the year of assessment of 2017.
The DG maintained the position on Dec
5, 2022, and by the end of the month, it is-
sued the notice of additional assessment for
Abu Bekir to pay taxes of RM36.494 million.
On Jan 5 last year, Abu Bekir sent a
letter to the DG to exercise power under
Section 135 of the ITA to set aside or ex-
empt the notice of additional assessment,
and as there was no response, Abu Bekir
was forced to file the application on Jan
16, 2023 to preserve his legal rights.
He claimed that the IRB DG had acted
arbitrarily in subjecting the gains arising
from the disposal of the shares to income
tax rather than the RPGT.
He claimed that the IRB DG had failed
to realise that he was not acting in his ca-
pacity as a stock broker and did not pos-
sess any skill in stock trading.
The gains, he added, should be viewed
as a capital receipt.
“In the present matter, the applicant (Abu
Bekir) had lost interest in managing RLSB,
as it did not provide any commercial justi-
fication,” he said, adding that based on the
above, he claimed that the DG’s decision to
impose the additional assessment was filled
with illegality and irrationality.
A case management of the matter was
held again before Wan Ahmad Farid on
Monday, who fixed Jan 18 for further case
management before High Court senior as-
sistant registrar Syeela Marlina Uttaman,
possibly pending the outcome of proceed-
ings in the Court of Appeal.
BERNAMA
Blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris,
also known as Papagomo
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
BERNAMA
Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin
said the police report is also a signal to the
responsible parties to stop their futile efforts
because it not only disrupts the parliamentary
democracy system but also creates political
instability in the country.
Dubai Move: PM’s
senior political
secretary lodges
police report
Bernama
PUTRAJAYA(Jan 8): Datuk Seri Shamsul
Iskandar Mohd Akin, the senior political sec-
retary to the Prime Minister, filed a police
report on Monday to enable authorities to
investigate the “Dubai Move”, which is said
to be aimed at toppling the government led
by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Speaking to the media after lodging the
report at the Putrajaya district police head-
quarters (IPD) on Monday, he said the po-
ALOR SETAR (Jan 8): Kedah Menteri
Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md
Nor is ready to cooperate if called by the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission
(MACC) to assist in the investigation into a
corruption case involving the Kedah Foot-
ball Association (KFA).
Sanusi, who is also the KFA president,
however, said that thus far, there had been
no notification that he will be called by the
MACC to give a statement on the matter.
“I am ready to cooperate. I want to an-
swer [those questions] because there is no
element of wrongdoing in the KFA as the
money is in the association’s account and
not in the personal accounts of those linked
to the corruption issue.
“Furthermore, the amount of money
is also incorrect as it is only RM5 million,
not RM6 million as claimed, and it was
used to pay off debts,” he told reporters
when asked to comment on the matter.
At the same time, he said that the cor-
ruption issue had also affected the KFA,
as some parties who had agreed to con-
tribute to the association became fearful,
worrying that they would be implicated in
the issue faced by the KFA.
17 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
lice report is also a signal to the responsible
parties to stop their futile efforts because
it not only disrupts the parliamentary de-
mocracy system but also creates political
instability in the country.
“We want this plot to be stopped because
we don’t want the people to say that the
government is not taking action. I hope the
police will investigate quickly so that those
involved can be punished,” he said.
He added that similar police reports
were also filed by Angkatan Muda Kead-
ilan (PKR’s Youth wing) throughout the
country on Monday.
When asked about the authenticity of the
existence of the movement, Shamsul Iskandar,
who is also the chairman of the Council of Po-
litical Secretaries of the Madani Government,
said he leaves it to the authorities to conduct an
investigation in accordance with existing laws.
On Dec 30, Community Communica-
tions Department (J-Kom) deputy direc-
tor-general (Community Communication)
Datuk Ismail Yusop was reported to have
claimed that the “Dubai Move” emerged
during the vacation of several opposition
leaders and government figures in the cap-
ital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Meanwhile, Putrajaya District police chief
ACP A Asmadi Abdul Aziz, when contacted,
confirmed receiving the report and stated
that they would conduct an investigation.
Read also: KL police receive eight reports
regarding ‘Dubai Move’
Sanusi ready to
cooperate on Kedah
Football Association
graft probe
Bernama
Last Friday, the media reported that the
MACC had obtained a three-day remand
order for four individuals, including the
chief executive officer of a football associ-
ation in a northern state in the country, to
assist in the investigation into a corruption
case involving over RM6 million in 2020.
According to sources, the alleged bribery
money is believed to be a reward for assist-
ing a company owner in securing contracts
for a race circuit construction project, and
the management, operation, and mainte-
nance of five water reservoirs in Kedah.
The KFA confirmed that its CEO Zulkifli
Che Haron, who was remanded by the MACC
last Friday, was released on MACC bail.
Govt ready to audit
licence holders
in rice, paddy
industry to address
cartel issues
Bernama
BACHOK (Jan 8): The Ministry
of Agriculture and Food Security
is prepared to conduct audits of li-
cence holders involved in rice whole-
sale, export, import, rice mills, paddy
purchase, rice retailing and special
approval for selling certified paddy
seeds to address cartel-related issues.
According to its Minister Datuk
Seri Mohamad Sabu, who is also
known as Mat Sabu, there are about
39,000 individuals involved in the
rice and paddy industry.
“I personally conducted surprise
visits to assess the status of rice and
all aspects of food consumption in
the country without prior notification.
“Alhamdulillah, at present, this
issue is gradually being resolved, be-
cause we are taking collective action,
and if anyone violates the law, we trust
that the Ministry of Domestic Trade
and Cost of Living (KPDN) will take
the appropriate measures, similar to
what we are currently doing,” he told
reporters after visiting a cattle breed-
ing and farming centre at Kampung
Seneng Jelawat here on Monday.
Mohamad said that through the
National Rice and Padi Control
Agency, the government conducts
investigations and take action based
on facts, working in coordination
with the KPDN.
“We respond to concrete facts
and refrain from publicising indi-
vidual cases.
“The investigations are conduct-
ed in collaboration with the KPDN,
given their role in addressing car-
tel-related issues,” he said, adding
that at present, there
are cases at the pros-
ecution stage.
BERNAMA
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
KOTA BELUD (Jan 8): Barisan Nasional
(BN) will decide on its allies for the next
Sabah election only after the state assem-
bly is dissolved, said BN chairman Datuk
Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The deputy prime minister, who is also
the Umno president, said the party is pre-
pared to collaborate with any like-minded
party that gives priority to protecting the
well-being of the people of Sabah and
the country.
“Our political stand is pragmatic, and we
can enter into cooperation with any party
[for Sabah polls]. The important thing is
the government that is formed must have
support from the majority of the people.
“In this matter, the priority is to
strengthen the unity government, wheth-
er at the national or state level. This spirit
must prevail,” he told a media conference
after the Kadamaian Development Launch
held in conjunction with the Kadamaian
Christmas Open House here on Monday.
Also present was Entrepreneur and Co-
operatives Development Minister Datuk
Ewon Benedick, who is also the Kada-
maian assemblyman.
Zahid said there was no political tur-
moil in Sabah, and he was visiting the
region to attend Monday’s ceremony.
The meeting with political leaders in
Sabah on Sunday night was to streamline
SHAH ALAM (Jan 8): The police have
confirmed receiving a report involving
three individuals, who allegedly tres-
passed into the official residence of the
Selangor menteri besar in Section 7 here
last Friday.
confirm receiving
“We have received the report, and it is
more of a denial. We have completed the
investigation papers, and handed them
over to the deputy public prosecutor for
three individuals
further action this afternoon (Monday),”
said Shah Alam district police chief ACP
Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim in a statement.
Mohd Iqbal reportedly said that three
local media practitioners were remanded
for two days starting from Saturday to as-
sist in the investigation under Section 447
of the Penal Code, in connection with an
incident of trespassing into the menteri
besar’s official residence.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Suffi Kamari,
35, on Monday refuted allegations of tres-
passing into the menteri besar’s residence.
Instead, he said, he had received an invi-
tation as a member of a non-governmen-
tal organisation regarding concerns of
residents in Kampung Sungai Sireh,
Port Klang related to the East Coast
Rail Link (ECRL) project.
Mohamad Suffi said that he
and two colleagues were invit- SHAHRILL BASRI/THE EDGE
18 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
work involving BN and Umno’s machin-
ery, especially in preparation for the next
BN’s allies for Sabah polls, he said.
“I reject the notion that there is polit-
next Sabah polls ical turmoil in Sabah. We were meeting
as part of preparations for the next Sabah
to be decided election. Although the polls may be held
as late as the end of next year, it is not
after dissolution wrong to start preparing now.
“No one should speculate that some-
of state assembly, thing is brewing in Sabah. We focus on
our work first,” he added.
says Zahid He said Sabah BN and Umno would
be given autonomy in facing the polls,
including picking their candidates and
Bernama prospective chief minister candidate, but
these decisions should be communicated
ZAHID IZZANI/THE EDGE to the BN chairman.
Asked about the flood situation in the
country, he said the relevant agencies in-
cluding the National Disaster Manage-
ment Agency, Social Welfare Department,
police, Fire and Rescue Department and
non-governmental organisations had been
mobilised to tackle the disaster in Johor
and Pahang.
“We are taking certain measures in
flood-hit states, including coordination
at the state and district levels to ensure
this cooperation is implemented,” said
Zahid, who is also the National Disaster
Management Committee chairman.
Trespassing into
ed by representatives of Gerakan Pertu-
buhan Ummah to attend a meeting with
Selangor MB’s
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari
on the day of the incident.
residence: Police
He claimed that they had informed
the guards on duty at the entrance gate
about their presence before attending the
meeting.
report involving
“After we were allowed in, I had the
opportunity to interact with the menteri
besar and residents of Kampung Sungai
Sireh. I even exchanged handshakes with
the menteri besar, who was presiding over
the meeting.
Bernama “No provocations occurred during the
meeting. However, in the middle of the
session, I was called outside by an officer
Selangor Menteri of the menteri besar, who subsequently ac-
Besar Datuk Seri cused us of trespassing into the residence
Amirudin Shari
before we were apprehended,” he said af-
ter filing a police report at the Shah
Alam district police headquarters on
Monday.
Meanwhile, Harakah chief oper-
ations officer Nadzir Helmi, who
was also present, informed that a
counter report was filed on Mon-
day by three Harakah personnel
as a legal measure to uphold the
truth, and provide an accurate ac-
count of the incident.
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4 19 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

W O R L D

WASHINGTON/PARIS (Jan 8): The A quick reference laminated checklist

US National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) said late on Sunday (Jan 7) that the
“key missing component” from the Boeing
737 MAX 9 jet involved in an Alaska Airlines
emergency landing had been recovered from
the backyard of a suburban home.
The plug door tore off the left side of
an Alaska Airlines jet on Friday, following
takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route
to Ontario, California, depressurising the
plane and forcing pilots to turn back and
land safely with all 171 passengers and
six crew on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) on Saturday ordered the tempo-
rary grounding of 171 Boeing MAX 9
jets installed with the same panel, which
weighs about 60 pounds (27kg) and cov-
ers an optional exit door mainly used by
low-cost airlines.
The missing plug door was recovered
on Sunday by a Portland school teacher
identified only as “Bob” in the Cedar Hills
neighborhood, who found it in his backyard,
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said she was
“very relieved” that it had been found.
She had earlier told reporters that the air-
craft part was a “key missing component” to
determine why the accident occurred.
“Our structures team will want to look at
everything on the door — all of the compo-
nents on the door to see, to look at witness
marks, to look at any paint transfer, what
shape the door was in when found.That can
tell them a lot about what occurred,” she said.
The force from the loss of the plug door
was strong enough to blow open the cock-
US investigators
recover key part
from Alaska Airlines
737 MAX jet
BY DAVID SHEPARDSON,
VALERIE INSINNA & TIM HEPHER
Reuters
Our structures team will
want to look at everything
on the door — all of the
components on the door
to see, to look at witness
marks, to look at any paint
transfer, what shape the
door was in when found.
That can tell them a lot
about what occurred.”
pit door during flight, said Homendy, who
said it must have been a “terrifying event”
to experience.
“They heard a bang,” Homendy said
of the pilots, who were interviewed by in-
vestigators.
flew out the door, while the first officer lost
her headset, she said. “Communication was
a serious issue... It was described as chaos.”
Homendy said the cockpit voice re-
corder did not capture any data because
it had been overwritten and again called
on regulators to mandate retrofitting ex-
isting planes with recorders that capture
25 hours of data, up from the two hours
required at present.
Earlier pressurisation issues
Homendy said the auto pressurisation fail
light illuminated on the same Alaska Air-
lines aircraft on Dec 7, Jan 3 and Jan 4, but
it was unclear if there was any connection
between those incidents and the accident.
Alaska Airlines made a decision after
the warnings to restrict the aircraft from
making long flights over water to Hawaii,
so that it could return quickly to an airport
if needed, Homendy said.
The Seattle-based carrier said earlier in
a response to questions about the warn-
ing lights that aircraft pressurisation sys-
tem write-ups were typical in commercial
aviation operations with large planes.
The airline said “in every case, the write
up was fully evaluated and resolved per
approved maintenance procedures and in
full compliance with all applicable FAA
regulations.”
Alaska Airlines added that it has an in-
ternal policy to restrict aircraft with multi-
ple maintenance write-ups on some systems
from long flights over water, that was not
required by the FAA.

(Jan 8): Wrongly drilled holes, loose rudder
bolts, and now a fuselage section that ejected
during flight on a brand-new aircraft, leaving
terrified passengers exposed to a gaping hole
in the cabin at 16,000 feet (4,900 metres).
In just months, Boeing Co has suffered a
series of quality lapses that threaten to erode
trust in the manufacturing prowess of the
biggest US exporter — notably its 737 Max
aircraft, a crucial cash cow.
The latest, most serious, mishap occurred
on the evening of Jan 5, when a door-shaped
panel ripped out as an Alaska Airlines 737
Max 9 climbed out of Portland, Oregon.
Regulators reacted swiftly, grounding 171
of the variant less than 24 hours after the
incident, including the entire fleet of 737
Max 9s in the US. And while nobody was
seriously injured, authorities said luck played
a big part in the event not turning tragic.
Shares in Boeing fell 7.9% in pre-market
US trading on Monday as investors assessed
any impact on production and plane-maker’s
long-term outlook. Supplier Spirit AeroSys-
tems Holdings Inc, which installed the panel
on the nearly new jet, slid 16%.
Boeing CEO’s 2024 For Boeing chief executive officer Dave
Calhoun, the Alaska Air episode is another
comeback plan takes blow to his efforts to stabilise the company
after half a decade of upheaval, coming just
a hit five days in a few days into a new year he had heralded
as crucial to a turnaround. Boeing is still
feeling the reverberations of two deadly 737
BY JULIE JOHNSSON Max crashes almost five years ago that shook
Bloomberg confidence in the company. Now Boeing’s
fraught relationship with Spirit, its biggest
BLOOMBERG supplier, stands to face fresh scrutiny.
As the crisis in confidence deepened over
the weekend, Calhoun cancelled Boeing’s an-
nual senior leadership retreat, which was to
have begun on Monday outside of San Die-
go. And he summoned employees to an all-
hands meeting to be webcast from Boeing’s
737 factory on Tuesday, where he and other
senior executives will address the near-trag-
edy and reinforce Boeing’s commitment to
safety, quality, integrity and transparency.
Read the full story
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4 20 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

W O R L D

DHAKA (Jan 8): Bangladesh Prime Minis- was to Bangladesh citizens.

ter Sheikh Hasina secured a fourth straight
term as expected with her party winning an
absolute majority in the general election,
the poll body said on Monday, amid low
turnout in the vote boycotted by the main
opposition.
The main opposition Bangladesh Na-
tionalist Party (BNP), who participated
in the 2018 polls but stayed away in 2014,
boycotted the election after Hasina refused
their demands to resign and allow a neutral
authority to run the election.
The daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rah-
man, founding father of Bangladesh who
was killed in an army coup in 1975 along
with most members of their family, Hasina,
76, first became prime minister in 1996 and
it will be her fifth term overall.
In her past 15 years in power she has
been credited with turning the economy and
the massive garments industry around, and
winning international praise for sheltering
Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in
neighbouring Myanmar.
Bangladeshis largely stayed away from
Sunday’s general election, which was marred
by violence. Turnout was about 40% when
polls closed, said chief election commission-
er Kazi Habibul Awal, compared with over
80% in the last election in 2018.
The ruling Awami League party won 167
seats out of 227 seats with the outcome of
the rest of the seats still to be unannounced,
according to unofficial results released by
the Election Commission.
Hasina herself bagged 249,962 votes
from her constituency Gopalganj, about 165
kilometres (103 miles) from capital Dhaka,
while her nearest rival secured just 469 votes.
Bangladesh PM She has instructed party leaders and sup-
porters not to bring out any victory proces-
Hasina secures sions or indulge in celebrations, said Awami
League’s general secretary Obaidul Quader.
fourth straight Polls were held for 299 directly elect-
ed parliamentary seats, with close to 120
term as expected million voters choosing from nearly 2,000
contestants. Election to one seat will be
held at a later date after an independent
BY SUDIPTO GANGULY & RUMA PAUL contestant died ahead of the vote due to
Reuters natural causes.
Among ruling party winners were for-
mer Bangladesh cricket captains Shakib Al
Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza.
Independent candidates, many of them
Bangladeshis largely Awami League party members of various
stayed away from the ranks, won 49 seats.
general election, which BNP has accused the ruling party of
was marred by violence. propping up ‘dummy’ independent can-
didates to try to make the election look
credible. Awami League has denied the
accusation.
The BNP called a two-day strike nation-
wide through Sunday, asking people to shun
the election, and said the low turnout was
a success for their boycott call.
Hasina has accused the opposition of
instigating anti-government protests that
have rocked Dhaka since late October and
killed at least 14 people.
Her critics accuse Hasina of authoritari-
anism, human rights violations, crackdowns
REUTERS on free speech and suppression of dissent.
The economy has also slowed sharply
since the Russia-Ukraine war pushed up
“I am trying my best to ensure that de- prices of fuel and food imports, forcing
mocracy should continue in this country,” Bangladesh to turn last year to the Inter-
Hasina said on Sunday after casting her national Monetary Fund for a bailout of
vote, adding that her only accountability US$4.7 billion.

TAIPEI (Jan 8): Taiwan’s defence ministry
said it detected three more Chinese balloons
flying over the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, one
of which crossed the island, the latest in a
spate of such balloons the ministry says it
has spotted over the past month.
The ministry on Saturday, in a strongly
worded statement, accused China of threat-
ening aviation safety and waging psycho-
logical warfare on the island’s people with
the balloons, days before key Taiwanese
elections.
China’s defence ministry, which last
month declined to comment on the bal-
loons, did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
The potential for China to use balloons
for spying became a global issue last Feb-
ruary when the US shot down what it said
was a Chinese surveillance balloon. China
said the balloon was a civilian craft that
accidentally drifted astray.
Taiwan is on high alert for Chinese mili-
Ignoring Taiwan’s
complaints, more
Chinese balloons
spotted over strait
BY BEN BLANCHARD
Reuters
tary and political activity ahead of this Sat-
urday’s presidential and parliamentary elec-
tions. It says China is exerting military and
economic pressure in an attempt to inter-
fere in the elections.
China views the island as its own terri-
tory, a claim Taiwan’s government rejects.
Since last month Taiwan’s defence minis-
try has reported several instances of Chinese
balloons flying over the Taiwan Strait. It has
said over the past week some balloons had
flown overTaiwan island near major air bases.
In the latest incident, revealed by the
ministry on Monday in its daily report on
Chinese military activities over the past 24
hours, it said three balloons had flown over
the strait’s sensitive median line on Sunday.
However, only one crossed Taiwan is-
land, right at its southern tip, according to
a map the ministry provided.
The balloons all headed east before van-
ishing, it added.
On Monday, the ruling Democratic
Progressive Party’s (DPP) vice presiden-
tial candidate Hsiao Bi-khim said China
should stop harassing Taiwan.
Read the full story
Read also: Israeli strike kills two Palestinian
journalists in Gaza, officials say
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
(Jan 8): China’s share of a key emerg-
ing-market equity benchmark dropped
to a record low, highlighting how a bear-
ish outlook for the world’s second-largest
emerging-market
economy is diverging from the rest of an
asset class it once dominated.
The Chinese stock market accounted
for 23.77% of the MSCI Emerging Mar-
kets Index as of Dec 31, just below the
23.84% in June 2017, when the NewYork-
based firm announced the addition of Chi-
na’s mainland stocks, so-called A shares,
to the index. That’s almost 15 percentage
points below the country’s peak weight of
38.5% in September 2020.
Global investors are reducing their ex-
posure to Chinese stocks as the econo-
my struggles to recover from a pandemic
slump, regulatory flip-flops raise the risk
of investing in the country, and domestic
confidence remains subdued after a debt
crisis battered the property sector. The
nation’s stocks have erased almost US$4
trillion (RM18.37 trillion) in value since
2021, ranking among the world’s worst
performers last year in a trend that’s con-
tinued into the start of 2024.
China’s “lower weighting in EM bench-
mark indices is a reflection of the poor
just below the 23.84% in June 2017, when the New
market performance, reduced investor po-
York-based firm announced the addition of China’s
sitioning and significant capital outflows,”
(Jan 8): Stocks started 2024 with a limp.
But that could change this week as earn-
ings season kicks off and companies start
announcing their plans for share repur-
chases, something investors hope will
help the market keep last year’s rally
running.
Bulls may need the support, as hedge
funds and retail investors are tilted de-
fensively following the strong end to the
year, with worries around the timing of the
Federal Reserve’s (Fed) rate cuts adding
to the caution.
“I’m bullish on stocks in 2024, but
it’s going to be a wild ride in the coming
months since institutions are bearish,” said
Brian Reynolds, chief market strategist at
Reynolds Strategy, who correctly called the
bear market during the 2008 global finan-
cial crisis. “Once the selling runs its course,
companies will buy back their shares to
push stocks back up.”
US corporations have been reluctant to
repurchase their shares as the Fed pushed
interest rates higher to fight inflation, which
raised borrowing costs. Buybacks have fall-
en for five straight quarters after hitting a
record in 2022, according to Bloomberg
Intelligence. But with the Fed potential-
ly getting ready to cut rates and earnings
growth forecast to improve, investors ex-
pect more companies to deploy their newly
21 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
China’s
said Nenad Dinic, an equity strategist at
Bank Julius Baer in Zurich. “Continued
weight in key
weak economic data and regulatory crack-
downs over the holidays have cast a shad-
ow over the outlook for Chinese equities.”
Unexpected decline
index drops to
China’s decades-long campaign to in-
record low
tegrate with global markets bore fruit
in 2017, when MSCI said it would add
mainland shares to an index that already
included Hong Kong-listed Chinese equi-
BY SRINIVASAN SIVABALAN ties. The inclusion began on June 1, 2018
Bloomberg and was carried out over several phases.
At that time, MSCI’s global head of index
BLOOMBERG research, Sebastien Lieblich, said China’s
weight in the emerging-market gauge was
expected to reach 42% eventually.
The nation seemed to be on track to
achieve that milestone as asset allocators
began pumping in billions of dollars to
rebalance their portfolios and gain more
exposure to China. Citigroup Inc predict-
ed US$48 billion of annual inflows to A
shares, while MSCI said the initial inclu-
sion itself could channel about US$17
billion in passive funds, rising to US$35
The Chinese stock market accounted for 23.77% billion in later years.
of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as of Dec 31,
mainland stocks, so-called A shares, to the index. Read the full story
available capital in the stock market.
Investors are
The fate of the stock market doesn’t rest
entirely on buybacks, however at nearly a
looking to share
trillion dollars a year, they represent one
of the biggest buying forces around. S&P
buybacks to
500 companies spent nearly US$800 bil-
lion (RM3.72 trillion) on buybacks in the
keep US stock
past year, down almost 20% from the same
period the year before, according to data
market afloat
compiled by Bloomberg.
S&P 500 firms are expected to spend
at least US$840 billion toward buybacks
in 2024, according to preliminary data
BY JESSICA MENTON from S&P Dow Jones Indices, which uses
Bloomberg a different methodology than Bloomberg.
The 12-month expenditure through Sep-
REUTERS tember of US$787 billion was down nearly
20% from a year prior, S&P Dow Jones
Indices said. The record was US$923 bil-
lion in 2022.
Overall, total corporate buybacks
fell 18% in the third quarter compared
with the year prior, according to Wen-
dy Soong, a senior analyst at Bloomb-
erg Intelligence. More than 40 S&P 500
companies announced buybacks in the
fourth quarter worth a total of US$163
billion, nearly a third less than a year ago
in dollar value.
Read the full story
 t u e s d ay j a n u a ry 9 , 2 0 2 4
(Jan 8): The consensus estimate of sell-side
analysts is that S&P 500 earnings this year
will reach historic levels, but those fore-
casts are too high, according to 50% of 380
MLIV Pulse respondents. The poll shows
an economic slowdown is the biggest risk
for the bottom lines this year.
The findings imply profits won’t be a key
catalyst for stock market gains this year after
a 24% rally in the S&P 500 in 2023. While
corporate earnings held up better-than-es-
timated last year, helping boost stock valua-
tions, the key US index snapped a nine-week
gaining streak in the first week of January.
“Investors have priced significant expec-
tations of a benign soft-landing scenario
for 2024,” said Rajeev De Mello, a global
macro portfolio manager at Gama Asset
Management SA. “I am more cautious.”
Economic weakness could result from
faltering US consumer spending growth,
according to 40% of participants. Another
38% expect this year’s shopping patterns
to mirror last year’s, allowing for a Gold-
ilocks scenario where the economy is not
running too hot or too cold.
“Earnings expectations seem a bit high
in some areas, like some consumer areas,
for example,” said Nicole Kornitzer, port-
folio manager of the Buffalo International
Fund at Kornitzer Capital Management
Inc. “Consumers seem to be frustrated by
all the past price hikes.”
As a result, the majority of respondents
are counting on so-called value stocks, such
as JPMorgan Chase & Co or oil giant Exx-
on Mobil Corp, as a winning strategy this
year. Shares of JPMorgan, which kicks off
earnings season on Jan 12 when it reports
(Jan 8): The Australian dollar’s late 2023
rally faces a new hurdle this week, with in-
flation data expected to strengthen the case
for earlier interest-rate cuts by the Reserve
Bank of Australia (RBA).
The Aussie jumped nearly 10% against
the greenback from late October through
December, as the RBA sounded hawkish
while traders priced Federal Reserve rate
cuts this year. The rally may struggle to ex-
tend if November inflation data on Wednes-
day provides room for the central bank to
soften its tone and prompts the swap mar-
ket to price the first RBA interest-rate cut
earlier than in June.
“Market pricing for RBA interest rate
cuts looks far too hawkish, with them
priced to cut very little in 2024/2025 ver-
sus peers,” said Tim Baker, Sydney-based
head of macro research at Deutsche Bank
AG. “Australia’s inflation overshoot isn’t
that different to peers. If inflation is on the
softer side, the market will gain conviction
that the RBA is done.”
22 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
High-flying profit
forecasts head
back down to
earth
by Farah Elbahrawy
Bloomberg
Nonetheless, Wall Street
strategists and investors alike
still expect equity markets
to rally in 2024. Almost
a third of respondents
plan to increase their
exposure to S&P 500
over the next month.
results, already hit a record this year.
And even as value stocks are expect-
ed to lead, survey participants foresee the
top six lenders in the US to keep focus-
ing on cost management by maintaining
head count. Only 3% assume the biggest
banks will expand their workforce with the
majority roughly split between expecting
banks to keep employment flat or contin-
uing to cut jobs.
De Mello said financials and energy —
key value sectors — could have different
trajectories this year. “Financials are still
reasonably priced while energy stocks will
Aussie dollar
faces inflation
test after stellar
year-end rally
by David Finnerty
Bloomberg
Australia’s consumer inflation slowed
4.5% in November as it moderated for a
second straight month, according to a me-
dian estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Weak inflation would validate asset man-
agers’ long-held pessimism on the Aussie.
Even though they trimmed these positions
to half of what they were in mid-September,
they still held 42,658 contracts betting against
the currency as of Jan 2, according to Com-
modity Futures Trading Commission data.
depend on the oil price” which is one of
the main conduits of geopolitical risk into
the financial markets, and geopolitical risk
is rising, he added.
Still, the preference for value signals a
likely end to 2023’s growth-stock fueled
equity market boon. In 2023, the biggest
gainer on the Nasdaq 100, Nvidia Corp,
more than tripled in value closing last
year at US$495 (RM2,301.50) a share,
but 86% of respondents don’t expect the
chipmaker to reach US$1,000 this year.
Bullishness has likely peaked for now.
HSBC Holdings plc strategist Max Ket-
tner cut his overweight stance on equities
to a tactical underweight, awaiting a better
re-entry point, such as when sentiment and
positioning become less stretched again.
Sanford C Bernstein strategists Sarah Mc-
Carthy and Mark Diver also recommend
short-term caution on equities after ex-
treme bullish sentiment.
Nonetheless, Wall Street strategists and
investors alike still expect equity markets to
rally in 2024. Almost a third of respondents
plan to increase their exposure to S&P 500
over the next month, the highest level since
the MLIV Pulse survey started asking the
question in August 2022.
“Markets need to breathe from time to
time.You have to consider that against the
fact that investors are still highly skeptical
of the economy and earnings,” said eToro
US investment analyst Callie Cox. “Spend-
ing is holding up well, but profit growth is
expected to come from cost-cutting. It’s
progress, but not the kind of progress you’d
ideally like to see. Investors could struggle
with this dynamic.”
These investors may be taking solace
from the fact that the Aussie dollar’s slow
stochastics, a momentum indicator that has
also turned bearish, after the currency’s ral-
ly stalled under resistance at 69 US cents.
Aussie Turnaround?
Baker sees the Aussie dollar weakening to 65
US cents this quarter. It closed last week at
67.13 cents last week, easing from a five-month
high of 68.71 touched in late December, as
traders grew concerned that the Fed rate cuts
this year may not be as deep as expected.
US inflation data, also due this week,
may put additional pressure on the Aussie
dollar, if it spurs investors to further dial
back on their expectations for Fed rate cuts.
Read the full story
Read also: Global manufacturers struggle
to regain momentum
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
Indonesia jails
tax officer for
14 years amid
wealth scandal
BY STANLEY WIDIANTO &
STEFANNO SULAIMAN
Reuters
JAKARTA (Jan 8): An Indonesian court
sentenced a former senior tax officer on
Monday to 14 years in prison on corrup-
tion charges after reports of his exorbitant
wealth caused public distrust and triggered
a boycott against paying taxes.
Judges at the Central Jakarta court
found that Rafael Alun Trisambodo had
received about 10 billion rupiah (RM2.98
million) in kickbacks. Prosecutors had said
he obtained the money between 2002 and
2013.
(Jan 8): Housing prices in Singapore are
not expected to rise indefinitely, amid high
mortgage rates and an increased supply of
completed homes, the Straits Times report-
ed, citing Minister for National Develop-
ment Desmond Lee.
Interest rates are expected to remain
high for longer, Lee said in an interview
with the newspaper. “The rates we see are
between 3.7% and 4.4%, so that will have
an impact,” he added.
If the resale market remains buoyant,
the government will have to consider in-
creasing discounts given to people to keep
build-to-order flats affordable in prime ar-
eas, he said.
The government is also looking for the
“right timing” to lift a rule requiring private
home owners to wait 15 months before
they can buy a HDB resale flat, Lee said,
23 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
The country’s anti-graft agency, which ar-
rested Rafael last year, had said the kickbacks
came from taxpayers via a consultancy group
he founded to resolve their tax disputes.
Judge Suparman Nyompa said Rafael
was guilty of receiving kickbacks and mon-
ey laundering.
Junaedi Saibih, Rafael’s lawyer, did not
immediately respond to a request for com-
ment. Rafael, who had previously denied
wrongdoing, said in court he was consid-
ering an appeal.
A tax office spokesperson said that it
honoured the ruling.
Rafael’s case followed public outrage on
social media over government officials seen to
be flaunting their wealth and lavish lifestyles.
Finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawa-
ti sacked Rafael and probed several civil
servants last year, sparking calls among
citizens to stop paying taxes.
According to global graft watchdog
Transparency International, Indonesia
dropped four points on its corruption
perception index in 2022 to 110th out of
180 countries.
BLOOMBERG
Singapore’s home
prices won’t keep
rising, govt says
BY SHERYL TIAN TONG LEE
Bloomberg
referring to homes built by the Housing
and Development Board.
Singapore’s private-home prices could
move sideways in 2024 after rising 6.7%
last year, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst
Ken Foong said in a recent note. “Prices
could be capped by April 2023’s stamp-du-
ty hike, and economic and rate uncertain-
ties, along with more launches,” he said.
PIF, GIC among
funds that bought
Signa’s equity-
like securities
BY LIBBY CHERRY & GIULIA MORPURGO
Bloomberg
(Jan 8): Saudi Arabia’s Public Invest-
ment Fund (PIF) and Singapore’s
GIC Pte Ltd are among the investors
listed as holders of riskier equity-like
instruments issued by Signa’s luxu-
ry real estate unit, now caught up in
insolvency proceedings in Austria.
The PIF owns €287 million
(US$314 million or RM1.46 billion)
of the profit participation securities,
known as Genussrechte or Genusss-
cheine, while the Southeast Asian sov-
ereign wealth fund owns €85 million,
according to the insolvency filing from
Signa Prime Selection dated Dec 28
seen by Bloomberg News.
Profit participation rights are sub-
ordinated securities that grant holders
a share of the issuer’s profits. Bloomb-
erg News previously reported that the
PIF had exposure to the ailing Aus-
trian real estate group’s junior debt.
Representatives of PIF and GIC
declined to comment. A spokesper-
son for Signa didn’t respond to a
request for comment.
How much these investors will be
able to recoup from these investments
during the insolvency process remains
unclear.The two main property units
of Rene Benko’s Signa group, Signa
Prime and Signa Development Selec-
tion, filed for court-supervised self-ad-
ministration proceedings in December.
Signa Prime and Signa Devel-
opment are looking to raise €350
million in total via new profit par-
ticipation securities as part of their
insolvency plan, according to filings
seen by Bloomberg News.
Unlike the existing profit partici-
pation rights, the new funding would
not be part of the claims treated under
Signa’s restructuring arrangement, but
would rather help fund it. Signa Prime
and Signa Development are seeking to
stabilise projects to avoid a firesale of
assets, according to the filings.
Read the full story
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
(Jan 8): Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha
Thavisin urged the central bank to con-
sider cutting borrowing costs to support
the economy, signaling a new round of
disagreement between fiscal and mone-
tary policymakers.
With consumer prices extending a
streak of negative readings, Srettha said
it provides room to pivot to easing. The
prime minister’s call for rate cuts comes
within days of his appeal to the monetary
authority to factor in risks to economic
growth while setting policy.
Although the Bank of Thailand (BOT)
has signalled it need not tighten rates fur-
ther, governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarue-
put’s comments that the recent decline in
consumer prices are a result of state sub-
sidies show that the central bank may not
be ready to consider easing anytime soon.
“I disagree” with further rate increase,
Srettha told reporters in Bangkok on Mon-
day. Inflation “is very low, therefore cutting
interest rate could be considered.”
Thailand’s consumer prices have been
in deflation territory for three months
through December, with the latest data
printing a negative 0.83%. The BOT,
which in November halted eight straight
interest rate increases, will next meet on
policy rate on Feb 7.
The Thai baht dropped as much as 1%
to 35.028 per dollar to a near three-week
low, making it the worst-performing cur-
rency in Asia on Monday. A more dovish
(Jan 8): A Thai electric bus operator said
on Monday it had sold the first carbon
offsets under a new system created by
the Paris Agreement to a Swiss fossil fuel
group, a major landmark for putting into
action the eight-year-old United Nations
climate accord.
The 2015 Paris Agreement allows for
governments and companies to offset
some of their greenhouse gas emissions
by paying for steps to cut climate pollut-
ants elsewhere. Those offsets are packaged
as credits, each equivalent to reducing one
tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Some environmentalists, however, crit-
icise carbon offsets, saying they allow pol-
lution to continue when the focus should
be on eradicating it.
Switzerland’s KliK Foundation, which
represents fuel importers, said on Monday
that it had completed the first purchase
of 1,916 carbon credits from Thailand’s
Energy Absolute in December.
“We are pioneers,” Chatrapon Sripra-
tum, an Energy Absolute executive over-
seeing the project, told Reuters. “This mar-
ket will really boom in the future.”
Energy Absolute is generating the cred-
24 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Thai PM urges
central bank to
consider easing
interest rates
BY SUTTINEE YUVEJWATTANA
Bloomberg
central bank could undermine the baht’s
recovery after it surged 6% in the past three
months. Thai two-year overnight indexed
swaps fell as much as six basis points, in-
dicating rising dovish bets for a rate cut.
The central bank tightening — that saw
a 200 basis point hike in 13 months to a
decade-high rate of 2.5% — has hurt the
economy, especially the small and medi-
um enterprises and low-income groups,
according to Srettha. In a post late on Sun-
day on X, the platform formerly known
as Twitter, the premier urged the BOT to
keep the interests of the people in mind
and not raise rates when price pressures
had already dissipated.
The tightening was “a bit too quick and
too hard,” hurting the economy, Deputy Fi-
nance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said on
Monday. Inflation is in the negative territory
even after discounting state subsidies, sign-
aling a decline in purchasing power, he said.
Swiss,Thai
groups close
first sale of Paris
Agreement
carbon offsets
BY JAKE SPRING
Reuters
its by launching a fleet of up to 4,000 elec-
tric buses in Bangkok, rather than using
petrol-fuelled vehicles.
Sripratum said the sales price was more
than US$30 (RM137.78) per credit, de-
clining to give the exact value of the deal.
Climate negotiators took years to agree
the rules for offsets, with many of the de-
tails still being worked out at annual UN
climate negotiations, most recently at
COP28 in Dubai.
This means that Energy Absolute and
KliK — and regulators in both countries
Thailand’s pace of recovery from the
pandemic has been among Southeast
Asia’s slowest. The economy is forecast
to expand 3.2% this year, up from an es-
timated 2.5% in 2023, according to the
World Bank. Srettha wants to lift that pace
to 5% going ahead.
Cash handout
While there’s room to cut rate later this
year, negative inflation alone can’t be
the deciding factor, according to Burin
Adulwattana, managing director at Bang-
kok-based Kasikorn Research Center.
“The BOT will need to consider other
economic factors as well, especially the
government stimulus measures,” Burin
said. “If the digital wallet scheme fails,
that may be the key push for further ac-
commodative monetary policy,” he said
referring to Srettha’s plan for a cash hand-
out of 10,000 baht each to about 50 mil-
lion Thais.
Policy disagreements between Srettha
and the central bank surfaced last year af-
ter Sethaput flagged concerns about the
premier’s plan to turbo-charge Southeast
Asia’s second-largest economy by ramping
up spending, subsidies and wages — the
centrepiece of which is the multi-billion
cash handout programme. The so-called
US$14 billion (RM65.11 billion) digital
wallet plan, which is expected to be im-
plemented by May, is facing uncertainty
from legal challenges.
who must authorise the deal under the
Paris Agreement — can influence a nas-
cent market if the final UN rules follow
their lead. But it also poses the risk that
they will need to retroactively revise their
transaction.
“There’s no clear rule saying how this
needs to be done, and in that sense being
the first might be an advantage in the long
run, but, at first, it’s really hard work and
also a lot of cost,” KliK managing director
Marco Berg said.
The Swiss government forced KliK’s
hand by obligating fuel importers to offset
a steadily rising percentage of their emis-
sions, either domestically or internationally
through Paris Agreement compliant credits.
KliK has agreed to buy offsets for up
to 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
emissions through 2030 from Energy Ab-
solute, representing just a portion of the
20 million credits it foresees needing to
buy by decade’s end, Berg said.
That compares to the roughly 40 mil-
lion tonnes of CO2 that Switzerland ex-
pects to offset abroad through 2030 to
meet its climate targets, the Swiss Federal
Office for the Environment told Reuters.
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
BEIJING (Jan 8): Apple’s iPhone sales in
China dropped by 30% in the first week of
2024, Jefferies analysts said in a note, add-
ing to signs of growing competitive pres-
sures from domestic rivals such as Huawei
for the US tech giant.
The decline in Apple’s sales was the pri-
mary catalyst for an overall double-digit
drop in China smartphone shipments for
the first week, according to a note the bro-
kerage published on Sunday. Other An-
droid brands and Huawei achieved rela-
tively flat growth year-over-year during this
period, the note said.
This decrease in Apple’s sales took place
despite aggressive discounting of multiple
iPhone models through major Chinese on-
line marketplaces, according to the research
note. For example, the iPhone 15 Pro and
iPhone 15 Pro Max received a 16% price
reduction on the e-commerce platform Pin-
duoduo in the first week of 2024.
The 30% drop represents an acceler-
ation from the 3% year-over-year decline
the US company saw for all of 2023 in its
third-largest market, Jefferies said, adding
that the brokerage derived this from its own
market tracking. Specifically, the 3% de-
cline in 2023 equated to a 0.4% decrease
in Apple’s market share.
Jefferies analysts said Apple’s decline
is largely attributed to competitive pres-
(Jan 8): China Evergrande New Energy
Vehicle Group Ltd said vice-chairman Liu
Yongzhuo had been detained on suspicion
of crimes, the latest blow to the embattled
auto manufacturer that several years ago
pledged to take on Elon Musk in the elec-
tric car space.
The group’s Hong Kong-traded shares
plunged as much as 23%, following a brief
trading suspension.
Liu is the third executive from China
Evergrande Group to have been detained
after founder and chairman Hui Ka Yan
and Du Liang, the general manager of a
wealth management arm of the proper-
ty conglomerate. Liu has been detained
in accordance with the law “on suspicion
of illegal crimes”, according to Monday’s
statement.
In March 2019, Yan vowed to take on
Musk and become the world’s biggest mak-
er of electric vehicles (EVs) in three to
five years. That was just after the US au-
tomaker’s Model Y crossover had just had
its global debut. Evergrande NEV said it
was targeting sales of one million cars by
the end of 2025, and more than five mil-
lion by 2035.
The property empire’s electric-car arm
made a huge splash at the Shanghai auto
show in April 2021, bringing nine models
25 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Apple iPhone
sures from Chinese rivals, especially Hua-
wei, which launched its Mate 60 series of
sales in China
phones in August last year.
Apple and Huawei did not immediately
fall 30% in first
respond to requests for comment.
The Mate 60 line is widely viewed as
week of 2024 —
marking Huawei’s comeback to the high-
end smartphone market after years of US
Jefferies
sanctions that had previously hampered
its progress.
For the final quarter of 2023, Huawei’s
share in the Chinese smartphone market
BY YELIN MO & BRENDA GOH rose by about 6%, according to the note.
Reuters According to the Jefferies analysts, Ap-
ple will likely face more competitive pres-
REUTERS sure from domestic rivals throughout 2024.
Their forecast predicts Apple’s shipment
volumes will continue declining by double
digits in 2024, while Huawei is expected
to continue gaining market share.
Specifically, they estimate that Huawei
will ship approximately 64 million smart-
phones worldwide in 2024 — up substan-
tially from the estimated less than 35 mil-
lion shipped in 2023.
Following a years-long slump, the Chi-
nese smartphone market is poised for a
rebound other analysts have forecast, with
research firm IDC predicting unspecified
year-on-year sales growth in the fourth
quarter after 10 consecutive quarters of
falling shipments.
Evergrande NEV
Motors Co, despite the company not hav-
ing sold a single car under its own brand.
key executive
But while Yan’s coterie of rich friends
have stumped up billions of dollars over
detained on
the years, the company kept pushing back
its production and sales targets.
suspicion of
Evergrande NEV suffered a net loss
of 27.7 billion yuan (US$3.8 billion or
crimes
RM18.14 billion) in 2022 after it report-
ed financial results for the first time in
two years. Production has been halted
for months due to a lack of funds and at-
BY LINDA LEW tempts to find new investors haven’t been
Bloomberg successful.
The company has also reportedly sus-
BLOOMBERG pended salary payments and fallen behind
on paying suppliers. And it’s only delivered
a few thousand of its one model for sale —
the Hengchi 5 electric sport utility vehicle.
The EV maker’s struggles mirror that
of its parent, China Evergrande Group,
the world’s most indebted real estate de-
veloper. A spiralling property crisis in the
world’s second-largest economy saw Ev-
ergrande default on its debts. It’s awaiting
a court decision to see if it’ll be ordered
to liquidate.
to display and claiming to be developing
14 models simultaneously. A huge share
rally saw Evergrande NEV’s market value Read also: UBS plans bigger China on-
once exceed Ford Motor Co and General shore wealth, asset management business
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
(Jan 8): India may see around US$30 billion
(RM137.78 billion) shaved off its total ex-
ports in the current fiscal year, as threats to
cargo vessels in the Red Sea lead to a surge
in container shipping rates and prompt ex-
porters to hold back on shipments.
The initial assessment, conducted by the
Research and Information System for Devel-
oping Countries, a New Delhi-based think-
tank, would mean a 6.7% drop in Indian
exports, based on last fiscal year’s US$451
billion total.
“The crisis in the Red Sea would indeed
impact India’s trade and may lead to further
contraction,” said Sachin Chaturvedi, the
director general of the thinktank.
The government hasn’t released any offi-
cial estimates on the impact of the Red Sea
crisis on Indian exports.
The number of ships passing through the
Suez Canal is down about 44% compared
to the average for the first half of Decem-
ber, according to Clarkson Research Ser-
vices Ltd, a unit of the world’s largest ship
broker. Vessels with a combined tonnage
of about 2.5 million gross tonnes passed
through in the week to Jan 3, compared
with about four million tonnes at the start
of last month, they said.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants
have targetted vessels transiting through the
HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Jan 8): A
growing number of wealth managers in Asia
are setting up offices in Dubai, capitalising
on warming diplomatic ties between China
and the Middle East and betting on a surge
in demand from clients for geographical di-
versification.
Dubai, a major financial hub in the Gulf
region, is emerging as a preferred wealth hub
for many entrepreneurs and rich families in
Asia, mainly China, as they look to take ad-
vantage of favourable policies and expand
their businesses, wealth managers said.
Noah Holdings, one of China’s top
wealth managers overseeing round US$23
billion (RM106.94 billion) in client assets,
for example, is expecting to get a business
licence in Dubai by the end of this year, said
Qing Pan, its chief financial officer.
The Dubai office will serve Chinese en-
trepreneurs who are setting up their busi-
nesses in that market, he said.
“Noah’s strategy has been following the
growth of clients’ wealth.That’s why we will
have to be there and take care of the wealth
generated locally,” Pan said, adding that the
firm plans to send some staff from China
first and recruit locally later.
“Many Chinese entrepreneurs are look-
ing for new markets and diversifying their
supply chains, and many are excited by the
opportunities offered by the Middle East.”
26 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
India’s exports
may take a
US$30 bil hit on
Red Sea threats
BY SHRUTI SRIVASTAVA
Bloomberg
BLOOMBERG
Last week, India sent a warship to the Arabian
Sea where a Liberian-flagged vessel said it was
hijacked near Somalia’s coast. The Indian Navy
said it ‘successfully rescued’ the ship.
Red Sea with missiles in recent weeks. The
Houthis say they are going after any vessels
that have a connection with Israel.
For India, the Red Sea is a major route
Asia wealth
managers flock to
Dubai as clients
look to diversify
BY XIE YU & YANTOULTRA NGUI
Bloomberg
REUTERS
The Middle East has grown increasingly
important to Beijing as its ties with Wash-
ington have soured amid disagreements on
a range of issues from trade and technology
to human rights and Taiwan.
A post-Covid economic rebound, neu-
tral political stance, ease of doing business,
for shipping to Europe, the US East Coast,
the Middle East and African countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s govern-
ment is in discussions with export promo-
tion councils to find ways to protect trade
transiting through the route, according to
two officials familiar with the matter.
Last week, India sent a warship to the
Arabian Sea where a Liberian-flagged ves-
sel said it was hijacked near Somalia’s coast.
The Indian Navy said it “successfully res-
cued” the ship.
The threats have pushed Indian exporters
to hold back around 25% of the outbound
shipments transiting through the Red Sea,
according to Ajay Sahai, director general
of the Federation of Indian Export Organ-
isations, which falls under India’s Trade
Ministry.
“In many cases, both buyers and export-
ers are also renegotiating contracts to adjust
to surging freight charges,” he said.
The spot rate for shipping goods in a 40-
foot container from Asia to northern Europe
now tops US$4,000, a 173% jump from just
before the diversions started in mid-Decem-
ber, Freightos.com, a cargo booking and
payment platform, said Wednesday. Rates
from Asia to North America’s East Coast
have risen 55% to US$3,900 for a 40-foot
container.
convenient time zones, and tax free status
have all contributed to the Middle East
attracting droves of wealthy individuals in
recent years.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has
in the recent past introduced incentives
such as the ‘golden visa’ system. Dubai
launched a ‘family wealth center’ last year
to help wealthy individuals and businesses
deal with cultural issues and governance.
As a result, western wealth managers in-
cluding Swiss private bank Lombard Odier
are looking to expand their business pres-
ence in the region to tap into the influx of
expatriates and growing population of rich
individuals.
Investment opportunities
In Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore have
long been the most preferred offshore
wealth hubs for rich individuals. But some
clients are now looking to diversify into oth-
er markets and get exposure to new invest-
ment opportunities, said wealth managers.
The global number of high net worth in-
dividuals (HNWI) fell 3.3% to 21.7 million
in 2022, but the Middle East’s HNWI pop-
ulation increased 2.8% in the same year, ac-
cording to Capgemini’s 2023 wealth report.
Read the full story
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
(Jan 8): Elon Musk’s drug use has worried
executives and board members at business-
es he runs, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
reported, citing unidentified people famil-
iar with the billionaire and the companies.
Musk has used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy
and psychedelic mushrooms, often at pri-
vate parties, the WSJ said, citing unnamed
witnesses and others with knowledge of
the matter. People close to the Tesla Inc
and SpaceX chief executive officer told the
newspaper his drug use is ongoing, and
that in particular he’s consuming ketamine.
Musk said in August he had a prescription
to use the drug as an antidepressant.
After Musk puffed on a blunt contain-
ing marijuana on Joe Rogan’s podcast in
September 2018, the Pentagon reviewed
the federal security clearance tied to his
role as the CEO of SpaceX — Space Ex-
ploration Technologies Corp — which is
certified to launch military spy satellites,
Bloomberg News first reported in March
2019.
“After that one puff with Rogan, I
agreed, at Nasa’s request, to do three years
of random drug testing,” Musk, 52, posted
on Sunday on X, the social media company
he owns. “Not even trace quantities were
found of any drugs or alcohol.”
BERLIN (Jan 8): German farmers kicked
off a week of nationwide protests by blocking
roads with tractors on Monday in response
to plans to phase out agricultural subsidies
as the coalition government scrambles to
fix its finances.
Images showed convoys of tractors and
trucks, some adorned with protest banners
reading “No farmers, no food, no future,”
on German roads in sub-zero pre-dawn
temperatures. In Berlin, a line of dozens of
tractors blocked the main avenue leading
to the Brandenburg Gate.
Police reports said that roads and high-
way slip roads were blocked in multiple loca-
tions nationwide, causing traffic jams during
the morning rush hour.
Farmers have vowed to blockade major
traffic and logistics routes for a week, saying
that an end to tax breaks will drive farms
out of business.
The blockade coincides with a strike
called by the train drivers union GDL to
take place later this week, potentially snarl-
ing the country’s roads and railways from
Wednesday.
Joachim Rukwied, the head of German
farmers’ association DBV, asked the pub-
lic for sympathy in an interview published
on Monday.
“We do not want to lose the support and
solidarity we have received from large parts
of the population,” he told Stern magazine,
27 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Musk didn’t respond to a request for
comment from Bloomberg News. Alex Spiro,
Musk’s drug use an attorney for the billionaire, told the WSJ
that his client is “regularly and randomly
concerns Tesla, drug tested at SpaceX and has never failed
a test”, and referred to “false facts” in the
SpaceX leaders article, but didn’t detail them.
SpaceX is now the only US company
— report approved to transport Nasa astronauts to
and from the International Space Station.
The Pentagon also has stepped up pur-
BY CRAIG TRUDELL chases of launches from the closely held
Bloomberg company in recent years, and in June
contracted with SpaceX’s satellite com-
munications business Starlink to support
Ukraine’s military.
The WSJ reported that Linda John-
son Rice, who became a Tesla director
in 2017, didn’t stand for re-election two
years later out of frustration with Musk’s
behaviour and her concerns about his
drug use.
Musk oversees six companies: Tesla,
SpaceX and X, the social media compa-
ny formerly known as Twitter; the tunne-
ling venture The Boring Co.; brain implant
developer Neuralink; and artificial intelli-
gence start-up xAI. His US$219.4 billion
(RM1.02 trillion) net worth ranks No 1 on
BLOOMBERG
the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
aims, a concern shared by Interior Minister
Nancy Faeser, who said authorities were
Farmers in monitoring the situation.
A backlash from farmers last week
Germany prompted Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coali-
tion, racing to finalise a 2024 budget draft
blockade roads that was delayed by a court ruling, to make
unexpected changes, including modifying
to protest plans to cut subsidies for agriculture.
Rather than abruptly ending the farmers’
subsidy cuts tax break on agricultural diesel, the subsidy
will be reduced by 40% this year, by 30%
in 2025, and will end from 2026.
BY ANDREAS RINKE The government also dropped plans to
Reuters abolish the preferential treatment in vehicle
REUTERS
tax for forestry and agriculture.
The DBV said the changes were not
enough and stuck with plans for protests
this week.
The head of the Ifo economic institute,
Clemens Fuest, said the burden of the gov-
ernment’s tax overhaul fell too heavily on
farmers, according to media group RND.
Tractors line up as German farmers block access “Just because an industry is perhaps now
to highway A10 during a protest against the cut in a good phase after difficult years does
of vehicle tax subsidies of the so-called German
not mean that it is justified to shift such a
Ampel coalition government, in Birkenwerder,
Germany on Jan 8. large proportion of the burden onto such a
group,” he was cited as saying at an oppo-
sition party meeting on Sunday.
but said the farmers “will not accept the
planned tax hikes for the agricultural sector.”
He has also warned against far-right ac- Read also: Hong Kong employees demand
tivists using the protests to further their own 6% raise to work in office full time
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4
Baltic Exchange shipping updates
A weekly round-up of tanker and dry bulk market (Jan 5, 2024)
CAPESIZE
This week the capsize market has been
marked by a mix of activities and chal-
lenges. Despite a slow start following the
Christmas and NewYear break, the Pacific
market saw two active miners, contributing
to a somewhat optimistic sentiment ini-
tially. However, reports of a derailment in
Western Australia introduced an element of
uncertainty, leading to a decline initially of
approximately $1.00-US$1.20 on C5 at the
beginning of the week.The Atlantic market
also faced challenges, with a tightening ton-
nage list and a widening gap between bid
and offer prices. Despite heightened activ-
ity in the Pacific on Thursday, the market
pressure resulted in a further decline on C5,
although there was a feeling that the market
was starting to find a floor. This appears to
be the case with two miners today having to
increase their bid to attract offers, resulting
in a slight uptick of approximately 30 cents
today C5 as the week draws to a close. In
the Atlantic, vessel tightness persisted, par-
ticularly for tonnage reaching south Brazil
within January dates. Limited activity was
observed for the first half of the week, but
the prevailing tight conditions, coupled with
an increase in activity towards the end of
the week, resulting in positive reports of
stronger fixtures, has maintained a bull-
ish, yet positional, sentiment in the market.
Overall, the BCI 5TC has been positive this
week, which started at US$28,896 and has
closed today at US$31,497.
PANAMAX
Following the Christmas holiday, the Pana-
max market began sedately across the board,
followed by rates coming under pressure
from the outset. Downward pressure ema-
nated primarily from a build-up of tonnage,
unfixed over the festive period but also from a
lack of demand in both basins all week, forc-
ing cheaper levels to be conceded by own-
ers. Following a softer finish to 2023, high-
er ballaster count from Southeast Asia only
compounded to the weaker market. And,
with Asia massively unsupported, the imme-
diate outlook appeared extremely bearish;
US$13,000 was agreed on an 82,000-dwt
delivery China for a NoPac round trip but
such rate unrepeatable come the end of the
week. From the Atlantic, US$24,000 was
agreed on an 85,000-dwt delivery NW Africa
for a long duration trip via US Gulf into the
Arabian Gulf with routing via Cape of Good
28 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
W O R L D
Hope. Some recent period coverage emerged
with reports of an 82,000-dwt delivery China
achieving US$16,250 for one year’s period.
ULTRAMAX/SUPRAMAX
Not surprisingly it was a rather muted start
to the New Year after the widespread holi-
days.The Atlantic remained rather sluggish
in the South with limited fresh enquiry ap-
pearing and a good amount of prompt ton-
nage available. As the week progressed, some
saw slightly better levels of enquiry from the
US Gulf although limited fixing appeared.
From Asia, brokers suggested that there was
little fresh activity from the NoPac and Aus-
tralia although there seemed to be a reasona-
ble amount of activity from the South.There
was little period action although a 63,000
open China was heard fixed for four to six
months trading redelivery Singapore-Japan
at US$17,000 with scrubber benefit for
charterers. From the Atlantic, a 63,000-dwt
was heard fixed delivery US Gulf trip rede-
livery East Mediterranean at US$26,000. In
Asia, a 56,000-dwt fixed delivery Philippines
trip via Indonesia redelivery South China at
US$12,000. From the Indian Ocean, rates
remained fairly healthy, a 64,000-dwt fixing
delivery Navalakhi trip via Oman redelivery
Chittagong at US$20,000.
HANDYSIZE
After recent holidays, the Atlantic market
witnessed large corrections on BHSI this
week, with cargo availability limited across
the region. On the continent, a 32,000-dwt
was fixed basis delivery in Rouen for a trip to
Morocco with grains at US$11,000, whilst in
the Mediterranean a 35,000-dwt fixed from
Safi to EC South America at US$7,000 and a
38,000-dwt was rumoured to have fixed from
Alexandria to Bilbao with an intended cargo
of steels at US$11,000.The US Gulf also saw
reductions as a 39,000-dwt was rumoured to
have been fixed from SW Pass to the Black
Sea with grains in the low US$20,000’s. In
the South Atlantic, a 37,000-dwt fixed from
Santos to Morocco with a cargo of sugar at
US$20,000, whilst a 43,000-dwt fixed from
Recalada to Venezuela with a cargo of grains
at US$22,000. Asia was more balanced with
an unknown handy fixing from China via
Indonesia for a round trip at US$9,200 but
further information was limited.
CLEAN
LR2
LR’s in the MEG had a sharp downturn
this, albeit short, week for Baltic Rate pub-
lications. The 75Kt MEG/Japan TC1 in-
dex lost 23 points to WS169.44. The 90kt
MEG/UK-Continent TC20 run to the
UK-Continent also shed US$275,000 to
US$4,940,000.
West of Suez, Mediterranean/East LR2’s
on TC15 had a small tick up to the tune of
just under US$57,000 taking the index to
4,525,000.
LR1
In the MEG, LR1’s have also fallen on price
this week however not quite as harshly as the
LR2’s.The 55kt MEG/Japan index ofTC5 is
currently marked at WS190.44 (-13 points)
and the 65kt MEG/UK-Continent on TC8
dipped US$241,000 to US$4,120,000.
On the UK-Continent, the 60Kt ARA/
West Africa TC16 index, remained relatively
flat only with an incremental loss of 3.77
points to WS208.13.
Read the full report
 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 9 , 2 0 2 4 29 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

M A R K E T S

CPO RM 3,693.0011.00 OIL US$ 76.71-2.05 RM/USD 4.6515 RM/SGD 3.4964 RM/AUD 3.1161 RM/GBP 5.9064 RM/EUR 5.0887

Top 20 active stocks

NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
EKOVEST BHD 213.85 0.035 0.590 20.41 1,749.6
HONG SENG CONSOLIDATED BHD 202.84 0.000 0.030 20.00 153.3
TA WIN HOLDINGS BHD 199.41 0.005 0.045 12.50 154.6
MINETECH RESOURCES BHD 171.64 0.005 0.220 51.72 339.4
ISKANDAR WATERFRONT CITY BHD 142.60 0.065 0.965 32.19 888.9
MQ TECHNOLOGY BHD 130.86 0.000 0.025 0.00 36.8
FITTERS DIVERSIFIED BHD 127.80 0.005 0.060 20.00 140.5
TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 119.22 0.000 0.980 8.89 7,848.0
KNM GROUP BHD 102.53 0.000 0.095 5.56 384.2
SAPURA ENERGY BHD 90.72 0.000 0.050 11.11 799.0 World equity indices
MALAYSIAN RESOURCES CORP BHD 90.00 0.000 0.490 10.11 2,189.1 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
YTL POWER INTERNATIONAL BHD 89.31 0.220 3.440 35.43 27,871.4 (%) (%)
UEM SUNRISE BHD 87.20 -0.030 1.000 22.70 5,058.5 DJIA * 37,466.11 25.77 0.07 INDONESIA 7,283.58 -67.04 -0.91
WIDAD GROUP BHD 86.24 0.005 0.490 1.03 1,517.3 S&P 500 * 4,697.24 8.56 0.18 JAPAN 33,377.42 89.13 0.27
CAREPLUS GROUP BHD 83.20 0.000 0.435 2.35 260.8 NASDAQ 100 * 16,305.98 23.97 0.15 KOREA 2,567.82 -10.26 -0.40
NEXGRAM HOLDINGS BHD 75.21 -0.015 0.035 -22.22 23.2 FTSE 100 * 7,689.61 -22.25 -0.29 PHILIPPINES 6,609.22 -20.42 -0.31
RGB INTERNATIONAL BHD 70.62 0.035 0.310 14.81 477.7 AUSTRALIA 7,451.55 -37.52 -0.50 SINGAPORE 3,187.02 2.72 0.09
SARAWAK CONSOLIDATED 64.52 0.000 0.985 5.35 630.6 CHINA 2,887.54 -41.65 -1.42 TAIWAN 17,572.66 53.52 0.31
MLABS SYSTEMS BHD 64.42 0.000 0.015 0.00 21.7 HONG KONG 16,224.45 -310.88 -1.88 THAILAND 1,418.45 -9.51 -0.67
YTL CORP BHD 58.59 0.030 2.250 19.05 24,669.9 INDIA 71,355.22 -670.93 -0.93 VIETNAM 1,160.19 5.51 0.48
Data as compiled on Jan 8, 2024 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Jan 8, 2024 * Based on previous day’s closing Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by %) Top losers (ranked by %)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)
FINTEC GLOBAL BHD 0.015 50.00 2,341.6 50.00 88.9 AT SYSTEMATIZATION BHD 0.005 -50.00 13,964.1 -50.00 33.9
BERJAYA ASSETS BHD 0.410 22.39 3,972.8 38.98 1,048.9 NEXGRAM HOLDINGS BHD 0.035 -30.00 75,217.4 -22.22 23.2
MANAGEPAY SYSTEMS BHD 0.145 20.83 22,860.7 20.83 125.6 COMPUGATES HOLDINGS BHD 0.015 -25.00 484.7 0.00 82.5
TRI-MODE SYSTEM M BHD 0.390 20.00 253.3 23.81 64.7 AE MULTI HOLDINGS BHD 0.015 -25.00 1,070.9 0.00 32.5
CME GROUP BHD 0.030 20.00 20,583.6 0.00 31.0 XOX BHD 0.015 -25.00 3,984.9 0.00 75.8
ASIA MEDIA GROUP BHD 0.100 17.65 350.0 5.26 23.9 METRONIC GLOBAL BHD 0.020 -20.00 3,925.0 33.33 30.6
OVERSEA ENTERPRISE BHD 0.070 16.67 2,876.4 16.67 158.8 SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.025 -16.67 13,564.1 0.00 35.1
PAN MALAYSIA HOLDINGS BHD 0.105 16.67 21,140.4 10.53 97.5 LAMBO GROUP BHD 0.030 -14.29 570.6 50.00 46.2
KEY ASIC BHD 0.075 15.38 20,532.3 25.00 104.9 SINMAH CAPITAL BHD 0.105 -12.50 809.3 0.00 41.2
FSBM HOLDINGS BHD 0.405 14.08 5,161.2 24.62 194.9 REACH ENERGY BHD 0.035 -12.50 228.2 -12.50 74.5
D’NONCE TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.205 13.89 52,122.1 46.43 89.1 BARAKAH OFFSHORE PETROLEUM 0.035 -12.50 4,457.4 0.00 35.1
LYSAGHT GALVANIZED STEEL BHD 2.590 13.10 267.6 16.67 107.7 BINTAI KINDEN CORP BHD 0.080 -11.11 9,083.4 -11.11 75.0
PERAK CORP BHD 0.475 13.10 1.1 -1.04 47.5 YNH PROPERTY BHD 3.660 -10.73 5,462.7 -13.88 1,934.3
RIMBUNAN SAWIT BHD 0.175 12.90 24,738.0 16.67 357.3 GREEN PACKET BHD 0.045 -10.00 3,179.6 12.50 89.8
RGB INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.310 12.73 70,625.1 14.81 477.7 EVD BHD 0.145 -9.38 2,701.9 26.09 60.1
PNE PCB BHD 0.090 12.50 2,222.1 5.88 50.5 EA TECHNIQUE M BHD 0.305 -8.96 17772.2 -6.15 161.8
MULTI-USAGE HOLDINGS BHD 0.585 12.50 5.2 2.63 33.0 MTOUCHE TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.055 -8.33 716.0 10.00 51.0
TA WIN HOLDINGS BHD 0.045 12.50 199,406.6 12.50 154.6 AVILLION BHD 0.055 -8.33 2,210.1 10.00 62.3
MCE HOLDINGS BHD 1.730 12.34 3,110.0 -39.93 213.8 LYC HEALTHCARE BHD 0.190 -7.32 654.3 -5.00 127.2
SPRITZER BHD 2.160 11.92 1,851.5 18.03 683.2 COUNTRY HEIGHTS HOLDINGS BHD 0.32 -7.25 2838.9 -1.54 93.9
Data as compiled on Jan 8, 2024 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Jan 8, 2024 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by RM) Top losers (ranked by RM)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)
KUALA LUMPUR KEPONG BHD 22.300 0.300 539.3 2.20 24,049.1 RAPID SYNERGY BHD 24.820 -1.100 317.3 -12.85 2,653.2
LYSAGHT GALVANIZED STEEL BHD 2.590 0.300 267.6 16.67 107.7 MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 27.940 -0.580 24.4 -0.92 5,557.2
AJINOMOTO MALAYSIA BHD 16.180 0.280 17.2 1.76 983.7 YNH PROPERTY BHD 3.660 -0.440 5,462.7 -13.88 1,934.3
SPRITZER BHD 2.160 0.230 1,851.5 18.03 683.2 DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES 24.600 -0.300 12.3 6.22 1,574.4
YTL POWER INTERNATIONAL BHD 3.440 0.220 89,308.1 35.43 27,871.4 HEINEKEN MALAYSIA BHD 23.720 -0.280 51.2 -1.74 7,165.8
KLUANG RUBBER CO MALAYA BHD 4.260 0.220 32.1 17.68 264.8 HEXTARTECHNOLOGIES SOLUTIONS 21.780 -0.260 29.4 -3.20 2,802.0
LPI CAPITAL BHD 12.400 0.220 68.7 3.68 4,939.9 PANASONIC MANUFACTURING 17.900 -0.260 52.3 -0.56 1,087.3
NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 118.000 0.200 178.9 0.34 27,671.0 UNITED PLANTATIONS BHD 18.200 -0.220 553.7 2.25 7,549.1
AFFIN BANK BHD 2.380 0.200 14,375.1 14.42 5,584.6 PBA HOLDINGS BHD 1.700 -0.130 4,589.6 16.44 562.7
MCE HOLDINGS BHD 1.730 0.190 3,110.0 -39.93 213.8 KHIND HOLDINGS BHD 2.580 -0.110 6.0 0.78 108.5
KELINGTON GROUP BHD 2.350 0.180 5,226.5 8.29 1,515.3 UNIMECH GROUP BHD 1.790 -0.100 6.0 1.13 263.0
GENTING BHD 4.900 0.180 15,590.6 6.06 18,867.8 FRASER & NEAVE HOLDINGS BHD 28.260 -0.080 604.6 0.36 10,365.2
PERTAMA DIGITAL BHD 2.900 0.160 5,638.4 11.11 1,270.8 PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD 21.040 -0.080 447.0 -3.66 20,902.3
HENGYUAN REFINING CO BHD 3.300 0.150 1,108.6 7.49 990.0 MSM MALAYSIA HOLDINGS BHD 1.740 -0.070 4,297.9 8.07 1,223.2
IDEAL CAPITAL BHD 3.390 0.150 10.6 13.00 1,695.0 D&O GREEN TECHNOLOGIES BHD 3.400 -0.070 2,874.5 -6.08 4,210.2
HONG LEONG BANK BHD 19.100 0.140 1,935.9 1.06 41,403.4 HSS ENGINEERS BHD 0.970 -0.070 4,861.3 0.00 481.1
SUNGEI BAGAN RUBBER CO MALAYA 4.200 0.140 124.6 29.23 278.0 APEX HEALTHCARE BHD 2.540 -0.060 105.1 2.01 1,824.7
PPB GROUP BHD 14.520 0.140 433.7 0.28 20,656.1 FCW HOLDINGS BHD 1.030 -0.050 0.3 0.00 257.5
SUNWAY BHD 2.350 0.130 37,951.7 14.08 12,824.4 SCIENTEX BHD 3.920 -0.050 303.4 2.89 6,081.0
GAMUDA BHD 4.980 0.120 14,889.7 8.50 13,583.7 SAM ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT 4.000 -0.050 111.5 -1.48 2,166.4
Data as compiled on Jan 8, 2024 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Jan 8, 2024 Source: Bloomberg