14 theSun | WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 19 2008

business news
Hang Seng
12,915.89
S&P/ASX200
3,523.20
TSEC
4,305.18
KLCI
883.09
STI
1,692.55
KOSPI
1,036.16
NIKKEI
8,328.41
KL market summary
613.64 129.80 134.62 0.97 57.12 42.16 194.17 NOVEMBER 18, 2008

INDICES CHANGE

UEM Land needs RM500m

FBMEMAS 5,790.74 -29.17
COMPOSITE 883.09 - 0.97
INDUSTRIAL 2,139.77 +17.26
CONSUMER PRODUCT 276.15 +0.47
Promises INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT
CONSTRUCTION
69.48
154.48
-0.16
-2.18
delivered TRADING SERVICES 124.01 +0.18
pg 19 FINANCE 6,763.01 -36.57

to develop Nusajaya
PROPERTIES 523.78 -4.25
PLANTATIONS 3,840.04 -56.32
MINING 251.28 UNCH
FBMSHA 5,984.21 -32.03
FBM2BRD 4,377.41 -70.58
TECHNOLOGY 14.11 -0.47

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Land Holdings Bhd re-
quires RM500 million as development expenditure
for its Nusajaya township in Johor next year.
This year, the company utilised RM300 million
for development purposes. UEM Land was listed
on the Main Board yesterday and is currently in
talks with a consortium of five local banks to raise
RM850 million through an Islamic loan.
“We are in the process of securing approval
from the bankers and hope to conclude it before
the first quarter next year. The loan is to facilitate
our working capital requirement,” UEM Land
managing director Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim
said yesterday.
Speaking at a press conference after listing, he
said the company also planned to raise another
RM400 million from the sale of shares at the right
time.
The listing of UEM Land is a listing by introduc-
tion without offering, whereby it took over the list-
ing status of UEM World following a restructuring
exercise. With the RM850 million loan, UEM Land
Holdings’ gearing ratio is expected to increase to
60% from the present 30%.
UEM Land is the master developer and main
landowner in Nusajaya, one of the five flagship
zones in Iskandar Malaysia in Johor. Nusajaya
spans a total of 23,875 acres, of which UEM Land
currently owns 9,564 acres. As at Sept 30, 2008,
its book value stood at RM1.8 billion.
On whether the global financial crisis is
affecting the take-up rate for Nusajaya, Wan
Abdullah said: “In the current economic climate,
it is uncertain how badly we will be affected.
But today, sales are not too far from our target.”
– Bernama
TURNOVER VALUE
509.263mil RM666.736mil
KL shares close lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa
Malaysia closed lower yesterday with the key
index declining 0.11%, led by selling on property
and plantation related stocks as sentiment was
weighed down by the sharp fall on Wall Street
overnight. Dealers said investors remained cau-
tious over the global economic outlook after
Europe and Japan slid into recession.
“Overall, the regional markets remained

Group: M’sian firms can improve corporate governance
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian listed companies
still have room for improvement in corporate
governance, said Minority Shareholder Watch-
dog Group (MSWG) chief executive officer Abdul
Wahab Jaafar Sidek.
He said the companies need to maintain a
standard of corporate governance as they are
professionally managed and also to meet public
demand. “The foremost demand from the public
is that they are transparent, accountable and
more responsible,” he told a media conference
to announce the official launch of the MSWG
Corporate Governance Survey 2008 next week.
“The need for transparency is because when
the companies move on to the international stage,
they have to meet standards at that level. Other-
wise, they won’t get any business,” he stated.
The corporate governance survey shows the
ranking of all public-listed companies in terms of
their compliance with the corporate governance
principles and best practices. – Bernama
bearish. However, the domestic market is
still fundamentally strong, aided by the gov-
ernment’s decision to cut fuel prices by 15
sen effective yesterday and a lower price of
20 sen and 30 sen respectively for two types
of broken rice, which helped limit losses,” the
dealer added. The benchmark KLCI fell 0.97 of
a point to close at 883.09. A total of 509.263
million shares worth RM666.736 million were
transacted yesterday. – Bernama