EPF: Quarterly Investment Holdings Display

Beginning today, EPF will be showing its op 30 equity investments in companies listed on Bursa Malaysia on a quarterly basis.

This action is in conformance with its corporate governance stance, where members could see in which companies their savings were invested.

“Besides, by periodically disclosing its investment performance, it will help to reassure members that investment decisions undertaken are in the best interest of growing their retirement savings and in accordance with best practices in investment and governance,” says EPF.

This is a first step towards enhancing EPF’s transparency and it would review periodically if there was any further information on its investment that could be disclosed without jeopardising its investment strategy.

However,  “not everything regarding EPF’s investments could be revealed”.

The investment highlights can be viewed at
 
www.kwsp.gov.my.

The website includes media releases on quarterly financial performance, a compilation of annual reports, advertorials on annual reports and dividend rates.

As of March 31, the EPF’s top three shareholdings were 67.33% stake in Malaysian Building Society Bhd, 56.14% of RHB Capital Bhd and 41.54% of Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd.

The Berjaya Corp Sting

Was it a sting and Vincent Tan made a bundle from his Bursa pronouncement ?

We may never know.

One thing is for sure, many people chased the shares subsequent to the pronouncement of Berjaya Corp buying 70% of Ascot Sports which purportedly was re-issued a sports betting license.

The share price went beyond RM1.80 sen.

Today, with all the finger pointing and mystery surrounding the status of this pronouncement, the share is sliding down below RM1.40. Some analysts are predicting it will fall to the 90 sen mark when Sarawak became the first BN led state to ban the opening of sports betting centres there.

How sad!

Bursa Yusli's Tall Tales

Don’t blame others. Bursa committed seppaku when it introduced the RM40.00 irresponsible standard brokerage share in a market that hardly saw much retailing activity. In its bid to save the remisiers, it put on this condition.

However, the remisiers were undone by IT trading and most went back to square one.

Again by trading using a one sen price interval revision, the market became almost comatose. There was little to look forward too. Big players came in once a while to harvest arbitrage differences.

True, the mutual funds did mop up some of these retail payers but in the end, their investments came to naught in spite of such strongly worded terms like ‘capital protected’. It was misrepresentation through and through!

It’s no point bringing up statistics. Retailers were shut out of the market because of your silly RM40.00 brokerage. That should explain why the percentage of retail players slumped from 52% pre 1997 to only 20% these days. The current play is the work of local institutional players and when they get their funds at the beginning of a month, the get into the market marginally pushing up the index momentarily. The state-controlled Employees Provident Fund accounts for 50 per cent of daily trading. After that it will move from side to side like a disused sampan.

As for the index, this is not the same one as before. You have changed the goal posts all too often.

The slump in trading by individuals on the Bursa also coincided with an exodus by foreigners from Southeast Asia. Overseas investors have sold a net RM1.36 billion of Malaysia’s equities this year alone, adding to RM8.57 billion withdrawn in 2009 and RM38.6 billion ringgit that flowed out in 2008.

It's all your fault!

Drowning the Selangor Water Players

Now the time-lines are getting shorter. Debts would have to be paid.

Today the Malaysian Rating Corporation (MARC) got into the act as well. It put all the players involved in the Selangor  Water Sector under “ Negative Watch” as there seems to be no “development to the restructuring exercise”.

Hopefully, this dampener will wake up those players which are ‘reaching the end of the rope. With no more rope to hang onto any more, maybe they will give in to the  Splash offer to take over  all the disparate water concessionaires in Selangor  at RM10.75 billion. The State of Selngor’s earlier offer was RM9.2 billion.

Splash’s bid preseumably was backed by the Federal government after a revised offer in April which saw the participation of Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB), in compliance with the asset-light condition spelled out under the Water Services Industry Act.

Under the deal offered by Splash, PAAB would pay RM8.1bil for the assets to be topped up with RM2.6bil from Splash.

What will be the negative effects of being put under ‘negative watch’?

For one, it definitely affects debt papers issued by Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd, Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd, RUN Holding SPV Bhd, Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd, Viable Chip (M) Sdn Bhd and Titisan Modal Sdn Bhd.

The concerns are real. The inability to restructure will result in Syabas’ continued inability to meet in full its monthly bulk water payment obligations to water-treatment operators as the result of the former’s unresolved water tariff hike.

Let us watch whether this MARC action will spur some players into action.


Also the Pahang-Selangor Water Transfer Project is on-going and should provoke players to look at the bigger picture of a win-win situation for all.

Meanwhile, you can start collecting shares like KPS,KHSB and JAKS at fairly low prices now!

Idris,You are Wrong. Dead Wrong!

Now, Idris is finding himself in a corner. It it embarrassment big time for him! It is indeed a lonely place. He is also feeling exasperated as the PM and his Cabinet colleagues choose to look the other way!

That is politics, my boy. The possible has become the impossible and the impossible, the possible.

The Ministry of Finance have a bone to pick with Idris on his findings and his arguments for immediate subsidy cuts.

Treasury officers briefing the Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers in Parliament today dismissed Idris and said he has overstated his case for the subsidy cuts with flawed statistics

Using Pemandu findings Idris had predicted Malaysia could be bankrupt by 2019 if it did not begin to cut subsidies for petrol, electricity, food and other staples, which he said cost the country RM74 billion last year.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also moved today to quell fears raised by Idris that Malaysia would one day go the way of Greece and Iceland and become a bankrupt nation by pointing out the government was taking steps to ensure that the country’s debts would be reduced.

Now, we are told that  the country’s total subsidy bill was only RM18.6 billion, and not RM74 billion as stated by Idris, for 2009. 

According to Pemandu figures, the country’s total subsidy was RM74 billion, which is equivalent to RM12,900 per household.

Pemandu said the government subsidises RM23.5 billion for fuel, RM4.6 billion for infrastructure, RM3.1 billion for food and RM41.8 billion for social welfare (health, education and higher education).

But the Finance Ministry said today the country’s total subsidy was RM18.6 billion or equivalent to RM3,246 per household.

It said that RM7.1 billion was spent for fuel, RM0.8 billion for infrastructure, RM2.9 billion for food and RM7.8 billion for social welfare.

Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has also ridiculed Idris saying that Idris was exaggerating.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Idris has come under fire from Cabinet colleagues because his remarks had undermined Najib’s government.

So now Pemandu is also holding a briefing for the BNBBC tonight after many BN leaders had expressed dismay over Idris’s bankruptcy remarks.

The briefing is aimed at explaining its findings and receiving feedback from members of the BNBBC.

Lawmakers from both BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have agreed that an immediate implementation of any subsidy cuts would spell political suicide for the Najib administration with the next general election within the next 34 months.

Najib has also stressed that the public would have the final say on whether expensive subsidies would be cut.

So Idris, the writing is on the wall. Perhaps it is time to say good-bye.

Ringgit: Plunging to new lows

This is not good news.Read this Bloomberg report.

Malaysia’s ringgit fell, poised for its biggest drop in 12 years, after investors sold regional stocks as a weaker-than-estimated US jobs report renewed concerns about the pace of the global economic recovery.

The currency halted a two-week gain as regional equities tumbled, crude-oil prices dropped and the 16-nation euro reached the lowest level since March 2006. US payrolls and Malaysia’s exports increased at a slower pace than economists predicted, reports on June 4 showed. Factory output in Malaysia may have eased in April as overseas shipments slowed, a government report this week is forecast to show. Bonds dropped as the government prepares to sell debt after a pause in May.

“Investors wanted to see a quicker recovery, and the data shows it will take a few years rather than months,” said Calbert Loh, head of treasury at Bangkok Bank Bhd in Kuala Lumpur. “If stocks plunge, the ringgit and regional currencies will likely suffer too.”

The ringgit weakened 1.7 per cent to 3.3325 as of 5:13 pm in Kuala Lumpur, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the biggest drop since June 1998. The currency has declined 2.1 per cent this month, adding to a 2.4 per cent slide in May. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of regional shares dropped 3.3 per cent.

Industrial production probably rose 12.4 per cent, versus a 14.1 per cent gain in March, according to a Bloomberg News survey before a statistics department report on June 10. Exports gained 26.6 percent in April from a year earlier, versus 36.4 per cent in March.

Malaysia: Last Oilman Standing by 2014?

But would you believe it?

Malaysia is expected to become the only net exporter of oil in AsiaPacific by 2014 although its proven oil reserves is declining, Malaysian Exhibition and Services Sdn Bhd (MES) general manager Alun Jones said.

Quoting Business Monitor International's (BMI) latest Malaysia oil and gas outlook, he said this London-based independent information provider had projected Malaysia will account for 1.81 per cent of Asia Pacific's oil demand by 2014, while providing 8.36 per cent of supply.

"Regional oil imports are growing rapidly because demand growth is outstripping the pace of supply expansion. The principal importers will be China, Japan, India and South Korea. By 2014, the only net exporter will be Malaysia," he said in an interview with Business Times and Berita Harian in Kuala Lumpur to announce the Subsea Asia 2010 conference and exhibition scheduled for June 10-11. The event is jointly organised by MES and Subsea UK.

Jones also said according to 2008 BP statistical energy survey, Malaysia has proven oil reserves of 5.357 billion barrels as at the end of 2007.


He said despite its active exploring in offshore areas and several new projects due to come onstream in the next several years, it is expected that Malaysia's oil production will fall in years to come as its proven oil reserves decline.

Jones said Malaysia is currently driving the region's subsea industry and has been at the forefront of this development through Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), which is committed to exploring offshore areas especially deepwater zones that require substantial technical expertise.

With a number of major projects currently under way, he said Malaysia continues to strengthen its position as the region's hub for subsea knowledge and excellence, with many of the world leading oil companies having set up their regional bases within the country.

As such, the Subsea Asia 2010 conference and exhibition will serve as a platform to disseminate information pertaining to the subsea industry in Malaysia as well as its outlook and also to showcase the latest and sophisticated technology used in the industry.

A total of 15 companies are participating in the Subsea Asia 2010 exhibition from 18 countries, including Austria, Australia, India, Indonesia, France, Italy, Norway, the UK, the US, Scotland and Singapore.

Major international and local companies participating in the exhibition include Framo Engineering, Subsea 7, Technip, Roxar, IEV Group, Haliburton, Expro Group, Matrix, Magnum Subsea and BJ Services.

Apart from individual companies' booth, Jones said there will be two national pavilions - the UK and Norway, of which the latter is participating for the first time as a country pavilion.

Norway ambassador to Malaysia, Arild Braastad, said the Norwegian companies are participating at the Subsea Asia 2010 exhibition to showcase their latest products and services in the industry.

"We have been in the oil and gas industry for about 40 years and our companies have grown to become internationally recognised. This is one of the reasons why we are participating in this Subsea Asia conference and exhibition," he said.

A total of 10 Norwegian companies are participating in the Subsea Asia 2010 exhibition. They are DNV, Jotun, Roxar, SPT Group, Vector International, XAIT, AGR Group, Framo Engineering AS, IKM Subsea and TCO.

Meanwhile, Technip GeoProduction (M) Sdn Bhd sales manager for subsea division Christophe Dieumegard said Technip's participation in the conference and exhibition provides a good opportunity for the French company to promote its technologies and the company in Malaysia.

"Our participation will mainly focus on subsea because Technip is a large engineering project management and construction company that specialises in oil and gas, with more than 23,000 people employed worldwide," he said.

In Malaysia, Technip has about 1,600 staff, with Kuala Lumpur serving as the company's head office for Asia Pacific.

"Only two years ago we moved our subsea office from Australia to Malaysia because we want to be part of the deepwater hub that Malaysia aspires. We want to be part of this dynamic effort," he said.

Having made its foothold in Malaysia some 28 years ago, Dieumegard said the company will continue to invest in Malaysia to tap on the booming oil and gas market.

"Our latest and major investment in the country recently was the construction of the E120 million flexible-making plant in Pasir Gudang, Johor.

"Construction work which began in 2008 has been completed and the plant is currently ready for operation. These pipes are not solely produced for the Malaysian market but also abroad," he said. The company is expected to deliver its first pipe supply contract to a Chinese company by February next year.