BNM: Rate Hike by 25 basis points on 13 May 2010

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met today and raised the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 2.50 percent. The floor and ceiling rates of the corridor for the OPR are correspondingly raised to 2.25 percent and 2.75 percent respectively.

The reason for this move?

This is what BNM has to say. Let us read its Monetary Statement.

" The global economy registered a stronger than expected recovery in the first quarter, underpinned by favourable growth performance in emerging market economies and some of the advanced economies. Policy initiatives and improvements in financial conditions have continued to support the economic recovery in many countries. While economic activity in the advanced economies has generally improved, growth in these economies is still expected to remain modest.

Considerable uncertainties remain due to heightened concerns over the sovereign debt problems in Europe and the expected diminishing effects of fiscal policy support. In the emerging market economies, in particular Asia, growth is expected to be stronger, supported by robust domestic demand and increased intra-regional trade.

In the domestic economy, the strong and broad-based growth of 10.1% in the first quarter affirms that economic recovery is firmly established. Going forward, growth will be supported by continued expansion in domestic demand and the improvement in external demand, especially from the region. However, despite this upside potential to growth, there are uncertainties arising from recent developments in the international financial and economic environment.

Domestic inflation recorded a modest increase during the first quarter and will continue to experience a gradual rise during the year, in line with broad-based improvements in economic activity and taking into account possible adjustments in administered prices. Although external factors, including rising global commodity and food prices, may exert some additional upward pressure on domestic prices, overall inflation is expected to remain moderate in 2010.

The MPC decided to adjust the OPR towards further normalisation of monetary conditions. At the new level of the OPR, the stance of monetary policy continues to remain accommodative and supportive of economic growth.

Bank Negara Malaysia
13 May 201"

So there you have it.

The Ascot Gamble

Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCB) has proposed to acquire a 70% stake in Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd (ASSB), a company owned by Tan Sri Vincent Tan, for RM525mil cash.

Tan is the largest shareholder of BCB by virtue of a 45.59% direct stake.

BCB said the acquisition would be partly funded by the issuance of up to RM614.45mil nominal value of 10-year 8% irredeemable convertible unsecured loan stocks (Iculs) on the basis of one RM1 nominal value of Iculs for every eight of the company's shares held.

The sale price is RM9.37 per share based on ASSB's  paid-up share capital of RM80mil comprising RM1 shares.

BCB said Tan will guarantee that the company would make a cumulative after-tax profit of at least RM375mil for the first three years of operations and had backed this with an offer to deposit RM81.25mil worth of listed securities.

AmInvestment Bank Bhd on behalf of BCB informed that ASSB recorded consolidated net liabilities of RM11.2mil and loss after tax of RM4.6mil for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2008.

BCB would also withhold RM125mil cash from the total consideration, which would mean that the initial consideration would be RM400mil.

The withheld cash would only be released annually upon achievement of profits proportionate to the guarantee.

The company said Tan would also undertake to subscribe to the portion of the Iculs entitled to him and his private companies, which would total at least RM400mil.

When contacted, Tan said this plan was 23 years in the making as the sports betting licence was first granted by the Government in 1987. “I waited 23 years to be able to finally launch this. I wish to emphasise that this is not a newly issued licence by the current administration,” he said.

“I'm glad that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is economically sound like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and understands economics. This licence will generate revenue to the company which, in turn, will help the Treasury particularly in these trying times,” Tan said.

According to a StarBiz report yesterday, ASSB regained the licence on Jan 13 with conditions including that it would only be allowed to operate in 200 of the 680 Sports Toto outlets in non-Muslim areas of major towns and online betting would not be allowed.

Ascot Sports had surrendered the licence in 1990, got it back in 2003 but was not allowed to operate a year later.

AmInvestment said ASSB proposed to commence operations in the second half of the year and would provide telephone betting services to those with registered accounts with the company.

More sports betting licences could eventually be granted by the Government with the reissue of the old licence to ASSB although analysts believe this was not in the horizon for now despite a recent statement by Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein.

A HwangDBS Vickers Research Sdn Bhd analyst believe there could be no further issuance of any more sports betting licence due to political sensitivity. “The Government may want to test the waters first by reissuing ASSB's licence, then see what's the reaction before issuing any more,” she added.

OSK Research Sdn Bhd analyst Keith Wee said in a report yesterday that talk of any new licences was premature over the immediate to medium-term.

“That said, we think that over the longer term, all the numbers forecast operators (NFOs) will benefit if the Government were to eventually liberalise the sector by leveraging on all the NFOs to expand the distribution network for sports betting to take away the market share from all illegal operators,” he said.

I think these analysts are spot on!

The Fall of the Titans

Even before we reach the half-way mark of 2010, two seemingly ' touch-me-not' corporate titans have been asked to take leave which have and will lead to their departure from the corporate scene for quite sometime.

First, there was Briggite Lai, the wunderkind at Alliance Bank. An internal inquiry exposed certain issues that she was involved in. She had no choice but to vamoosh!. There was no legal action taken. Was it ethical issues that did her in?

No we have another case. This time at the State-run Sime Darby hong.  The President and CEO, Zubair Murshid was asked to relinquish all positions today. This he did. No choice. Apparently he must have made some 'unforgivable  mistakes' at the Energy Division that saw the loss of RM1.5 billion. This has something to do with the Bakun Dam project, I suppose.

Will there be legal action? We await that one.

 With more transparency expected of corporate titans, they have to be really wise to earn their keep.

As the Bard says, "Heavy is the head that wears the Crown". More are finding out about this and may need Archimedes to weigh their crowns to ensure their necks can truly bear the weight of these star-studded crowns!

Otherwise,it is off with their heads!