Stocks to watch: Focus on Seacera, Public Bank, IJM/IJM Land among others

by **Cals** Tue 10 Jun 2014, 03:10

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com

Monday, 09 June 2014 09:30

UALA LUMPUR: Based on corporate announcements and news flow last Friday, the companies that may be in focus today could include:

Seacera Group Bhd announced it has teamed up with two conglomerates from China and a local bumiputera firm to bid for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) jobs linked to the mega multibillion Warisan Merdeka project in Kuala Lumpur.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia last Friday, Seacera said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Sinohydro Corp Ltd, Shanghai Construction Group Co Ltd (SCG) and Spaz Sdn Bhd to form a joint venture (JV) to bid for the Warisan Merdeka project “in the mode for financing plus engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)”.

The percentage interest of the parties in the assets, liabilities, profits, and losses of the JV shall be: SCG/Sinohydro 60%, Seacera/Spaz 40%.

Seacera, which has interests in construction, building materials supply and property development, said the JV came about after the May 30 to 31 meetings in Beijing, in conjunction with the visit of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Seacera said Sinohydro has businesses covering power generation, infrastructure, water works, and buildings. Worldwide, Sinohydro has over 400 projects under construction in over 70 countries, with total contract value of US$35 billion (RM112.4 billion).

SCG has total assets of about 68.26 billion yuan (RM35.69 billion) and annual revenue of over 82.86 billion yaun. SCG’s interests include construction, industrial production, real estate development, garden and landscape construction, and industrial investment.

Public Bank Bhd has fixed the issue price for its proposed rights issue at RM13.80 a share, to raise RM4.83 billion for the group.

In a statement to the exchange, Public Bank said the rights issue involved 350.2 million new shares. This will be done on the basis of one rights share for every 10 existing units held.

The issue price of RM13.80 per rights share represents a discount of 33% to the theoretical ex-rights price of RM20.64 per Public Bank share, Public Bank said.

Public Bank shares fell 12 sen or 0.6% to close at RM20.78 on Friday.

IJM Corp Bhd is “contemplating” corporate proposals, including the possible privatisation of the 64.16%-owned property subsidiary IJM Land Bhd.

But IJM Corp said it has yet to make a decision on the matter.

IJM Corp said it was part of the company’s initiatives to explore long-term strategies to enhance shareholders’ value.

IJM Corp’s statement was in response to news reports speculating that IJM Land may be privatised.

IJM Corp and IJM Land shares closed at RM7 and RM3.20, respectively, on June 5. Trading of the counters was suspended last Friday.

Toyo Ink Group Bhd announced it will be negotiating with the Vietnam government on terms relating to a project to build-operate-transfer (BOT) two coal-fired power plants of 1000mw capacity.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the company said it had on June 5, 2014, executed a “Principles of Project Agreements” with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam on this project.

The “Principles of Project” sets out the general principles for negotiation and finalisation of the documents in relation to the company’s proposed Song Hau 2 BOT coal-fired power plant project (2 units x 1000mw gross nominal capacity) in Hau Giang Province in Vietnam and related facilities.

It said that apart from the BOT contract and the Government Guarantee and Undertakings Agreement (GGU), 10 other issues the parties have to finalise include land lease agreements (LLA) and power purchase agreements (PPA).

“The key project agreements such as the BOT contract, PPA, GGU, and LLA are considered non-exhaustive and may include other agreements to be agreed upon during the negotiation,” said Toyo Ink.

The operational period of the project is 25 years, it added.

TAHPS Group Bhd was slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query regarding the sharp rise in the plantation and property firm’s share price of late.

At market close last Friday, TAHPS shares rose 54 sen or 5% to RM11.44. TAHPS shares have begun to rise from its closing price of RM8.60 last Thursday, with 116,800 shares traded.

In a reply to the UMA, TAHPS Group said it is unaware of the reasons behind its share price surge.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 9, 2014.