The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has joined Johor Corporation (JCorp) to become shareholders of Massive Equity Sdn Bhd (MESB). MESB is a special purpose vehicle formed to undertake the acquisition of QSR Brands Bhd and KFC Holdings (M) Bhd. In a statement, JCorp said with the signing of the shareholders' agreement, JCorp maintains its 51% stake in MESB, while the EPF-led consortium makes up the remaining 49% via Melati Asia Holdings Limited (MAHL). It said MAHL is 51% owned by EPF, while Britain-based CVC Capital Partners (CVC) holds the rest. Consequently, 76% of MESB is in Malaysian hands, it added. ' Bernama

HSBB outpaces others in region

The high-speed broadband (HSBB) network being built by Telekom Malaysia (TM) has outpaced other similar national initiatives in the region, according to Informa Telecoms and Media (ITM). The HSBB is a 70:30 joint venture between TM and the government and has some 310,000 subscribers as at end-April. It has over 1.2 million premises in the country with the network set to be completed both on time and under budget. ITM said HSBB deployment has done so well that there is now talk of extending the network beyond its original target of 20% of the total homes in the country.  There are also plans to go outside the Klang Valley, with strong interest from several state governments. In addition, other national broadband network (NBN) in the region have deployed more complex models with new and independent entities created to build and operate their NBN networks and that has taken a lot of time and created some significant teething problems, especially in Australia.  ' Business Times

Formis Resources Bhd said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Formis Holdings Bhd (FHB), has acquired 20% stake in Microlink Solutions Bhd from Technology World Company for RM4.6mil cash. Formis said the acquisition was a direct business transaction and funded entirely from internally-generated funds. In addition, FHB has to pay and settle RM450,000 owed from Technology World to Microlink Worldwide Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microlink.The transaction will affect the Heads of Agreement entered into by Formis and FHB with Microlink. Under the agreement, Formis and FHB proposed to dispose of all of their shareholdings in Applied Business Systems Sdn Bhd, Formis Computer Services Sdn Bhd, First Solution Sdn Bhd and Formis Systems & Technology Sdn Bhd to Microlink for an indicative disposal consideration of RM102.0mil to be satisfied via the issuance of new Shares in Microlink. y virtue of FHB's stake acquisition in Micolink, the proposed disposal will be deemed a related party transaction under the Main Market Listing Requirements of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd. ' Business Times 

Source: AmeSecurities