DANAVEST

LOCAL
(The Edge) Vehicles sold in March were 44,205 units, up 20.5% or 7,530 units higher than February, says the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA). For the full year, the MAA maintained its vehicle sales forecast at 480,000 units.

(Business Times) ISLAMIC insurer Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd will be banking on demand for its family policies to grow its gross contributions to RM600 million for 2010 and 2011. At the same time, it wants to re-jig its general takaful business to reduce its dependence on motor insurance.

(Business Times) Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) had on April 21 announced the freezing of a RM2.6 billion project to replace old mains and communication pipes in view of the restructure of the water management sector in Selangor and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

(Star Biz) Columbia Asia, an international healthcare provider based in Malaysia, is investing RM365mil to build six new community hospitals in the country, said chairman Rick Evans. All the new hospitals are scheduled for completion by the end of 2010, bringing the group’s hospitals in the country to 11, he said. Columbia Asia Sdn Bhd was formed in 1996, and is 30% owned by the Employees Provident Fund and 70% by Columbia Asia Group of Companies. The Columbia Asia Group is owned by more than 150 private equity companies, fund management companies and individual investors. Besides Malaysia, the group also currently operates hospitals in India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

(The Edge) Food and beverages players have to step up their gameplan as competition between drink brands will intensify with The Coca-Cola Company Inc’s franchise review, Yeo Hiap Seng Bhd (YHS) managing director and chief executive Owen Ow said. YHS successfully turned around in its financial year ended Dec 31, 2008 (FY08), after suffering losses in FY07. For FY09, the company foresee better profitability, helped by the various measures it is undertaking to boost its sauces division, carbonated and Asian drinks segment, Ow said. Its Asian drinks segment account 50% of the company’s earnings.

(Business Times) CHINA, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, bought spot liquefied natural gas cargoes from Malaysia and Trinidad & Tobago last month to supplement term-contract supplies from Australia. China paid US$6.25 million for 8,419 metric tons of LNG from Malaysia in March and US$28.6 million for 58,064 tons of LNG from Trinidad & Tobago, the customs said in an e-mailed statement today.

(Star Biz) AEON Co (M) Bhd will open three new Aeon shopping centres this year – one in Melaka Sentral while the other two locations are still being identified. Managing director Nagahisa Oyama said the Malacca outlet, to be opened by year-end, would be the company’s second shopping centre in the state.

(The Edge) SP Setia Bhd has extended its home loan package on all its residential properties in the Klang Valley, Johor and Penang until July 19 following favourable response from homebuyers. The property developer first launched the financing package Setia 5/95 Home Loan Package on Jan 19, 2009, which requires only a 5% down payment with no interest payable during construction period. The purchaser only begins servicing the 95% loan upon completion of the property construction.

(Business Times) MALAYSIA scrapped ownership limits for overseas companies in dozens of services industries after forecasting a 50 per cent slump in foreign investment this year. The government will immediately drop a rule in 27 sectors, from healthcare to tourism, that requires foreign companies to set aside 30 per cent of their units in Malaysia for ethnic Malay investors, Prime Minister Datu Seri Najib Razak said in a statement today.

(Business Times) Conglomerate Sime Darby Bhd has put up for sale its decade-old hotel in the heart of historical Malacca. The five-star 496-room Hotel Equatorial Melaka will probably be sold for an estimated RM180 million, or roughly RM363,000 per room, sources told Business Times.