MO R N I N G C O F F E E - Friday March 30, 2012



U.S. and European market roundup
The Dow managed a slim gain on Thursday while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq shook off most of their earlier losses to end slightly lower, as investors took advantage of a selloff to buy blue chips that have been rallying throughout the quarter. New US jobless claims fell to a 4-year low last week but fell short of forecasts and the previous week's figures were revisedhigher. (Reuters)

European stocks fell the most in more than 3 weeks as S&P's said Greece may have to restructure its debt again and more Americans than forecast filed claims for jobless benefits. Meanwhile, the IMF mission chief to Greece, Poul Thomsen, said while Greece has made an aggressive fiscal adjustment, it will take at least a decade to fully compete the country'srestructuring. (Bloomberg)

Macro News
NA

Corporate News
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), clarified that its exposure to the US$600m (RM1.84b) unsecured funding facilities to Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) is minimal compare to group total asset as at December 31, 2011, stood at RM451.3b. Vinashin defaulted debt facility resurfaced after nine former executive of the state-owned shipbuilder were charged with mismanagement of asset on Tuesday. Credit Suisse Group AG was the lead arranger of the facility, while Maybank linked as arranger, participant and part of steering committee in 2010 on Vinashin debt problems. (StarBiz)

Bursa Malaysia Bhd plans to launch an exchange traded bond for retail investors in the second half of this year. Chief executive officer Datuk Tajuddin Atan said the retail bond would allow investors to switch from equity to a debt indstrument that has exposure to interest rates. Investors could buy the retail bond from brokers just as they do with equities. The exchange is also looking at introducing futures and option products. By June, the first roll-out of the Asean Exchanges will see the launch of Asean link between Singapore Exchange and Bursa Malaysia, followed by the Stock Exchange of Thailand in August. (Business Times)

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary, CIMB Strategic Assets Sdn Bhd, and the Rohatyn Group have formed a joint venture to jointly manage CapAsia Funds and undertake private equity investments in the infrastructure fund. CIMB said CIMB Strategic and the Rohatyn would hold 40% and 60% respectively in Capital Advisors Partners Asia Sdn Bhd (CapAsia), CapAsia Islamic Infrastructure Fund (General Partner) Ltd and CapAsia Asean Infrastructure Fund III (General Partner) Ltd. CapAsia was set up in 2006 as a 60:40 joint venture between CIMB Group and the Standard Bank Group to jointly sponsor, manage and administer the South-East Asian Strategic Assets Fund Ltd Partnership (SEASAF). In May 2011, CapAsia became a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIMB Strategic Assets. CapAsia, together with its wholly-owned subsidiary Capital Advisors Partners Asia Pte Ltd currently manages three funds ' SEASAF, the Islamic Infrastructure Fund Limited Partnership and the Asia Infrastructure Fund Limited Partnership, with collective asset under management of approximately US$500m. (StarBiz)

Gamuda Bhd and its partner MMC Corp Bhd are targeting a 12% profit margin from the RM8.2b contract to build a network of underground rail and commuter stations below Kuala Lumpur city centre. Construction work on the underground stations along the Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line for the Klang Valley mass rapid transit (MRT) system will start in the third quarter. The actual tunnel digging work, however, will only begin in March next year after the first of 10-tunnel boring machines (TBM) ordered from Germany arrive. The underground work will take about five years to complete. (The Sun Daily)

Sime Darby Property Bhd is on track to achieve a gross sales value (GSV) of RM2.4b in the current FYE June 2012, said managing director Datuk Wahab Maskan. The value would be mainly contributed by some 23 property projects under its Lifestyle Collection umbrella. He said the property arm expects its profit to be sustained at between RM400-500m for FYE 2012 and is looking to maintain the profit contribution at about 10-15%. The property developer is keen on increasing its landbank, with the focus on countries like England, Singapore and Australia. (The Edge Daily)

Astro All Asia Networks Plc has been approached by investment bankers about a possible share sale, though substantive discussions have yet to begin, said a company official. Ananda Krishnan is considering an initial public offering to raise about USD1.5b (RM4.6b) by as soon as the end of this year. (Business Times)

Pestech International Bhd, an integrated electric power technology company, has received approval from
Securities Commission to list on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. Tenaga Nasional Berhad is a major customer since 2000, contributing about 36% to the total group revenues in 2010. The group foreign business contributed 51.4% of total revenue. They have ongoing project in designing, building, testing and commissioning of substation in North Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham in Cambodia, as well as the 110km 230kV transmission link between both areas. (StarBiz)

SEG International Bhd (SEGi) saw a total of 209.6m shares changed hands in off-markets deals yesterday at RM1.71 per share, representing 37.5% of company's share based. Reliable sources said that one block of 114.8m shares crossed belonged to Cerahsar Sdn Bhd., the second largest-shareholder with a 20.53% direct stake according to Bloomberg data. It is Unclear who the buyers of the blocks of share, industry player are speculating that it could be an institutional fund from the Middle East. SEGi founder and Group MD Datuk Seri Clement Hii Chii Koh, largest stake at 28.11%. (StarBiz)

Matthews International Capital Management LLC has ceased to be a substantial shareholder of Top Glove Corporation Bhd after it disposed 1.5m shares on Wednesday. The US fund manager disposed of the shares in the open market, reducing its shareholding below the 5% level to be a substantial shareholder. (The Edge Daily)

Source:Jupiter Securities Research 30 March 2012