CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary, CIMBStrategic Assets Sdn Bhd (CIMBSA), has established a joint venture with TheRohatyn Group (TRG) with a 40:60 shareholding in three companies. The companiesare Capital Advisors Partners Asia Sdn Bhd (CapAsia), CapAsia IslamicInfrastructure Fund (General Partner) Ltd, and CapAsia Asean Infrastructure FundIII (General Partner) Ltd. In a statement, CIMB said the joint venture shalljointly sponsor, manage and administer the CapAsia Funds and undertake privateequity investments in the infrastructure sector.  ' Business Times

Licence to expandMaybank sees local incorporation of ops in Cambodia

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) is expected to receive a localincorporation licence for its operations from the National Bank of Cambodiaearly next month to facilitate its ongoing expansion plans in Cambodia. Maybankcurrently has 11 branches in Cambodia, with plans to open at least another onein the country within this year. It's been reported that over the 12 months to October2011, Maybank Cambodia had registered a 75.2% growth in loans and advances,with 4.0% growth in customer deposits. Meanwhile, Maybank president and CEODatuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar clarified that the group was currently not lookingat acquiring anything actively in Thailand, but that it would remain open toopportunities for the group to expand its foothold there. - StarBiz

Bursa Malaysia Bhd plans to launch an exchange traded bondfor retail investors in the second half of this year. Bursa Malaysia chiefexecutive officer Datuk Tajuddin Atan said the retail bond would allowinvestors to switch from equity to a debt instrument that has exposure tointerest rates, adding that investors could buy the retail bond from brokersjust as they do with equities. Tajuddin also said Bursa Malaysia was lookingfor further improvement in two key areas, namely market accessibility andproduct offerings. Besides the retail bond offer, the exchange is also lookingat introducing futures and option products. By June, the first roll-out of theAsean Exchanges will see the launch of Asean link between Singapore Exchange(SGX) and Bursa Malaysia, followed by the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) inAugust. Through this collaboration investors from around the world will haveaccess to a combined market capitalisation of US$1.8 trillion (RM5.5 trillion)representing more than 3,000 companies. ' Business Times

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), which is expected to payRM300.0mil a year to Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda) forfeed-in-tariff (FiT), will make its first payment next week, according to(Renewable Energy and Green Technology), customer service and metering,distribution division head Abdul Rahim Jamil. Abdul Rahim said TNB's firstpayment to be made would be for the month of December but it would not be substantialas FiT had just started. There will be a lag of about four months in paymentsto Seda mainly because of the collection from TNB's customers. Seda is expecting 985MW or 6% of total country's energymix to come from RE in 2015 and currently 68.5MW are connected to the grid. Asat Feb 29, Seda has approved 377 applications for RE with installed capacity of311.56MW. Of the amount, 140.03MW installed capacity was from solarphotovoltaic (PV). Meanwhile, TNB Janamanjung Sdn Bhd general manager Shamsul Ahmadsaid Tenaga Nasional Bhd's (TNB) RM5.8bil coal-powered plant in Perak is aquarter way into completion. The new plant is located next to its existingthree power plants that are currently generating 2,100 megawatts (MW). He saidManjung 4 (the new plant) will be Southeast Asia's first 1,000MW supercritical coal-firedpower plant. Shamsul said Manjung 4 is scheduled to be completed by March 2015.It will be fed three million tonnes of coal a year. ' StarBiz, Business Times

Source: OSK188