UEMLAND

Today i have bought 3000 lot at RM2.87. This company will benefit from the long term investment Khazanah and Temasek to develop RM30bil projects in Singapore, Iskandar Malaysia.

PETALING JAYA: Khazanah Nasional Bhd has teamed up with Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd to develop RM30bil worth of real-estate projects in Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia.

In a statement issued yesterday, both state-owned investment holding companies said they would form two new joint-venture companies M+S Pte Ltd and Pulau Indah Ventures Sdn Bhd for joint-development projects in Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia, respectively.

“We are honoured to be undertaking these exciting developments at these key sites in Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia with our counterparts from Singapore, Temasek Holdings,” Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said in the statement.

“The development in Iskandar with Temasek will be highly complementary and builds on the momentum of existing and planned projects in Iskandar Malaysia, in which Khazanah has been involved since 2006. Both these projects mark our first joint-development investment with Temasek, and we look forward to a strong and fruitful partnership in both Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia.”

Temasek's executive director and CEO Ho Ching in echoing the same sentiment said: “Both the Khazanah and Temasek teams put in tremendous effort, working very closely together to develop the best ideas possible for our joint projects. We were also very fortunate to have the expert and highly professional support of leading real estate companies like UEM Land (Holdings Bhd) from Malaysia as well as Mapletree (Investments Pte Ltd) and CapitaLand from Singapore.

“I am also especially grateful for the guidance, advice and support of very experienced industry leaders who will guide the Singapore developments as key board members of M+S. I look forward to the successful development of the projects both in Johor as well as Singapore.”

M+S, which would be 60:40 owned by Khazanah and Temasek respectively, would develop four land parcels in Marina South and two land parcels in Ophir Rochor. The gross development value of the projects, which would comprise office, residential, hotel and retail components on a permitted gross floor area of up to 501,020 sq m, was estimated to worth around S$11bil (RM27bil).

UEM Land, a real estate company within Khazanah's portfolio, and Mapletree, a Temasek portfolio company, would oversee the marketing and development of the project at Marina South.

The marketing and development of the Ophir Rochor site would be overseen by UEM Land and CapitaLand Ltd, another Temasek portfolio company.

As for the development in Iskandar Malaysia, two new sites one in Medini North and the other at the Heritage Cluster in Medini Central had already been identified for joint commercial development by Pulau Indah, an 50:50 joint venture between Khazanah and Temasek.

Pulau Indah intends to develop serviced apartments, a corporate training centre, and commercial, retail, residential and wellness-related offerings on these sites. Khazanah and Temasek were still in discussions and negotiations with potential partners and operators for the various components to maximise the commercial potential of the location.

Nevertheless, planning and design works for the Iskandar Malaysia projects, estimated at about RM3bil on a permitted gross floor area of up to 1,365,675 sq m, had already commenced since the first quarter.

With the signing of these agreements yesterday, the projects would move towards design and further implementation and delivery of the initial phases over the next five years, the companies said.

OldTown Berhad IPO

OldTown Bhd, the “kopitiam” chain operator and instant beverage mix manufacturer, is schedule to be listed in Main Market on 13th July 2011.

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) consists of 96.4 million ordinary shares at an IPO price of RM1.25 per share at RM1.00 par value.

Out of 96.4 million shares, 48.4 million shares will be allocated for private placement, 10 million for the Malaysian public, and five million for eligible directors, employees and business associates of the group.

OldTown Bhd, expects to raise RM79.2 million from its initial public offering (IPO). Out of these, RM52 million will be invest to build a new plant in Kawasan Perindustrial Tasek, Ipoh and RM19.7 million from the proceeds would be used to acquire 17 companies not yet owned by OldTown.

OldTown planned to open 300 outlets in three years from current 182 in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

More information regarding the company can be found in OldTown Berhad webpage.

OldTown intends to distribute minimum 50% of their net profit at dividend. Based on 2010 figures and IPO price RM1.25, it translate to 4.78% dividend yield.

AmInvestment Bank Bhd is the principal adviser, managing underwriter, joint underwriter and joint placement agent while CIMB Investment Bank Bhd is the joint underwriter and joint placement agent for the IPO exercise.

For those who are interested in OldTown IPO, you may subscribed at ATM machines or via Internet Banking. The subscription period is opened until 29th June 2011 at 5pm. Tentative balloting date is on 1st July while allotment date is on 6th July 2011.

OldTown Berhad stock name in Bursa Malaysia is “OLDTOWN”.

View OldTown prospectus in Bursa Malaysia webpage.

Genting gets foothold on US terrain

MIAMI, June 21 – Malaysia-based Genting Berhad, one of the world’s largest international casino operators, is betting big on Miami becoming a palm-fringed playground for global gamblers.

The cash-rich company, which controls casino resorts in Malaysia and Singapore, will make its first official foray into the US gaming market with the opening of a gambling parlour at New York’s Aqueduct racetrack this fall.

Coupled with its plans for South Florida – where it already controls Miami-based Norwegian Cruise lines and has lofty dreams about creating a sort of Macau of the Americas – Genting is carving out a big foothold on the US East Coast.

Florida, which is struggling to recover from the crippling US recession and record-high unemployment, is desperately in need of a new source of jobs and tax revenues.

The problem is that state law currently forbids casinos from expanding beyond businesses operated by the Seminole Indian tribe and selected racetracks and jai alai frontons.

Lawmakers are widely expected to liberalise Florida’s gambling laws, sooner rather than later, however. And analysts say Genting has the deep pockets and “patient capital” to start laying the groundwork now for future business.

“I believe Miami is destined to become one of the greatest global cities in the world,” Genting shairman and chief executive KT Lim told a gathering of Miami business and civic leaders last week.

“With planes now able to fly nonstop from Singapore and Hong Kong, Miami will soon connect Asia with the Americas,” he said.

In one of the priciest real estate deals in Miami’s history, Genting Malaysia Berhad announced last month that it was paying US$236 million (RM715.43 million) for a 5.7 hectare piece of waterfront property in the downtown area that currently houses the Miami Herald newspaper.

For a total investment of about US$3 billion, Genting plans to build a luxury hotel on the site overlooking the azure waters of Biscayne Bay, along with convention, entertainment, restaurant, retail, residential and commercial facilities.

Genting has stressed that the project would create thousands of jobs in the city. But the casino giant has also said the time it takes to complete the project, dubbed Resorts World Miami, a key potential contributor to tourism and local cash flow, will depend on Florida’s gambling politics.

‘MORE MOMENTUM’

Mike Speller, the New York-based president of Genting’s Resorts World subsidiary, says the project will go ahead whether or not Florida changes its gaming laws anytime soon.

But the casino element is the driver of Genting’s business plan, and legal changes would step up development, which is currently forecast to take up to 20 years.

“It would certainly shorten the period greatly that we would be able to build out the entire project because there would be that much more momentum,” Speller said.

Gaming titans led by the Las Vegas Sands Corp have been lobbying to persuade lawmakers to allow for full casino gambling at so-called “destination resorts” in Florida since the Seminole Tribe won its right to offer blackjack, baccarat and other banked card games more than two years ago.

A legislative proposal to bring five destination resorts to the state died in the legislature in March. But industry lobbyists and lawmakers are already drafting new proposals, focused strictly on South Florida, and hope a large-scale gaming expansion can be pushed through when a new legislative session opens in Tallahassee in the fall.

Florida’s conservative Republican governor, Rick Scott, has yet to stake out a clear position on the issue. But he met with Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire businessman and Sands owner, after his election last year.

“I think we’ve got a good shot to get it done during this 2012 session,” said Nick Iarossi, Adelson’s point man and lobbyist for the Sands in Tallahassee, when asked about the likelihood of seeing a change in gaming laws soon.

“We’ve gotten some encouraging signs from key members of the legislature, on both sides of the House, as well as the governor’s office,” Iarossi said. “We’re going to make an all-out effort to get it done this session.”

Representative Erik Fresen, a Miami Republican, is among those who plan to sponsor revamped gaming legislation in the fall. He said the economic benefits, including what he sees as more than 10,000 permanent jobs stemming from Genting’s project, make expanded gambling a must-have for Florida.

“We’re still obviously in kind of a recessive economy right now so it lends itself even more so to making game-changing decisions that will immediately inject billions of dollars of infrastructure investment into the state of Florida.” he said.

“There’s not a single piece of legislation that will be considered during the upcoming session that will create more jobs than this proposal,” added Iarossi. He said Genting, Wynn Resort, MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment were all part of the lobbying effort in Tallahassee, which was spearheaded by Adelson.

Like Genting, which operates the only casino resort that rivals the one owned by the Sands in Singapore, Iarossi said Adleson would happily pay US$3 billion to develop a high-end destination resort in Miami.

‘HIGHER PROPENSITY TO GAMBLE’

Opposition by some lawmakers, who strongly oppose high-stakes gambling, could still pose a daunting obstacle to the liberalisation of Florida’s gaming laws.

“It’s going to be a very complicated regulatory and political environment for it to move forward,” said Michael Paladino, a gambling analyst with Fitch Ratings in New York.

He said exclusivity provisions in the state gaming agreement with the Seminoles were one complicating factor. But Representative Dennis Baxley, a Republican from Ocala, Florida, said there were also longstanding ethical questions about gambling in the traditionally conservative southern state, along with doubts about the economic underpnnings of gaming.

“If this is such a golden apple for us to latch onto why isn’t Nevada leading the country in economic health,” said Baxley. “No one has a bigger destination gambling model than Nevada and look at their financial condition.”

Warwick Bartlett, chief executive of UK-based Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, said hard economic times could work in the gambling industry’s favour, however.

“When you have a recession and a state needs dollars, tax dollars, that normally loosens up people’s attitude, politicians’ attitude, toward gambling and deregulating what they have,” Bartlett said.

Even without the speedy passage of new gaming legislation, analysts said there was little risk attached to Genting’s purchase of a prime Miami waterfront site.

The land deal follows recently announced plans by Hong Kong-based Swire Properties to pour US$700 million into the construction of a new urban centre on the south side of the Miami River, not far from Genting’s property.

The influx of Asian capital could soon raise the profile of Miami as a draw for tourists from China and Southeast Asia, including many gamblers.

“It would broaden the tourist scope of the state.” Bartlett said. “If you had the choice, Las Vegas or Florida to gamble, I think I’d go to Florida. Wouldn’t you?” – Reuters

DRB-HICOM

Company Update

¨ The Group is well positioned to post strong earnings growth across all three of its business divisions in the coming years.

¨ The Group is making a significant effort to improve financial transparency and implementing investor outreach programmes that will help to improve the market’s understanding of DRB’s businesses.

¨ We reiterate our Outperform call on DRB on the back of undemanding PER valuations and solid FY11-14 EPS CAGR of 21.1%. Our sum-of-parts derived fair value is RM3.05

New 2011 Perodua Myvi

Look like Produa will give us some spyshots of the Myvi, which should be launched into the market very soon, given that bookings for the car are officially set to begin tomorrow, which means the launch can’t be too far away!

From the look, seem like not so attractive as previous Myvi Model.What your opinion guy?