APPELLATE COURT ACQUITS ISA SAMAD OF GRAFT CHARGES p2

T H U R S DAY, M A RC H 7 , 2 0 2 4 t h e e d g e m a l ay s i a . c o m
ISSUE 729/2024

CEOMorningBrief HOME: ANZ to sell 16.5% in AMMB in upsized RM2.1 bil deal p6
Khazanah names Hisham Hamdan as investment chief with immediate effect p6
Property sales hit fresh record RM196.8 bil in 2023; Johor sees highest price jump p9
Manulife and Public Mutual the biggest winners at LSEG Lipper Fund Awards 2024 p10
WORLD: Powell reiterates Fed needs more confidence on inflation to cut p19

PNB values four highways at RM1.05 bil

for trust IPO, expects 6.7% yield
Report on Page 5.
THE EDGE FILE PHOTO

AG flags going-concern
issues at Felda, PR1MA
PR1MA may struggle to repay a RM1.75 bil sukuk in October,
while Felda’s deficit of RM1.01 bil is now the highest
among federal agencies.
See reports on pages 3&4.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
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Appellate Court acquits Isa Samad
of graft charges
PUTRAJAYA (March 6): A three member
Court of Appeal bench on Wednesday has
allowed former Federal Land Development
Authority (Felda) chairman Tan Sri Mohd
Isa Abdul Samad’s appeal over his convic-
tion and sentence on nine counts of graft
with regard to the acquisition of a hotel in
Kuching, Sarawak, 10 years ago.
The bench, led by Datuk Vazeer Alam
Mydin Meera, that also comprised Datuk
Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk SM Kom-
athy Suppiah, unanimously allowed the for-
mer Negeri Sembilan menteri besar’s appeal.
“The High Court judge had misdirect-
ed himself with regard to the decision and
hence, the conviction is unsafe.
Vazeer said there are two versions of the
purported money being given, and the benefit
of the doubt should be given to the appellant.
“Hence, the conviction is unsafe and
the conviction and sentence is set-aside,”
Vazeer said.
Mohd Isa, 73, was found guilty by the
High Court on Feb 3, 2021 on nine brib-
ery charges amounting to RM3.09 million
in Felda’s acquisition of the Merdeka Pal-
ace Hotel & Suites in Kuching, Sarawak
between July 21, 2014 and Dec 11, 2015,
where the offence took place on the 49th
floor of Menara Felda, Platinum Park, No
11, Persiaran KLCC, Kuala Lumpur.
Following this, he was sentenced by then
High Court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan
Mohd Ghazali (now Court of Appeal judge)
to a six-year jail sentence and RM15.45 mil-
lion fine, or in default, another 18 years’ jail,
for being found guilty of nine counts of graft.
When met after the decision, Mohd Isa
thanked God for the appellate court de-
cision after a six-year struggle with this
case and said he may consider returning
back to politics.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Afzainizam
Abdul Aziz said he would brief the Attor-
ney General over Wednesday’s decision and
decide on whether to file an appeal. Mohd
Isa was represented by Datuk Salehuddin
Saidin and Siti Sarah Khalil.
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Suhaimi Yusuf/The Edge
Former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul
Samad seen at the Palace of Justice on Wednesday,
March 6, 2024 for his graft trial appeal.
The prosecution has 14 days from
Wednesday to file the appeal.
Three elements of graft have to be
proven
Vazeer, in his grounds, said there are three
elements to be proven under Section 16
of the MACC Act in a graft case, name-
ly the accused or through others had re-
ceived gratification from Ikhwan Zaidel, a
director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn
Bhd (GAPSB) that owned the hotel; the
acceptance by Mohd Isa of the said bribes
for his assistance; and that the acceptance
of bribes by Mohd Isa is corrupt.
Hence, Vazeer said it was incumbent
for the prosecution to prove that Mohd Isa
directed his former aide Zahid Md Arip
to ask for the bribe and that he received
it from Ikhwan.
It is to be noted that Zahid had contested
against former prime minister Datuk Seri
Najib Razak in Pekan in 2018 under the Par-
ti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia ticket but lost,
although he was later appointed a senator.
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In this case, Vazeer said the evidence
shows that the Felda Investment Corpo-
ration Sdn Bhd (FICSB) board, of which
Mohd Isa is also a director, had approved
the acquisition, and the management had
asked to negotiate the sum, and the deci-
sion was done collectively.
Vazeer said the High Court should look
at Ikhwan’s evidence in his first meeting
with Mohd Isa, who said that any approval
to the acquisition of the hotel depends on
the decision by the FICSB board and that
Zahid was not present then.
“(Mohd) Isa also said to Ikhwan that
he (Mohd Isa) can only assist but cannot
make any promises, as it depended on the
board,” Vazeer said.
The appellate court noted that the pur-
ported bribes were allegedly given after the
approval of the FICSB board but in this case,
there is no credible evidence produced that
Mohd Isa instructed Zahid to seek the bribe
from Ikhwan following approval of the pur-
chase of the hotel for RM160 million, as the
event (approval) was already gained.
Vazeer added that in this case, Zahid testi-
fying that Mohd Isa told him “whatever they
(Ikhwan) give, you receive it” cannot be con-
strued as a directive to demand for a bribe.
“Zahid also testified that he had used the
word salam (greetings) from (Mohd) Isa to
Ikhwan, which had triggered the payments
made to the appellant (Mohd Isa). Howev-
er, there is no credible evidence [that] there
was such an understanding between (Mohd)
Isa and Zahid, and Zahid gave contradictory
evidence in this,” Vazeer said.
“Zahid, during the cross-examination,
admitted that (Mohd) Isa did not give
salam greetings to denote (the greetings)
as a signal before any transactions (bribe).
The appellate bench noted that the mate-
rial contradictions regarding this crucial
issue were not properly evaluated by the
trial judge,” Vazeer said.
Read the full story
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 7 , 2 0 2 4 3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

AG’s Report 2022

AG flags going-
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Malaysia’s RM484 million, due to a decline in reve-
auditor general on Wednesday flagged go- nue from the sale of second-hand goods

concern issues at
ing-concern issues at two federal government amounting to RM162 million in 2022.
agencies Federal Land Development Au- For KWAN, its expenses in 2022 to-

Felda, PR1MA
thority (Felda) and PR1MA Corp Malaysia. talled RM922 million, surpassing income
Both Felda and PR1MA face “going of RM569 million, resulting in a current defi-
concern” issues — an accounting par- cit of RM353 million.This occurred due to
lance that casts doubt on an organisa- expenses related to the acquisition of Cov-
tion’s resources and income to stay afloat BY CHOY NYEN YIAU, JASON NG id-19 vaccines amounting to RM896 million.
— based on levels of debt and reliance on & ISABELLE FRANCIS DBKL, meanwhile, experienced ex-
government aid, the auditor general said theedgemalaysia.com penses of RM2.792 billion surpassing
in a statement following the release of the income of RM2.51 billion, resulting in a
2022 Auditor General Report. cits in 2022, highlighted in the AG’s Report, current deficit of RM283 million. This was
were the Electric Industry Fund (KWIE), attributed to an increase in service and
Felda tops federal agencies with the Railway Assets Corporation (RAC), the supply expenses amounting to RM267 mil-
highest deficit of RM1.01 bil National Trust Fund Group (KWAN), and lion for the maintenance of facilities and
Felda is now the federal agency reporting Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL). public housing, as well as city cleaning.
T A B the
L Ehighest
S A M deficit
P L atE RM1.01
F O N Tbillion,
/ C Oac-
L O U R KWIE incurred expenses totalling The AG’s report also indicated that the
cording to Auditor General Wan Suraya RM1.015 billion, surpassing its income Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had a
Wan Mohd Radzi in the report. of RM25 million, leading to a current defi- surplus income of RM35.72 billion, lead-
Felda’s expenditures in 2022 amounted cit of RM990 million in 2022. ing the government agencies with a surplus
to RM1.947 billion, surpassing its income The deficit was due to KWIE not re- in 2022, followed by Bank Negara Malaysia
of RM942 million, which was further off- ceiving any revenue from excess electricity (RM6.99 billion), the Public Sector Home
set by an increased impairment of RM742 tariff rebates or charges due to increased Financing Board (LPPSA; RM2.6 billion),
million, resulting in a current deficit of fuel costs. Additionally, KWIE’s funds Lembaga Tabung Haji (RM1.93 billion),
RM1.005 billion. were utilised to cover rebate expenses as and Bank Rakyat (RM1.8 billion).
The heightened impairment was attrib- a mitigation plan to minimise the impact
uted to the devaluation of investment value of electricity tariffs on consumers, as re- PR1MA may struggle to repay
by RM380 million, outstanding amounts ported in the AG’s Report. RM1.75b sukuk in October
from subsidiary companies totalling RM193 The RAC reported expenses of RM641 The Ministry of Housing and Local Gov-
million, and settler debts of RM147 million. million exceeding income of RM157 ernment’s PR1MA, meanwhile, may strug-
Four other agencies with the highest defi- million, resulting in a current deficit of gle to repay the second tranche of its sukuk,
amounting to some RM1.75 billion, ma-
Federal agencies that report the highest deficits in 2022 turing in October this year.
According to the AG’s report, PR1MA
Agency Deficit (RM bil) Percentage (%) has an Islamic medium term note loan re-
Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) 1.01 32.3 payment, with balances which amounted to
Electric Industry Fund (KWIE) 0.99 31.8 RM3.792 billion (2021: RM4.542 billion).
Railway Assets Corporation (RAC) 0.48 15.5 “PR1MA needs to pay the debts by
National Trust Fund (KWAN) 0.35 11.3 the year 2027, including Sukuk Tranche
Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) 0.28 9.1 2 amounting to RM1.750 billion, which
Source: Auditor General’s Report 2022
will mature in October 2024.
CO N TI N UES O N PAGE 4

AG flags Felda’s loan defaults, urges reducing

reliance on government grants
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6):The Fed-
eral Land Development Authority (Fel-
da), which posted a net loss of RM1.01
billion in 2022, almost double of the
amount it bled in 2021, faces financial
challenges to meet its debt obligations,
according to the Auditor-General’s Re-
port on Federal Agencies for 2022.
The annual net loss of RM1.01 billion
was sharply higher than the RM545 mil-
lion net loss it suffered in 2021, despite
strong crude palm oil prices.
The AG highlighted that Felda’s loan
repayment commitment amounted to
RM1.561 billion compared to its cash
BY CHOY NYEN YIAU
theedgemarkets.com
balance of RM808 million as at end-
2022.
“Felda is unable to fulfill commit-
ments amounting to RM753 million,”
the report said
“Felda relies on the government and
financial institutions for operational costs
and liabilities, highlighting potential chal-
lenges in meeting these financial obliga-
tions,” said AG in the report.
The Auditor-General urges Felda to
reduce its reliance on the federal govern-
ment for financial assistance.
The report recommended Felda to
establish a clear operational direction,
ensuring robust financial performance
without over-reliance on federal govern-
ment assistance.
Additionally, Felda is advised to close-
ly monitor the operations and financial
performance of its subsidiary companies,
ensuring sustainability, viability, and pro-
viding appropriate returns without relying
heavily on the parent agency.
Read the full story
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 7 , 2 0 2 4
LTAT reserves
in deficit
since 2020
BY CHOY NYEN YIAU
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6):The Armed
Forces Fund Board (LTAT) has consistently
reported a deficit in its reserves since 2020,
according to the Auditor General’s Report on
Federal Agencies for 2022.
As outlined in the AG’s Report, LTAT’s
reserve stood at a negative RM376 million in
2020, RM258 million in 2021, and RM338
million in 2022.
Notably, the report highlighted 41 old
stock portfolios with an unrealised loss of
RM662 million as of Dec 31, 2022, con-
tributing to the deficit.
The AG’s Report also disclosed that
LTAT’s 2022 investment in 13 subsidiar-
ies amounted to RM5.29 billion, including
investments of RM2.55 billion in Boustead
Holdings Bhd and RM106 million in Phar-
maniaga Bhd.
However, the report revealed impairment
of investments amounting to RM768 million
FROM PAGE 3
Based on cash and cash equivalent
amounting to RM428 million as at Dec 31,
2022, PR1MA “will encounter difficulties to
repay the Sukuk Tranche 2,” said the report.
PR1MA incurred a net loss amounting
to RM257 million and recorded liabilities
amounting to RM5.746 billion in In 2022.
The audit recommends that PR1MA
re-evaluate their development strategy of
residential and commercial projects based
on current needs and market conditions,
to ensure marketability of completed res-
idential and commercial units to be able
to achieve PR1MA’s project development
objectives.
The audit also suggested for PR1MA to
ensure that cash projections from the sales
of residential and commercial units can be
achieved to fund operational activities, be-
sides settling the Sukuk Tranche 2 amount.
10 agencies had total borrowings of
RM122.39 bil
The report tabled to the Parliament on
Wednesday covers 130 financial statements
by government agencies for the year 2022
out of 140 submitted for audit. Four federal
agencies have yet to submit their statements
due to “financial system network disruption”
and delay in appointment of board chairman.
4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
H O M E
in Boustead Holdings and RM44 million
in Pharmaniaga.
“LTAT did not provide impairment
for investments in Boustead Holdings
and Pharmaniaga, resulting in an over-
statement of net profit and subsidiary in-
vestments by RM0.812 billion,” stated the
AG’s Report.
Additionally, the report found that
LTAT divested its holdings in Peruma-
han Kinrara Bhd and Tanah Sutera De-
velopment Sdn Bhd, selling them for a
total of RM43 million to Perbadanan Per-
wira Harta Sdn Bhd (PPHSB). In return,
LTAT received PPHSB shares valued at
RM232 million.
From this transaction, LTAT recorded
a non-cash profit of RM189 million, form-
ing the basis for dividend payment in 2022.
In light of these findings, LTAT is ad-
vised to reassess and revamp its investment
strategy by diversifying its portfolio, avoiding
excessive reliance on subsidiaries to mitigate
risk and income dependence.
The AG’s Report also recommends im-
proving the governance of investment man-
agement, refining policies to address shares
with prolonged losses.
Additionally, it suggests basing dividend
declarations on realised gains to ensure the
ability to distribute payouts to eligible con-
tributors in the future.
The AG issued unmodified opinions —
which generally means that auditors saw no
issues with the statements presented — for
116 of the agencies. However, 14 of the fed-
eral agencies were given modified opinions
comprising 13 qualified opinions and one
adverse opinion.
Of the 130 audited statements, the AG
said special attention should be given for fi-
nancial performance of federal agencies for
current surplus or deficit, asset and liabili-
ties, federal government grants, borrowings
and investments in subsidies.
The AG noted that 10 agencies had the
highest borrowings totalling RM122.39
billion, of which four still owed the federal
government RM5.34 billion though three of
the four have rescheduled their repayments.
The one with the most borrowings
among them is Public Sector Home Financ-
ing Board (LPPSA) with RM62.08 billion
borrowings, followed by the National High-
er Education Fund or PTPTN (RM41.5
billion), Felda (RM8.66 billion), PR1MA
(RM3.79 billion), Port Klang Authority
(RM3.47 billion), Malaysian Highway Au-
thority (RM767 million), Social Security
Organisation or Socso (RM708 million),
Malaysian Timber Industry Board (RM694
million), RAC (RM420 million) and Bank
Simpanan Nasional (RM300 million).
AG’s Report 2022
EC’s KWIE fund
logged RM990m
loss in 2022 on
tariff rebate
expenses
BY IZZUL IKRAM
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): The
Electricity Industry Fund (KWIE)
found itself among the top five loss-mak-
ing federal agencies in 2022, with a loss
of RM990 million, on the back of hefty
electricity tariff rebate expenses, accord-
ing to the Auditory General’s Report on
federal agencies for 2022.
KWIE, a fund under the Energy Com-
mission to support the Imbalance Cost
Past-Through (ICPT) mechanism and
cushion the impact of electricity tariffs
on consumers, logged RM1.02 billion in
expenses and RM25 million in revenue.
“This occurred because KWIE did
not receive any revenue on excess elec-
tricity tariff rebates/surcharges due to an
increase in fuel costs,” the AG’s Report
disclosed. “In addition, KWIE’s funds
were used to cover rebate expenses as
mitigation to reduce the impact of elec-
tricity tariffs on consumers.”
Established in 2016, KWIE gathers
excess tariff collections when fuel costs
are low, and disburses them when costs
are high to keep tariffs stable.
However, due to tariff discounts in
2020, and prolonged rebates in 2021
and 2022, KWIE experienced a period
of under-recovery with excess ICPT be-
ing a rarity.
It is unclear how much KWIE current-
ly has in its coffers, but as at end-Decem-
ber 2021, the fund had RM1.62 billion in
short-term investments, RM178.77 mil-
lion in cash and cash equivalents, while
current liabilities stood at RM266.5 mil-
lion, according to the fund’s 2021 an-
nual report.
KWIE recorded a net profit of
RM996.73 million for 2021 on revenue
of RM1.52 billion, mainly thanks to ex-
cess ICPT of RM1.11 billion received
from Tenaga Nasional Bhd for the first
half of 2021 (1H2021).
While fuel prices remained largely be-
low benchmark coal and gas prices —
which are used to calculate base elec-
tricity tariffs — in 1H2021, they later
exceeded benchmark prices in 2H2021
and stayed elevated in 2022 and 2023.
 T H U R S D AY M A R C H 7 , 2 0 2 4 5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF

H O M E

PNB values four highways at RM1.05 bil

for trust IPO, expects 6.7% yield
BY EMIR ZAINUL Top 10 Malaysian REITs in terms of distribution yield
theedgemalaysia.com
Company Distribution Unit price Distribution
per unit for as at Mar 6 yield
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Permoda- FY2023
lan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) wholly owned (sen) (RM) (%)
unit Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn AmFIRST Real Estate Investment Trust 2.70 0.315 8.57
Bhd (Prolintas) is listing its four highway Sentral REIT 6.68 0.8 8.35
concessions via a business trust to raise Hektar Real Estate Investment Trust 5.02 0.62 8.10
RM445.3 million. IGB Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust 3.49 0.49 7.12
The initial public offer (IPO) of Prolin-
Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust 9.01 1.28 7.04
tas Infra Business Trust, the first of its kind
UOA Real Estate Investment Trust 7.82 1.12 6.98
being listed on Bursa Malaysia, is priced at
95 sen per unit. There is only an offer for KIP REIT 6.20 0.89 6.97
sale of 468.7 million units to the public and Capitaland Malaysia Trust 4.17 0.64 6.52
institutional investors. The trust does not Al-’Aqar Healthcare REIT 7.90 1.26 6.27
issue any new units for the listing exercise. YTL Hospitality REIT 7.44 1.2 6.20
The four toll highways — Ampang-Kua- Source: Bloomberg
la Lumpur Elevated Highway (Akleh),
Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE), Leb-
uhraya Kemuning-Shah Alam (LKSA), For comparison, AmFIRST Real Estate ing to RM32.86 million had contributed
and Sistem Lingkaran Lebuhraya Kajang Investment Trust (REIT) had a distribu- to the trust’s losses. In addition, it incurred
(Silk) — are valued at RM1.05 billion tion yield of 8.6% for FY2023 — the high- finance costs of RM107.45 million and in-
based on unit base of 1.1 billion units. est distribution yield among REITs listed come expenses of RM171.35 million for
Prolintas Infra, which is set to be listed on Bursa Malaysia — followed by Sentral 9MFY2023.
on March 25, intends to distribute yearly REIT at 8.4%, Hektar REIT at 8.1% and As at Sep 30, 2023, the four high-
distributions of at least 90% of the business IGB Commercial REIT at 7.1%. (see table) ways’ combined cash balances totalled
trust’s distributable amount, according to It is worth noting that the four high- RM348.47 million, while its net debts
Prolintas chief executive officer Datuk Mo- ways collectively recorded a net loss stood at RM1.83 billion.
hammad Azlan Abdullah. of RM256.95 million on revenue of The sizable impairment on HDE of
For the current financial year ending RM228.57 million for the nine-month Akleh and LKSA as well as the reversal
Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024), Prolintas Infra is financial period ended Sept 30, 2023 of deferred tax assets from both Projek
targeting to distribute RM70 million. The (9MFY2023). The loss was wider than Lintasan Shah Alam Sdn Bhd and Sistem
payout translates into a 6.4 sen distribu- in the previous year’s corresponding pe- Lingkaran-Lebuhraya Kajang Sdn Bhd,
tion per unit based on 1.1 billion units in riod of RM9.6 million on the back of resulted in the business trust recording a
the business trust. RM285.32 million in revenue then. negative total equity of RM13.6 million
Based on the IPO price of 95 sen per The impairment of highway develop- as at Sept 30, 2023, the IPO prospectus
unit, the implied distribution yield is about ment expenditures (HDE) of RM124.24 stated.
6.7% for FY2024. million and amortisation of HDE amount- CO N TI N UES O N PAGE 6

SHAHRILL BASRI/THE EDGE

(From left) AmInvestment Bank Bhd deputy CEO Christopher Ng Kok Wai, Prolintas Managers Sdn Bhd CEO Malik Parvez Ahmad Nazir
Ahmad, Prolintas Group of Companies chairman Datuk Idris Kechot, Prolintas Managers chairman Datuk Ikmal Hijaz Hashim and Projek
Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd group CEO Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah at the Prolintas IPO prospectus launch on Wednesday.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
ANZ to sell
16.5% in AMMB
in upsized
RM2.1 bil deal
by Jason Ng
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Australia &
New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ)
said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell a
16.5% stake in Malaysia’s sixth largest lend-
er by assets AMMB Holdings Bhd, in a
block trade worth over RM2.1 billion.
The share sale, priced at RM3.85 per
share, has been upsized from its initial
plan to sell a 9% stake in the company
also known as AmBank previously reported
by The Edge. Once completed, the sale will
reduce its shareholding in AmBank to 5.2%
from 21.7%, ANZ said in a statement.
The deal is “in line with ANZ’s strategy
of simplifying the bank”, ANZ said. “Follow-
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Khazanah
Nasional Bhd on Wednesday named Datuk
Hisham Hamdan as its new chief invest-
ment officer effective immediately, filling
the vacancy left over a year ago, following
the departure of Tengku Datuk Seri Azmil
Zahruddin Raja Abdul Aziz.
Hisham is currently Khazanah’s ex-
ecutive director of public markets. His
appointment allows for greater focus on
building the sovereign wealth fund’s capa-
bilities as an investment institution while
creating new capacity and competencies,
Khazanah said in a statement.
“We are confident that his vast expe-
rience and knowledge will be an asset to
Khazanah’s ongoing efforts in gearing
up the organisation to build the required
capacity, as well as institutionalise talent
development, part of our overall strate-
gy in developing a winning team,” said
managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal
Wan Zahir.
“This, along with our long-term strategy
of Advancing Malaysia, would further al-
low us to strengthen our position in facing
the challenging global market condition,”
he added.
Hisham joined Khazanah in April 2011
from Sime Darby Bhd, and held various
senior positions in strategy and business
development spanning healthcare, energy,
and utilities sectors.
He is also the current chairman of
Khazanah’s 69.6%-owned UEM Sunrise
6 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
ing the sale, ANZ will continue to have one
nominated director on the AmBank board.”
The Edge reported on Tuesday after re-
viewing a term sheet that ANZ was mar-
keting up to 297.72 million shares in Am-
Bank at an indicative price of RM3.80 to
RM3.85 per share. The accelerated book-
building process was set to close on Tuesday
night, followed by settlement on Friday.
Currently, foreign shareholding in Ma-
laysian commercial banks is capped at
30%, and ANZ has long made known its
intention to let go of its block of shares,
but there has been no buyers for its stake
— the single largest in AmBank.
AmBank founder Tan Sri Azman
Hashim is the second largest shareholder
with an 11.8% stake, followed by the Em-
ployees Provident Fund’s 9.6%.
ANZ said the proceeds from the sale
will increase its Common Equity Tier 1,
a measure of a bank’s capital strength, by
about 16 basis points but would not have
a material impact on profit.
“Capital management considerations
will include the capital release from this
sale, subject to regulatory approvals,” it
added.
Khazanah names
Hisham Hamdan
as investment
chief with
immediate effect
by Chester Tay
theedgemalaysia.com
khazanah.com.my
Bhd and the board of trustees of the Khaz-
anah Research Institute.
He was the previous chairman of UDA
Holdings Bhd, a past director of Iskandar
Investment Bhd, and a former board mem-
ber of ValueCap.
f ro m Pag e 5
In view of the accounting losses, Mo-
hammad Azlan explained that Prolintas
has opted to undertake the IPO via a
business trust structure to enable the
company to pay distributions out of cash
flow without being constrained by ac-
counting profits. As such, Prolintas Infra
will still be able to pay out distributions
despite incurring accounting losses.
“The reason why we set this up in the
business trust structure is purely for the cash
flow. Dividends will be paid out from the op-
erating cash flow, which is revenue after op-
erating cost rather than conventionally where
it is paid out from the retained earnings.
“The focus for the trust is to ensure
capability to pay out an attractive div-
idend yield.
“As we have already targeted a pay-
out of RM70 million for the first year,
it comes down to a yield of 6.7%. With
this, we hope we can attract interest from
investors,” he said at the launch of the
IPO prospectus on Wednesday.
Business trust is an asset class introduced
in the Malaysian capital market following
the release of the Securities Commission
Malaysia’s Business Trusts Guidelines
which came into force on Dec 28, 2012.
Conventional companies are restricted to
paying dividends out of accounting profits,
while business trusts can pay distributions
to investors out of operating cash flows.
This structure is suitable for busi-
nesses which are capital-intensive with
stable cash flow but may be affected by
high depreciation charges, much like a
highway concessionaire.
One of the benefits of a business trust
structure is that it allows investors to have
a direct exposure to cash flow-generating
assets.The structure breaks down big tick-
et assets into liquid and affordable units
which are traded on the exchange, giving
investors a new alternative to existing yield.
There are eight cornerstone investors
led by PNB’s investment funds, Yayasan
Pelaburan Bumiputera, Lembaga Tabung
Haji, AIIMAN Asset Management,
AHAM Asset Management, Maybank As-
set Management, and Kenanga Investors.
PNB will hold a 51% stake in the busi-
ness trust upon completion of the IPO.
The concession periods for GCE,
LKSA and Silk will all expire in 2062,
and management has indicated that
there will be two scheduled toll hikes
during this period. Meanwhile, the con-
cession period for Akleh will expire in
2037 and there will be no planned toll
hikes during the period.
Prolintas’ IPO is the largest listing,
in terms of amount raised, since CTOS
Digital Bhd raised RM1.21 billion in
July 2021.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4 7 TheEdge CEO morning brief

INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN'S DAY FORUM 2024

Invest in Women:
Accelerate Progress
#INSPIREINCLUSION #INVESTINWOMEN #OPTIONSIWD2024

PARTNERS
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4 8 TheEdge CEO morning brief

On average, women constitute 50% of any population and yet, systemic disparities
and discrimination persist. Find out what can be done to promote parity and
empower individuals interested in investing in women to close the global gender gap
as well as drive economic growth and social progress.

MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2024

11.30AM – 5.00PM
BALLROOM A, HILTON KuALA LuMPuR

PROGRAMME
11.30am REGISTRATION

12.00pm LUNCH

1.00pm Welcome Address

YBhg Dato’ Ho Kay Tat
Publisher & Group Chief Executive Officer, The Edge Media Group

1.05pm Keynote Address

YB Puan Hannah Yeoh
Minister of Youth and Sports

1.20pm YBhg Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Prof Emerita Dr Mazlan Othman
Executive Director, Tropical Science Foundation

1.50pm Ms Lina Tan

Founder and Chief Content Officer,
Red Communications Sdn Bhd

2.20pm Ms Madhusmita Bora

Co-Founder, Sattriya Dance Company

2.50pm PANEL DISCUSSION I

Barrier Breakers +
The Road Ahead for
Creative Women
Ms Beh Gaik Lean Ms Nadirah Zakariya Dr Anita Ratnam
Co-Founder & Chef-Owner, Founder, Founder,
Auntie Gaik Lean’s Old School Eatery Layar Lucida Narthaki.com

3.20pm COFFEE BREAK

3.50pm Ms Mint Lim

Founder, School of Concepts

4.20pm PANEL DISCUSSION I I

Nurturing Female Talent:

The Key Role Managers
Play in Creating Equal
Opportunity and Fostering
Growth
YBhg Dato’ Ho Kay Tat Ms Amanda Zhang Ms Wendy Ting
CEO & President, Managing Director, Group International
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Business & Group Corporate Banking,
& Head of Region SEA II RHB Banking Group

4.50pm Q&A SESSION AND CLOSING REMARKS

Ms Freda Liu
Emcee & Moderator for Panel Discussion I & II

#INSPIREINCLUSION #INVESTINWOMEN #OPTIONSIWD2024

 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
KAJANG (March 6): Malaysia’s property
transaction value hit RM196.83 billion in
2023 — the highest ever recorded by the Na-
tional Property Information Centre (Napic).
The figure was a 9.91% year-on-year
(y-o-y) rise from the previous all-time high
of RM179.07 billion logged in 2022, Napic
said in a statement in conjunction with
the release of its Property Market Report
2023 on Wednesday (March 6).
As for the number of transactions, it was
largely flat at 399,008 in 2023, a 2.54%
increase from 389,107 in 2022, with the
bulk 62.8% or 250,586 units coming from
the residential subsector.
Likewise, the residential sub-sector con-
tributed the majority or 51.3% of 2023’s
transaction value at RM100.93 billion, fol-
lowed by commercial (19.5%), industrial
(12.2%), agricultural (9.5%) and devel-
opment land and others (7.5%).
“This positive growth trend is driven
by a higher increase in transaction value
in all subsectors, namely residential (up
7.1%), commercial (up 17.5%), industri-
al (up 13.1%), agriculture (up 4.6%) and
development land and others (up 13.8%)
compared wit 2022,” Napic said.
The Malaysian House Price Index (MHPI)
— a measure of Malaysian home prices —
stood at 216.5 points (RM467,144 per unit) in
2023 with a moderate annual growth of 3.2%.
“All major states recorded positive an-
nual growth in [MHPI] led by Johor (up
6.2%), Penang (up 3.8%), Selangor (up
2.9%) and Kuala Lumpur (up 1.8%) re-
spectively,” Napic said.
Overhang residential units down 7% in 2023, affordable housing the largest category
KAJANG (March 6): The number of
completed residential properties that re-
mained unsold for nine months continued
to decline in 2023, extending the improve-
ment seen a year before.
According to the National Property
Information Centre’s (Napic) Property
Market Report 2023, the number of over-
hang residential units fell 7% year-on-year
(y-o-y) to 25,816 in 2023, versus 27,746
units in 2022.
Value of overhang residential units also
declined 4% to RM17.68 billion in 2023,
from RM18.41 billion a year earlier.
“The residential overhang shows encour-
aging momentum, as the numbers contin-
ued to decline as compared to 2022,” Napic
said in a statement on Wednesday.
In 2022, the number of overhang resi-
dential units declined 24.7% y-o-y, com-
pared with 36,863 units in 2021.
Last year, the residential overhang
was led by units priced at RM300,000
9 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
Property sales
hit fresh record
RM196.8 bil in
2023; Johor sees
highest price
jump
by Izzul Ikram
theedgemalaysia.com
Cautiously optimistic property market
in 2024
Napic said that with the national econo-
my expected to expand by 4% to 5% in
2024, the property market’s performance
is expected to remain cautiously optimistic.
by Izzul Ikram
theedgemalaysia.com
or below at 29.4%, closely followed by
RM500,001 to RM1 million (29.1%), then
RM300,001 to RM500,000 (25.3%), and
above RM1 million (16.2%).
Perak overtakes Johor
By state, Perak overtook Johor as the num-
ber of overhang residential units in the silver
state spiked worryingly by 98.9% to 4,598
units in 2023, versus 2,312 units a year ago,
while Johor’s fell 19.6% to 4,228 in 2023,
from 5,258 previously.
Other states that Napic deemed to have
a high number of overhang residential units
were Kuala Lumpur with 3,535 units, and
Selangor with 3,405 units.
The number rose 3.1% in Kuala Lum-
pur from 3,429 in 2022, while in Selangor,
there was a decline of 7.9% from 3,698
units in 2022.
Mohd Izwan Mohd Nazam/The Edge
(From left): Director
General of Valuation
and Property Services
Department Sr Abdul
Razak Yusak, Finance
Minister II Datuk Seri
Amir Hamzah Azizan
and Director of Napic
Sr Norhisham Shafie
during the launch of
the property report.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Amir
Hamzah Azizan, who officiated the report’s
launch, said that the property sector in 2024
is expected to continue its recovery momen-
tum supported by government initiatives set
out in Budget 2024, although the domestic
economy is facing global challenges.
Outlining relevant initiatives, Amir
Hamzah mentioned the RM2.47 billion
allocation for affordable housing develop-
ment, RM10 billion allocation to the Hous-
ing Credit Guarantee Scheme (SKJP),
stamp duty exemption for first-time home-
buyers who purchase a home valued up to
RM500,000, and more relaxed conditions
for Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H)
programme.
“Accommodative policies, well-executed
measures outlined in Budget 2024 and prop-
er implementation of strategies and initia-
tives under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP)
are expected to catalyse further growth in
the property sector,” Amir Hamzah said.
As for unsold incomplete residential
units, comprising both those still under con-
struction and yet to begin construction, a
total of 59,058 units were recorded in 2023.
There were 51,132 unsold units still un-
der construction in 2023, with the bulk of
45.4% or 23,231 units being those priced at
RM300,000 or below — or in other words,
in the affordable housing range.
Meanwhile, another 7,926 unsold units
had yet to begin construction, likewise
being led by units priced at RM300,000
or below at 38.3% or 3,039 units.
In 2023, new launches in the residential
subsector stood at 56,526 units, 4.4% high-
er than the 54,118 units logged in 2022.
Of the total, 36,793 units were landed
properties, while the other 19,733 were
high-rise units.
Read also: Shopping complex occu-
pancy rises slightly y-o-y in 2023, office
space remains flat
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Manulife and Public Mutual
the biggest winners at
LSEG Lipper Fund Awards 2024
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Manulife
Investment Management (M) Bhd was the
biggest group awards winner and Public
Mutual Bhd was the biggest individual
awards winner at the LSEG Lipper Fund
Awards 2024 on Wednesday.
Manulife took home three group
awards, alongside eight individual awards,
while Public Mutual won 21 individu-
al awards. Other big winners included
KAF Investment Funds Bhd, which won
a group award and 10 individual awards,
and Maybank Asset Management Sdn
Bhd, which grabbed a group award and
7 individual awards.
A total of 96 awards were given to 18
fund management companies at the awards
ceremony held at the Mandarin Oriental
Hotel here.
2023 was another challenging year for
fund managers. Still, despite all the un-
certainties, fund managers were able to
cut through the noise and turn in a good
performance, said Anna Taing, managing
editor of The Edge Malaysia, in her open-
ing speech.
“They might not necessarily have made
the right calls all the time, but the key was
in delivering consistent and positive returns
to their clients,” said Taing. The Edge Ma-
laysia is the official presenter of the LSEG
Lipper Fund Awards 2024 in Malaysia.
A new award category was added to
the list this year, which is the best equity
sector real estate Asia Pacific fund award.
Taing expressed that it is encouraging to
see that a broader variety of investment
products is being offered to the markets.
She added that the key developments
that will define 2024 would be rising ge-
10 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
by Grace Yap Ern Hui
theedgemalaysia.com
opolitical tensions, expectations of higher
interest rates as inflation continues to stay
elevated and technology disruption.
“Additionally, sustainability and ESG
will increasingly be an important factor
to consider for all fund managers moving
forward. Let us hope that 2024 turns out
to be a better and more exciting year for
all of us here today,” she said.
US dollar money market received the
largest net inflows in 2023
Xav Feng, LSEG Lipper Asia Pacific Head
of Research, said 2023 turned out to be
a better year than 2022, as global equity
markets provided investors with significant
returns on the back of the booming arti-
ficial intelligence (AI) trend and cooling
inflation globally.
He said the global fund industry had
enjoyed net inflows of US$1,236 billion,
which was a significant turnaround com-
pared to 2022 with net outflows of more
than US$2,500 billion.
Interestingly, most investors’ money
went into money market USD last year
(US$1,015 billion), which was among the
safest of all asset classes. That was followed
by bond USD medium term (US$130 bil-
lion), money market EUR (US$113 billion),
money market CNY (US$86 billion) and
bond USD government (US$82 billion).
According to Feng, funds that expe-
rienced the largest net outflows last year
were bond USD short term, money market
GBP, equity US small and mid-cap, equity
US income and mixed asset BRL flexible.
From left: Chue Kwok Yan, CEO
and CIO of KAF Investment
Funds Berhad; Gan Kong Yik,
senior director and Head of
Equity of Manulife Investment
Management (Malaysia)
Berhad; Xav Feng, Director of
Lipper Asia Pacific Research
of LSEG; Lim Suet Ling, CEO
of UOB Asset Management
(Malaysia) Berhad; Goh
Wee Peng, CEO of AmFunds
Management Berhad; Shyiful
Zamri, CIO of Maybank Asset
Management Sdn Bhd; Riduan
Hasmi, CIO of Maybank Islamic
Asset Management Sdn Bhd,
and Kuek Ser Kwang Zhe,
Editor of Wealth, The Edge
How about the Malaysian market? Feng
pointed out that real estate received the
highest inflows of US$344.4 million. That
was followed by equity (US$182.01 mil-
lion), bonds (US$180.07 billion), mon-
ey market (US$23.52 million) and others
(US$17.1 million).
Alternative asset classes in Malaysia
experienced the highest net outflow of
US$35.31 million, followed by commod-
ity (US$7.54 million) and mixed assets
(US$7.46 million).
“For Malaysia, after a huge US$3 bil-
lion net outflows in 2022, there was a total
of nearly US$700 million net inflow into
Malaysia in 2023,” said Feng.
As for the winners, Gan Kong Yik, sen-
ior director and head of equity of Manu-
life Investment Management (M) Bhd, is
proud that the firm emerged as one of the
biggest winners at the awards.
“As you know, 2023 was a very challeng-
ing and volatile year. How we try to do bet-
ter than the rest is that we have to be more
reactive and, at the same time, always try
to take the market condition and readjust
our portfolio to suit the market condition.”
Public Mutual Bhd won the greatest
number of individual awards. Its CEO
Chiang Kang Pey attributed the achieve-
ment to team effort.
“We have a very strong team who has
enabled us to continue to perform over
the years. Of course, the direction from
the board of directors is very important, as
well as the support from the unit trusts, in-
vestors and unit trust consultants,” he said.
A total of seven group and 89 individual
awards were given out during the ceremony.
co n tin ues on Page 11
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4 11 TheEdge CEO morning brief

h o m e

from Pag e 1 0

Winners of the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards 2024

GROUP AWARD WINNERS

DURATION: 3 YEARS
Award COMPANY
Bond Group (Malaysia) AmFunds Management Bhd
Bond Group (Islamic) Maybank Asset Management Sdn Bhd
Equity (Malaysia) Manulife Investment Management (M) Bhd
Equity (Islamic) Manulife Investment Management (M) Bhd
Equity (Provident) KAF Investment Funds Bhd
Mixed Assets (Malaysia) UOB Asset Management (Malaysia) Bhd
Mixed Assets (Provident) Manulife Investment Management (M) Bhd

FUND AWARD WINNERS

DURATION: 3 YEARS
Award fund
Bond MYR (Malaysia) KAF Bond Fund
Bond MYR (Islamic) AmanahRaya Syariah Fund Trust
Bond MYR (Provident) RHB Bond Fund
Equity Malaysia (Malaysia) Maybank Malaysia Growth Fund
Equity Malaysia (Islamic) KAF Dana Adib
Equity Malaysia (Provident) KAF Tactical Fund
Equity Malaysia Small & Mid Cap (Malaysia) Public SmallCap Fund
Equity Malaysia Small & Mid Cap (Islamic) Manulife Investment Shariah Progress Plus Fund
Equity Malaysia Small & Mid Cap (Provident) KAF Vision Fund
Equity Malaysia Income (Malaysia) RHB Malaysia Dividend Fund
Equity Malaysia Income (Islamic) PMB Dana Bestari
Equity Malaysia Income (Provident) KAF Core Income Fund
Equity Malaysia Diversified (Malaysia) Maybank Malaysia Ethical Dividend Fund
Equity Malaysia Diversified (Islamic) PMB Shariah Equity Fund
Equity Malaysia Diversified (Provident) PMB Shariah Equity Fund
Equity ASEAN (Malaysia) Public South-East Asia Select Fund
Equity ASEAN (Islamic) Saturna ASEAN Equity Fund
Equity Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Public Regional Sector Fund
Equity Sector Real Estate Asia Pacific (Malaysia) TA Asia Pacific REITs Income Fund
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan (Malaysia) PB Asia Pacific Dividend Fund
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan (Islamic) Maybank Asiapac Ex-Japan Equity I-Fund
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan (Provident) Manulife Investment Shariah Asia-Pacific ex Japan Fund
Equity Greater China (Malaysia) Public China Titans Fund
Equity Global (Malaysia) Principal Global Titans Fund- Class MYR
Equity Global (Islamic) Public e-Islamic Sustainable Milennial Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced - Malaysia (Malaysia) Maybank Malaysia Balanced Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced - Malaysia (Islamic) Manulife Investment Al-Umran
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced - Malaysia (Provident) Principal Dynamic Enhanced Malaysia Income Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced - Global (Malaysia) PB Australia Dynamic Balanced Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Conservative (Malaysia) PB Mixed Asset Conservative Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible (Malaysia) Manulife Investment- CM Flexi Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible (Islamic) PMB Shariah Tactical Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible (Provident) Manulife Investment- ML Flexi Fund
conti nu e s on Pag e 1 2
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
from Pag e 1 1
FUND AWARD WINNERS
DURATION: 5 YEARS
Award
Bond MYR (Malaysia)
Bond MYR (Islamic)
Bond MYR (Provident)
Equity Malaysia (Malaysia)
Equity Malaysia (Islamic)
Equity Malaysia (Provident)
Equity Malaysia Small & Mid
Caps (Malaysia)
Equity Malaysia Small & Mid
Caps (Islamic)
Equity Malaysia Small & Mid
Caps (Provident)
Equity Malaysia Income
(Malaysia)
Equity Malaysia Income (Islamic)
Equity Malaysia Income
(Provident)
Equity Malaysia Diversified
(Malaysia)
Equity Malaysia Diversified
(Islamic)
Equity Malaysia Diversified
(Provident)
Equity ASEAN (Malaysia)
Equity ASEAN (Islamic)
Equity Asia Pacific (Malaysia)
Equity Sector Real Estate Asia
Pacific (Malaysia)
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan
(Malaysia)
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan
(Islamic)
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan
(Provident)
Equity Global (Malaysia)
Equity Global (Islamic)
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced —
Malaysia (Malaysia)
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced —
Malaysia (Islamic)
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced —
Malaysia (Provident)
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced —
Global (Malaysia)
Mixed Asset MYR Conservative
(Malaysia)
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible
(Malaysia)
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible
(Islamic)
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible
(Provident)
12 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
FUND AWARD WINNERS
DURATION: 10 YEARS
fund Award fund
AmanahRaya Unit Trust Fund Bond MYR (Malaysia) AmanahRaya Unit
AmanahRaya Syariah Fund Trust Trust Fund
RHB Bond Fund Bond MYR (Islamic) AmanahRaya Syariah
Areca equityTRUST Fund Fund Trust
TA Dana Fokus Bond MYR (Provident) AmDyanmic Bond
KAF Tactical Fund Equity Malaysia (Malaysia) Areca equityTRUST
Fund
Public Emerging Opportunities
Fund Equity Malaysia (Islamic) Hong Leong Dana
Manulife Investment Shariah
Makmur
Progress Plus Fund Equity Malaysia (Provident) AmMalaysia Equity
KAF Vision Fund Equity Malaysia Small & Mid Caps Manulife Investment
(Malaysia) Progress Fund
RHB Malaysia Dividend Fund Equity Malaysia Small & Mid Caps Public Islamic
(Islamic) Opportunities Fund
PMB Dana Bestari Equity Malaysia Small & Mid Caps KAF Vision Fund
KAF Core Income Fund (Provident)
Equity Malaysia Income Eastspring Investments
Maybank Malaysia Value Fund (Malaysia) Equity Income Fund
Class A-MYR Equity Malaysia Income (Islamic) Manulife Investment
PMB Shariah Equity Fund Al-Fauzan
Equity Malaysia Income KAF Core Income Fund
PMB Shariah Equity Fund (Provident)
Equity Malaysia Diversified Maybank Malaysia
Public ASEAN Growth Fund (Malaysia) Dividend Fund
Public Islamic ASEAN Growth Fund Equity Malaysia Diversified Kenanga Malaysia Inc
(Provident) Fund
PB Asia Equity Fund
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan PB China Australia
Maybank Singapore REITs Fund
(Malaysia) Equity Fund
SGD Class
Pheim Asia Ex-Japan Fund
Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan Principal Islamic Asia
(Islamic) Pacific Dynamic Equity
Fund- Class MYR
Principal Islamic Asia Pacific
Dynamic Equity Fund— Class MYR Equity Asia Pacific ex Japan Principal Asia Titans
(Provident) Fund
Principal Islamic Asia Pacific
Dynamic Equity Fund — Class MYR Mixed Asset MYR Balanced — PB Balanced Fund
Malaysia (Malaysia)
Principal Global Titans Fund— Class
MYR Mixed Asset MYR Balanced — Hong Leong Dana
Malaysia (Islamic) Maa'rof
RHB Islamic Global Developed
Markets Fund RM Class Mixed Asset MYR Balanced — Hong Leong Dana
Malaysia (Provident) Maa'rof
Public Growth Balanced Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Balanced — Eastspring Investment
Global (Malaysia) Asia Select Income
Hong Leong Dana Maa'rof
Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible PB Dynamic Allocation
Hong Leong Dana Maa'rof
(Malaysia) Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible Public Islamic Asia
Public Strategies Balanced Fund
(Islamic) Tactical Allocation
Fund
PB Mixed Asset Conservative Fund
Mixed Asset MYR Flexible Kenanga OneAnswer
(Provident) Investment Funds-
Public e-Flexi Allocation Fund Kenanga Diversified
Fund
PMB Shariah Tactical Fund
AHAM Tactical Fund
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Malaysia
must speed up
replanting amid
alarming drop
in palm oil yield
— Mielke
by Hee En Qi & Syafiqah Salim
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Malaysia
must accelerate its replanting exercise to re-
verse the ageing oil palm structure or risk the
market turning to other alternatives in the fu-
ture, according to ISTA Mielke GmbH (Oil
World) executive director Thomas Mielke.
“[If the situation is not reversed], it will
be reflected in comparatively higher prices
because the world needs rising quantities of
oil. The market will decide who is going to
cover this.The market will react, if necessary,
[with] increased plantings and production
of rapeseed, sunflower seed, or soybeans in
other parts of the world,” he cautioned.
According to Mielke, there are over 1.7
million hectares of oil palms aged 19 years
or older but the rate of replanting in the
country remains low.
“The rate of replanting improved a little
bit last year at around 130,000 to 140,000
Indonesia’s Gapki sees lower 2024 palm oil
exports, possible B40 mandate
by Bernadette Christina Munthe
& Danial Azhar
Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Indo-
nesia’s 2024 palm oil exports are seen at
29.50 million metric tonnes, down from
30.25 million tonnes last year, the Indone-
sia Palm Oil Association (Gapki) said at an
industry conference here on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, palm oil output in Indo-
nesia, the world’s biggest producer of the
edible oil, is expected to rise by 2.26%
to 54.4 million tonnes, while domestic
consumption is seen higher due to de-
mand for biodiesel feedstock, Gapki of-
ficial Fadhil Hasan said at the Palm &
Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference
& Exhibition.
Indonesia’s end-2024 palm oil stock
is estimated at 5.25 million tonnes.
13 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
hectares but still way below requirements.
This is far too less and less than half of
the recommended replanting of 250,000
to 280,000 hectares per year,” he told the
audience at the Palm & Lauric Oils Price
Outlook Conference & Exhibition.
“So there is a risk that by the year 2025,
35% or two million hectares of oil palm
trees shall [be] older than 19 years.This is a
problem which has to be solved,” he added.
Meanwhile, he commended the pro-
posal put forward by Minister of Planta-
tion and Commodities Datuk Seri Johari
Abdul Ghani to consolidate independent
smallholders to increase palm oil yield, as
part of the efforts to reverse the ageing oil
palm structure in Malaysia.
Mielke reiterated that palm oil production
had lost its growth dynamics, as production
has slowed down significantly since 2019.
Looking ahead, he expected the annual
palm oil production in major countries —
including Malaysia and Indonesia — to slow
to 1.5 million tonnes or less in the 10 years
to 2030 from an average annual growth of
2.9 million tonnes in the 10 years to 2020,
he added.
“For the current year, we expect a stag-
nation or slight decline in Indonesia’s pro-
duction. For Malaysia, we expect produc-
tion to remain virtually unchanged at 18.6
million tonnes,” he noted.
Read also: Expansion of pure biodies-
el could lift palm oil prices, says analyst
Mistry
“There is a possibility of the new in-
coming government increasing B35 to
B40,” Fadhil said, referring to Indonesia’s
mandatory bio-content mix that currently
stands at 35% of biodiesel.This could take
place in the second half this year, he said.
“One of the programmes by the can-
didate likely to be elected is intention
to raise to B50, but that is maybe after
2025,” he added.
Pollsters have said that Defence Min-
ister Prabowo Subianto is the likely win-
ner of the Feb 14 general election. The
election committee has until March 20
to verify votes.
Meanwhile, the impact of El Nino dry
weather pattern last year has turned out
to be insignificant on 2024’s production,
as it hit mostly Java and southern regions
of Sumatra, which are not palm oil pro-
ducing centres, Fadhil said.
High palm oil prices
not sustainable; drop
forecast in 2H2024
— Palm Oil Analytics
by Syafiqah Salim
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Fast-
markets Palm Oil Analytics manag-
ing editor Dr Sathia Varqa said the
current high cost of crude palm oil
(CPO) isn’t sustainable and an-
ticipates a price drop to between
RM3,500 and RM3,700 in the sec-
ond half of 2024.
This is because the high phase of
palm oil output from March onwards
coupled with high stocks in China
and India will keep CPO prices un-
der pressure, he said on Wednesday at
the Palm & Lauric Oils Price Outlook
Conference & Exhibition.
“After witnessing RM4,000 MT
(metric tons) in [the] first quarter
(1Q2024), high prices will not be sus-
tained otherwise competitiveness and
demand will suffer. Prices are bullish
for the first quarter, but palm oil is
expected to trade lower in the second
quarter,” said Sathia.
Meanwhile, CIMB Investment
Bank’s head of Malaysia research
and regional head of agribusiness
research Ivy Ng Lee Fang said that
the B35 mandate implemented by the
Indonesian government will lead to a
decline in palm exports, subsequently
tightening the global supply of palm
oil and supporting the CPO price.
She said that the global palm oil
supply growth is projected to slow
to 1.8% in 2024, compared with the
historical compound annual growth
rate of 3.8%, due to the impact of El
Nino, replanting activities and age-
ing estates.
Nevertheless, the impact of El
Nino was minimal in the Malaysian
plantation sector but higher in the
Indonesian counterpart, she said,
noting that this impact will be ob-
served particularly in the third quar-
ter of 2024.
Overall, CIMB forecasts CPO
to average marginally higher at
RM3,900 in 2024 compared with
RM3,809 in 2023. For the long term,
the research house expects CPO to
average RM3,500 due to increased
production costs over the years.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Malaysia
said on Wednesday it will closely monitor
how the European Union (EU) responds
to a WTO ruling that supported the bloc’s
stance that biofuels causing deforestation
cannot be regarded as renewables, but
sought changes in how it implemented
that decision.
A World Trade Organization (WTO) ad-
judicating panel, in its first ruling related
to deforestation, on Tuesday rejected many
of Malaysia’s claims against EU measures
that led it to rule out palm oil-based bio-
fuel as a renewable fuel.
However, the panel accepted Malay-
sia’s complaints over how the measures
had been prepared, published and admin-
istered. The EU will need to make adjust-
ments, but need not withdraw its measures,
following the WTO ruling.
The European Commission said it wel-
comed that the WTO panel report allowed
the EU to preserve its legal framework on
renewable energy and biofuels broadly in-
tact, and confirmed it had the right to take
action to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
It said it was analysing the report but
believed it would need to issue a report on
the most recent scientific data to determine
whether crops have a high risk of contrib-
uting to deforestation, and amend an act
to change certain criteria for certification
for crops of low risk.
It would do so in the coming months.
The Malaysian government will mon-
itor any changes to the EU’s regulations
to bring it into line with the WTO’s find-
ings and pursue compliance proceedings
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Top Glove
Corp Bhd’s credit rating has been down-
graded to AA- from AA by MARC Rating,
which also revised the RM3 billion Per-
petual Sukuk Wakalah Programme of the
glove maker’s wholly owned funding vehicle
TG Excellence to AIS(cg) from A+IS(cg),
amid a slower-than-expected recovery in
the group’s business and financial profile.
But on a more positive note, MARC
Rating has revised Top Glove’s outlook
from negative to stable, on the back of a
healthy liquidity position, with cash bal-
ances of RM1 billion that would support
operational and financial obligations.
In a statement on Wednesday, MARC
Rating noted that “Top Glove continues to
contend with the lingering headwinds in the
global glove industry from overcapacity, and
the suppressed selling price of gloves”, adding
that competition from manufacturers in Chi-
na remains stiff, and will continue to weigh
on sales volumes and industry margins.
Nevertheless, the rating agency anticipates
that Top Glove will benefit from its cost man-
14 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
Malaysia to
if necessary, Plantations and Commodities
Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani
monitor changes
said in a statement on Wednesday.
Malaysia, the world’s second largest
in EU curbs on
producer of palm oil, has described the
EU’s renewable energy directive as dis-
palm biofuel after
criminatory, and in 2021 asked the WTO
to examine the rules restricting the bloc’s
WTO ruling
use of palm oil-based biofuels.
Under the regulations, palm oil-based
fuels can no longer be considered as renew-
able transport fuel and are to be phased
by Rozanna Latiff out by 2030, as the EU has determined
Reuters that palm oil cultivation leads to excessive
deforestation.
Low Yen Yeing/The Edge Johari said the WTO report found fault
with the EU’s rules on indirect land use
change to ban palm oil biofuels, and with
the bloc’s approach to notifying and con-
sulting with other economies when intro-
ducing new trade measures.
“This ruling from the WTO demon-
strates that Malaysia’s claims of discrimi-
nation are indeed justified,” he said, add-
ing that the government would continue
to defend the interests of palm oil biofu-
els industry players against trade barriers.
Plantations and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the government will
monitor any changes to the EU's regulations to bring it into line with the WTO's findings and pursue
compliance proceedings if necessary.
MARC
and lower energy costs, although this re-
mains substantially below the pre-pandem-
downgrades
ic level in FY2019 (the financial year end-
ed Aug 31, 2019),” MARC Rating added.
Top Glove’s credit
For the first quarter ended Nov 30, 2023
(1QFY2024), Top Glove’s earnings before
rating and
interest, taxes, depreciation and amorti-
sation (Ebitda) turned positive, reaching
RM3 bil sukuk,
RM21.3 million, compared to a loss of
RM61.6 million for the previous corre-
but revises
sponding period.
However, its Ebitda margin remained
outlook to stable
low at 4.3%, significantly lower than the
14% recorded in FY2019. MARC Rating
said the narrow margin leaves little buffer
against potential fluctuations in raw ma-
by Luqman Amin terial and energy costs.
theedgemalaysia.com On Top Glove’s healthy liquidity po-
sition, MARC said its leverage ratios re-
agement initiatives that include decommis- main low with an adjusted debt-to-equity
sioning old production lines, temporary fac- (DE) ratio of 0.33 times and a net DE ratio
tory shutdowns, and workforce streamlining. of 0.12 times, adding that the group has
“There has been some improvement in an outstanding RM1.18 billion perpetu-
profitability among Malaysian glove manu- al sukuk of which the first call date is on
facturers, following capacity rationalisation Feb 27, 2025, and is likely to be refinanced.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
StanChart expects
BNM to keep
policy rate at 3%
on Thursday
by Jason Ng
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Bank Ne-
gara Malaysia (BNM) will likely maintain
the overnight policy rate (OPR) at 3%,
when its Monetary Policy Committee an-
nounces its decision on Thursday, Stand-
ard Chartered (StanChart) said.
Both economic growth and inflation
are moderating, making it unlikely that the
central bank will raise rates to support the
ringgit, StanChart said in a preview note.
Further, the currency weakness isn’t affect-
ing the growth and inflation outlook, it said.
“We expect the central bank to keep
the OPR unchanged,” StanChart said.The
ringgit also has had some reprieve since
the start of March following a decline in
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): The
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers
(FMM) said it was caught by surprise on
the latest changes to foreign worker policy.
In a statement onWednesday, FMM pres-
ident Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said the sudden
decision to cut short the quota validity peri-
od for those still having active quota balance
with just one month’s notice and to cancel
all active quotas after March 31, 2024 would
be most damaging as the sector has shown
signs of business recovery in the second half
of 2023 and is anticipated to gain momen-
tum in the first half of 2024.
Soh said the sudden policy change will
leave many manufacturers in the lurch in
meeting their manpower requirements,
especially those who have planned their
worker intake in stages according to their
job order schedule.
He said many of those with active quota
balance had either delayed the process of
bringing in the workers earlier due to the
softening of the market or had staggered
the worker intake over the 18-month quota
validity period to coincide with their peak
production period.
“Industries will now find themselves be-
ing unable to cope with their job orders
due to the inability to bring in workers as
planned, which may lead to having to can-
cel job orders or be subjected to financial
penalties for late delivery or failure to meet
confirmed orders.
15 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
January to February, the bank noted.
StanChart’s prediction dovetails with
the consensus among economists. A survey
of 19 economists by Bloomberg unanimous-
ly called for the central bank to stand pat
in its second of six scheduled monetary
policy reviews for this year.
Last week, the central bank’s Financial
Markets Committee highlighted “coordi-
nation with government-linked companies
and investment companies to encourage
them to repatriate foreign investment in-
come, and convert that income into ringgit
more consistently”.
“This coordination is likely preferred
over a tweak to monetary policy by BNM
to address foreign exchange weakness, as it
is not seen as affecting the growth and in-
flation outlook at present,” StanChart said.
The ringgit’s persistent weakness will like-
ly limit the central bank’s room to cut rates to
support growth, StanChart flagged, citing a
2.1% quarter-on-quarter contraction in the
final three months of 2023, and core inflation
which eased to 1.8% year-on-year in January.
Read also: BNM says better external de-
mand boosting exports, supporting growth
Foreign worker
intake deadline
changes will leave
manufacturers in
the lurch, says FMM
by Surin Murugiah
theedgemalaysia.com
“The industry finds that the timelines
announced under the policy change where
employers have to apply for the Calling
Visa/Visa Dengan Rujukan (VDR) by
March 31, 2024 and ensure entry of the
workers by May 31, 2024 as very restrictive
and were decided hastily without any con-
sultation and understanding of the actual
time frame it takes in reality for employers
to mobilise the workers,” he said.
Soh said that allowing only one month for
employers to get the calling visa issued would
be a near impossible timeline as there is a
long process involved, starting with the job
order approval at the source country, worker
interview and selection, passport issuance
and medical check-up before the employer
can apply for the Calling Visa.
“The process on average can easily take
up to more than 2.5 months,” he said.
Proton continues
positive growth
with 13,602 units
sold in February
Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6):
Proton Holdings Bhd extend-
ed its positive growth trajectory
with sales of 13,602 units, both
domestic and export, in February,
marking sales of 26,484 units in
the first two months of 2024, an
increase of 3% from the same pe-
riod last year.
In a statement on Wednesday, it
said Proton’s market share is fore-
cast to be at 20.5%, placing it com-
fortably in the second position in
the overall national automotive sales
rankings.
“After the first two months of
2024, total industry volume is es-
timated to have grown by 13.8%
year-to-date to 129,353 units, as
an influx of new brands launching
both traditional and electric vehicle
models generated a lot of buyer in-
terest,” it said.
Proton Edar chief executive
officer Roslan Abdullah said the
company continued its positive
trajectory in February 2024, with
sales underpinned by consistent
domestic demand and increasing
export growth.
“Therefore, our export markets
will be an important area of growth
in 2024, and we also have high ex-
pectations for the Proton S70 to
dominate its segment, as deliveries
continue to ramp up in the coming
months.
“Having extended our footprint
across many countries, we will con-
tinue to work diligently to bring
Proton models to greater heights in
these export markets, as we see them
as having the potential to grow our
sales significantly in the long term,”
he said.
Proton highlighted that its export
business leapfrogged by 223% to 346
units in February, as compared to
January this year, while year-to-date
export growth stood at 50.5%, with
453 units sold to overseas markets
this far.
co n ti n ues o n Page 16
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Lim Seong Hai
Capital proposes
RM168 mil
share sale for
listing transfer
by Jason Ng
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Construction com-
pany Lim Seong Hai Capital Bhd (LSH)
said on Wednesday it is proposing a pub-
lic offering which could potentially raise
RM168.08 million as part of its listing
transfer to the ACE Market from the
LEAP Market.
The share sale involves the issuance of
132 million new shares and an offer for
sale of up to 59 million existing shares,
the company said in an exchange filing.
The retail tranche consists of 29.3
million shares for the public and eligible
persons while the institutional portion
will have 102.66 million new shares and
59 million existing shares.
Based on an illustrative price of 88
sen per share, LSH will raise RM116.16
million which will go towards construc-
tion projects and repayment of debt, it
said. The company, which also develops
properties, has three projects worth near-
ly RM1.7 billion in gross development
value, LSH noted.
Further, LSH has an outstanding or-
der book of about RM501.26 million
across nine infrastructure construction
and civil engineering projects. Cash from
the public offering will ease the com-
pany’s cash flow when carrying out its
construction activities, it said.
The offer for sale meanwhile will raise
gross proceeds of up to RM51.92 million
which will accrue entirely to the selling
shareholders, including independent
director Tan Sri Lim Keng Cheng and
executive chairman Datuk Lim Keng
Guan.
LSH did not raise any proceeds dur-
ing its listing on the LEAP Market on
July 30, 2021. The company however
raised over RM4.6 million from the
pre-listing investors through the issuance
of 35.86 million shares at 13 sen apiece.
The proposed public offering is ex-
pected to be completed in the fourth
quarter of 2024 alongside the transfer
of listing, LSH said.
AmInvestment Bank Bhd is the prin-
cipal adviser and sponsor to the compa-
ny for its ACE Market listing transfer.
16 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
(L-R): M & A Securities head of corporate finance Gary Ting, M & A Equity Holdings Bhd managing
director (MD) Datuk Bill Tan, Zantat Holdings Bhd deputy chairman Chan Hup Ooi, Zantat MD
Ivan Chan, Zantat chairman Yap Yoon Kong and Zantat executive director Chan Jee Chet at Zantat
Holdings Bhd’s prospectus launch.
Zantat starts
taking orders for
RM18.20 mil IPO
by Jason Ng
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Calcium
carbonate producer Zantat Holdings Bhd
began taking orders from investors for its
initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday,
to raise up to RM18.20 million.
The IPO, priced at 25 sen per share, in-
volves a public issue of 56.0 million new shares,
representing 20% of the enlarged share capital
of Zantat and an offer for sale of 16.8 million
existing shares by way of private placement to
selected investors, according to its prospectus.
The offering will close on March 13, and
the listing is scheduled for March 27. Zantat
produces ground calcium carbonate and calci-
um carbonate dispersions that are mainly used
in the manufacturing of plastic masterbatch,
rubber gloves, PVC pipes and cables, and in
other products such as paints and coatings.
The sale of new shares is expected to
raise total proceeds of RM14.00 million, of
which 27% will be used for upgrading its
research-and-development facilities. The
company has also earmarked 7.2% to up-
grade its Calrock Perak plant’s infrastruc-
ture and 9.6% for investment in machine
components and industrial automation.
The upgrading of R&D facilities is cru-
cial to facilitate the company’s product ex-
f ro m Pag e 1 5
Meanwhile, Proton said the S70 mod-
el had unlocked pent-up demand and
interest from buyers in both domestic
and international markets, with sales
increasing by 60.5% to 2,314 units in
February, while the Saga recorded a sale
of 6,212 units during the month.
“The X50 ended February in the sec-
ond place for B-segment sport utility
vehicles (SUVs), but still maintained a
zantat holdings bhd
pansion plan, according to its managing
director Ivan Chan.
“With the upgraded R&D facility and
enhanced testing capabilities, we will be fo-
cusing on our in-house product development
and enhancement including testing of our
products as well as for new and existing cus-
tomers pertaining to our calcium carbonate
products and bioplastic compounds.
“As part of our strategy to expand our
product range, we intend to develop three
new bioplastic compounds and enhance
our ultrafine grade ground calcium car-
bonate namely “Zanelite” series and pro-
duce more varieties to generate new rev-
enue stream,” Chan said in a statement.
The remainder of the IPO proceeds will be
set aside for repayment of bank borrowings,
working capital, and to defray listing expenses.
Meanwhile, the offer-for-sale of existing
shares will gross RM4.20 million, which will
accrue entirely to the existing shareholders of
Zantat, including deputy chairman Chan Hup
Ooi and managing director Chan Bin Iuan.
Out of 56.0 million issued shares, 14.0
million will be made available to the Ma-
laysian public via balloting, 11.2 million
issue shares for its eligible directors, em-
ployees and persons who have contributed
to the success of the Zantat under pink
form allocations, while the remaining 30.8
million issued shares are reserved for pri-
vate placement to selected investors.
M&A Securities will underwrite a total of
25.2 million issued shares made available to the
Malaysian public and pink form allocations.
M&A Securities is the adviser, sponsor,
underwriter and placement agent for the
IPO exercise.
healthy level of sales with 1,816 units,
and X70 saw an uptick of 19.6% to 445
units, while Iriz added 3.8% to close at
543 units.
“Although production has ended for
the Exora, 39 units were sold in Febru-
ary, and to date, over 194,250 units of
the model had been sold, making it the
most successful C-segment multipurpose
vehicle (MPV) in Malaysia’s automotive
history,” Proton added.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Ex-BSI banker
says he was not
aware where
SRC funds went
by Timothy Achariam & Tarani Palani
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Former
BSI banker Kevin Swampillai told the
High Court on Wednesday that he was
not aware about funds from SRC Inter-
national Sdn Bhd which were transferred
to a fiduciary fund.
Testifying in a civil lawsuit brought by SRC
against former prime minister Datuk Seri Na-
jib Razak and several others, Swampillai said
he had only dealt with the documentation of
the transfer from SRC to the fiduciary fund,
but had no idea what happened to the amount
(US$864.5 million) after that.
The banker, who was under cross-ex-
amination by Najib’s lawyer Harvinderjit
Singh, explained that clients using fiduci-
ary funds have virtually limitless flexibility
to decide on the structure of transactions
placed through such funds.
For example, they will choose the target
destinations where the money will even-
tually end up, he said.
They will also decide on the instru-
ments (such as equity shares or loans in
the form of lending agreements like prom-
issory notes) used to optically legalise the
flow of money from the fund to target com-
panies or assets intended to be acquired.
The clients are also in control of the
timing and amounts channelled through
such fiduciary structures, said Sawmpillai.
The witness said that while he did not
know what happened, he had his suspicions
about the money and told his superiors
about the fraudulent transactions done by
SRC International (Malaysia) Ltd total-
ling US$864.5 million between November
2011 and April 2012.
Swampillai said that suspicious
transactions did not fall on his
department at the bank, and
were part of the compliance
department and the Client
Acceptance Committee
(CAC).
He said that the com-
pliance department and
CAC were supposed
to monitor these
transactions.
Zahid Izzani/
The Edge
17 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
The banker said he raised his suspicions
to his direct superior and this was tendered
as evidence in the 1Malaysia Development
Bhd (1MDB)-Tanore trial where Swampillai
was also a witness.
“I was concerned because we did not
know where the money was going, and had
no visibility on where they would end up.
My concerns were raised because the SRC
transactions would be frequent, but no ac-
tion was taken by senior management of the
bank,” he said.
He said had the transactions been clear-
er or had the bank been in the know about
the source of the funds and the ultimate
beneficiary, which was Najib, they would
not have gone through with the transac-
tions as Najib was a “politically exposed
person” at that time.
Swampillai and Harvinderjit got a little
tense with one another as the cross-exam-
ination wore on, after the witness said he
did not understand the lawyer’s questions.
“It’s hard to follow the vagueness of your
questions and it’s difficult for me to follow.
If you could just be more succinct with
your questions,” Swampillai told the lawyer.
Harvinderjit then snapped back: “Let’s not
beat around the bush. I’m trying to establish
how [fugitive] Jho Low worked with crooked
bankers to misappropriate the funds. With-
out them he won’t be able to do it. Let’s not
beat around the bush I’m not being vague,”
Harvinderjit then asked Swampillai about
the nearly US$6 million in commissions from
his previous employer BSI Bank for his role
in carrying out deals for SRC and 1MDB.
Harvinderjit asked him if he had earned
it or was entitled to it, to which the bank-
er said “no”.
SRC filed the US$1.18 billion suit
against Najib and former SRC chief ex-
ecutive officer and managing director Nik
Faisal Ariff Kamil in May 2021.
It had obtained a judgement in default
against Nik Faisal, who was named as Na-
jib’s proxy.
In the opening statement for the trial on
Tuesday, lead co-counsel Datuk Lim Chee
Wee said that out of the total KWAP loan
of RM4 billion, a sum of US$120 million
made its way to Najib’s bank account.
The civil suit continues before judge
Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Ahmad Zainol on
Thursday.
Former BSI banker Kevin Swampillai told the
High Court on Wednesday that he was not
aware about funds from SRC International
Sdn Bhd which were transferred to a fiduciary
fund. He said that clients using fiduciary
funds have virtually limitless
flexibility to decide on the
structure of transactions
placed through such funds.
Johari Ghani’s
son Amir Nashrin
appointed
director of CI
Holdings, KUB
by Anis Hazim
theedgemalaysia.com
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Amir
Nashrin Johari has been appointed as an
executive director of CI Holdings Bhd,
and a non-independent and non-exec-
utive director of KUB Malaysia Bhd, ef-
fective from Wednesday.
Amir, 30, is the son of Plantation In-
dustries and Commodities Minister Da-
tuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.
Johari, through his investment vehicle
JAG Capital Holdings Sdn Bhd, holds
stakes of 32.96% in CI Holdings and
33.28% in KUB, according to bourse
filings by the two listed companies.
Amir, meanwhile, is also a director
of JAG and several other companies, in-
cluding Central Cables Bhd (an 86.65%
stake in which JAG wants to inject into
KUB), Continental Resources Sdn Bhd
and Palmtop Vegeoil Products Sdn Bhd.
Johari in December last year relin-
quished his chairman’s post at KUB and
CI Holdings, following his appointment
to the Cabinet.
Amir, who holds a degree in accounting
and finance from Oxford Brookes Univer-
sity, has previously worked in the financial
assurance departments of EY Malaysia
and KPMG Malaysia from 2014 to 2017.
“He has spent the past nine years in
various management and executive roles
in different industries and companies, in-
cluding audit and management consulting,
various technology-based start-ups, private
investment companies, and a public cable
manufacturing company in Melaka.
“His roles covered corporate finance,
strategy management, asset manage-
ment, credit control, business develop-
ment, accounting, treasury and infor-
mation systems,” said CI Holdings and
KUB in their respective filings.
CI Holdings shares finished down
four sen or 1.43% at RM2.75 on Wednes-
day, valuing the group at RM445.5 mil-
lion. The stock has fallen 26.67% over
the past one year.
Meanwhile, KUB fell half a sen or
0.83% to 59.5 sen, with a market capi-
talisation of RM331.1 million. The stock
has gained 16.67% over the past one year.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Penang govt to
go over airport
expansion
compliance,
technical issues
with MAHB
Bernama
GEORGE TOWN (March 6):The Penang
government will continue discussions with
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB)
regarding the expansion of the Penang In-
ternational Airport (LTAPP), Chief Min-
ister Chow Kon Yeow said.
He said talks will revolve around com-
KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Rapid bus
and rail service users in Klang Valley will
soon have the option to pay fares using
methods other than Touch ‘n Go (TNG),
as the government aims to expand cashless
payment options.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew
Fook announced that Prasarana Malaysia
Bhd has committed to implementing the
open payment system for its services, start-
ing with Rapid KL buses, as the integration
for rail services, including LRT and MRT
stations, requires additional time.
Currently, these buses only accept
Touch ‘n Go cards as a payment meth-
od, whereas rail stations offer alternatives
like tokens.
“We recognise that this limitation af-
fects both tourists and locals. We aim to
transition toward an open payment sys-
tem, allowing the use of credit cards, deb-
it cards and other methods,” said Loke
in a news conference in Parliament on
Wednesday.
Loke added that Prasarana has already
initiated a tender process for this, and he
anticipates the tender process to conclude
within the next two months.
“Ideally, the open payment system will
be implemented in the next three to six
months. We hope to have it in place by
the end of this year, at least for Rapid KL
buses,” Loke said.
Additionally, Loke announced that
a Cabinet committee has approved the
construction of 344 bus stations and
over 7,000 metres of covered pedestri-
an walkways in seven local authorities
in the Klang Valley, with an allocation
of RM48.6 million.
18 TheEdge CEO morning brief
h o m e
pliance with technical issues in the LTAPP
expansion project.
“With the approval from the Cabinet,
MAHB will proceed with the tender for
the appointment of a contractor to com-
mence the project, expected to start this
year, possibly in the third quarter.
“The discussions and the LTAPP ex-
pansion project can proceed concurrently.
We will manage and expedite it,” he told
reporters after officiating the 45th World
Congress of the International Advertising
Association at the Setia Spice Convention
Centre here on Wednesday.
A total of 1,000 participants from 30
countries are attending the three-day con-
gress from Wednesday, the first to be held
in Southeast Asia.
Chow was responding to Transport
Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook’s state-
ment recently that the LTAPP expansion
effort, costing over RM1 billion, had re-
ceived Cabinet approval.
Prasarana to
expand cashless
payment options
for Rapid KL buses
and rail services
by Choy Nyen Yiau
theedgemalaysia.com
Loke added that
Prasarana has already
initiated a tender
process for this, and
he anticipates the
tender process to
conclude within the
next two months.
In another development, Loke an-
nounced that the ministry will publish
real-time statistics on death cases due to
accidents every day, to raise awareness
among road users and the public.
PN’s Selat Klang
assemblyman
declares support
for Selangor MB
Amirudin Shari’s
leadership
Bernama
SHAH ALAM (March 6): Perikatan
Nasional’s (PN) assemblyman for
Selat Klang, Datuk Abdul Rashid
Asari, on Wednesday declared his
support for the leadership of Se-
langor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri
Amirudin Shari.
The former chairman of Selan-
gor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malay-
sia (Bersatu) said the decision was
made after considering the speech
of the Sultan of Selangor Sul-
tan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, who
praised the state government’s ad-
ministration for being on the right
track for the progress and wellbeing
of the people.
He said the move was also taken
in view of several PN’s actions, es-
pecially Selangor PN, which he saw
as remaining silent against criticisms
directed at the Malay rulers, which
he deemed contrary to the principles
of Malay Muslims.
“I also made this decision to en-
sure the wellbeing of the people of
Selangor, especially the residents of
the N44 Selat Klang constituency,
who will benefit from a stable and
united government,” he said in a
statement here.
Abdul Rashid said, however, that
he remained committed as a mem-
ber of Bersatu.
Meanwhile, Selangor State Leg-
islative Assembly Speaker Lau Weng
San, when approached by reporters
at the lobby of the Selangor State
Assembly Building, stated that he
had not yet received any notification
regarding Abdul Rashid’s move as
of 1.50pm.
“As for his seating position in the
Selangor State Assembly, I will dis-
cuss it further before making any de-
cisions, and considering the state-
ment of support from Selat Klang,
the position of PN in the Selangor
State Assembly is 21 seats,” he said.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Powell reiterates Fed needs more
confidence on inflation to cut
(March 6): US Federal Reserve (Fed) chair
Jerome Powell reiterated to lawmakers that
the US central bank is in no rush to cut in-
terest rates until policymakers are convinced
they have won their battle over inflation.
In prepared testimony to a House panel
on Wednesday, the Fed chief said it will like-
ly be appropriate to begin lower borrowing
costs “at some point this year”, but made
clear they are not ready yet.
The remarks echoed a consistent message
from nearly every Fed official in recent weeks:
The economy and labour market are strong,
meaning policymakers have time to wait for
more evidence that inflation is headed back to
their goal before cutting interest rates.
“The committee does not expect that it will
be appropriate to reduce the target range until
it has gained greater confidence that inflation
is moving sustainably towards 2%,” Powell
said in brief prepared remarks to the House
Financial Services Committee, where he is
set to testify at 10am on Wednesday.
The Fed chief is on Capitol Hill for the first
of two days of his semiannual monetary policy
testimony, and is scheduled to appear before
the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.
Treasury yields remained mostly lower
on the day after the remarks were released,
and S&P 500 index futures held gains while
the dollar was lower.
Fed officials are in the last rounds of an
aggressive fight to contain inflation. After
raising their benchmark federal funds rate
more than five percentage points starting
in March 2022, they have held rates steady
since July amid easing price pressures.
Central bankers are now grappling with
how soon and how far they should lower rates.
Cut too early, and officials worry they could
19 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
by Craig Torres
theedgemalaysia.com
We believe that our policy
rate is likely at its peak for
this tightening cycle. If the
economy evolves broadly
as expected, it will likely be
appropriate to begin dialling
back policy restraint at some
point this year. But the
economic outlook is uncertain,
and ongoing progress
towards our 2% inflation
objective is not assured.”
bloomberg
fuel a pickup in economic activity that keeps
inflation above 2% — the rate they see as ap-
propriate for a healthy economy. Keep borrow-
ing costs elevated for too long and they risk
tipping the economy into a recession.
“We believe that our policy rate is likely
at its peak for this tightening cycle,” Pow-
ell said in his prepared remarks, repeating
language used at his last press conference
on Jan 31. “If the economy evolves broadly
as expected, it will likely be appropriate to
begin dialling back policy restraint at some
point this year. But the economic outlook
is uncertain, and ongoing progress towards
our 2% inflation objective is not assured.”
Inflation slowed to a 2.4% rate for the 12
months ending in January, down from a peak
of 7.1% in June 2022. But price pressures
accelerated from December, and an underly-
ing measure often cited by Powell — services
prices excluding shelter and energy — is still
tracking higher than its pre-pandemic trend.
At the same time, demand for workers
has remained strong, with employers adding
353,000 jobs in January and economists fore-
casting another 200,000 added in February.
Fed officials have said high interest rates
should continue to ripple through the econ-
omy and eventually slow growth, which has
been surprisingly robust over the past year.
Still, some forecasters have lifted their esti-
mates for economic output in the first quar-
ter, due to expectations for higher consumer
spending.
Policymakers have responded to the
economy’s surprising strength by indicat-
ing that they’ll hold rates at a high level and,
once they begin cutting, will probably lower
them at a slower and potentially less regular
pace than in the past.
Since their January meeting, officials have
pushed back aggressively on expectations that
they will cut rates when they meet on March
19 and 20. Investors are now betting the first
rate cut will come in June. They also expect
between three and four rate cuts this year,
in line with Fed officials’ median forecast in
December. Policymakers will release updated
rate projections in the meeting this month.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers are
growing impatient with the US central bank
ahead of the November elections. Sherrod
Brown, the Senate Banking Committee
chair who is in a tough re-election battle
in Ohio, urged the Fed to cut rates “early
this year” in a Jan 30 letter to Powell, argu-
ing that high rates are hurting small busi-
nesses and putting homeownership out of
reach for many Americans.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
US regulators
expected to
significantly
reduce Basel
capital burden,
sources say
by Pete Schroeder
Reuters
WASHINGTON (March 6): US regulators
are expected to significantly reduce the extra
capital banks must hold under a proposed
rule that has drawn aggressive pushback
from Wall Street, said eight industry exec-
utives in regular contact with the agencies
and regulatory officials.
Bank regulators led by the Federal Re-
serve in July unveiled the “Basel III” pro-
posal to overhaul how banks with more
LONDON (March 5): US manufacturers
are struggling to regain momentum as the
sector tries to pull out of the prolonged but
shallow downturn, with any help from low-
er interest rates delayed due to continuing
inflation in the service sector.
The desultory state of factory and freight
activity has limited diesel consumption,
postponed the anticipated depletion of
fuel inventories, and caused refining mar-
gins to soften.
The Institute for Supply Management
(ISM)’s purchasing index slipped to 47.8
(18th percentile for all months since 1980)
in February down from 49.1 (25th percen-
tile) in January.
The index has been below the 50-point
threshold dividing expanding activity from
a contraction for 16 months running since
November 2022.
The manufacturing downturn has been
the most prolonged since the slowdown
of 2000-2002 and before that 1981-1983.
Both of those downturns were cy-
20 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
than US$100 billion in assets calculate the
cash they must set aside to absorb poten-
tial losses.
The agencies said it would increase
aggregate capital by around 16% for the
roughly three dozen affected lenders. That
figure is expected to fall sharply as regula-
tors embark on a sweeping rewrite of the
draft, the people said.
The regulatory discussions are in their
early stages and no decisions have been
made, the people said. The agencies have
said they are analyzing hundreds of public
comments and data from banks on the im-
pact of the proposal.
The biggest capital savings will come
from changes to how banks will have to cal-
culate potential losses from operational risks,
which is the costliest plank of the proposal,
three people said. In that section, banks had
been pushing regulators to reduce the risk
weights for fee income associated with lend-
ing services, such as investment banking.
Officials are also expected to scrap or
reduce higher risk weights on mortgages
to low-income borrowers and on renewable
energy tax credits, the people said.
reuters
US manufacturers
struggle to grow
again without
interest rate cuts
by John Kemp
Reuters
cle-ending recessions rather than mid-cy-
cle slowdowns, characterised by a far more
severe contraction in activity.
By contrast, in the current slowdown
manufacturing output has declined less
than 2%, according to data from the US
Federal Reserve.
The worst of the current downturn was
over by the second and third quarters of
2023, but manufacturers have since strug-
gled to regain momentum.
Banks with heavy
commercial
property
exposure see
bonds get hit
by Allison Nicole Smith
Bloomberg
(March 6): Bond investors have pun-
ished banks with heavy exposure to
commercial real estate, potentially
adding even more pressure to the lend-
ers’ profits as Wall Street scrambles to
assess how widely pain in property
debt will spread through the financial
system.
Banks with high levels of commercial
real estate exposure tend to have bonds
that trade at relatively wider spreads,
according to an analysis by Barclays plc
credit strategists led by Dominique Tou-
blan. In some cases, spreads on those
bonds have been widening, even as in-
vestors have broadly piled into finan-
cial industry bonds in pursuit of high-
er-yielding securities.
Barclays’ Toublan wrote in an email
that commercial real estate-related
angst explains about 80% of issuer-lev-
el spreads in the US investment-grade
debt market, with lenders with lower
exposure generally trading tighter. The
differentiation in pricing underscores
how investors are being selective as they
snatch up bonds, a factor that could lift
funding costs for banks already under
pressure from setting aside money for
potential real estate losses.
“At first, ever ybody just sold
everything and asked questions later,”
Invesco’s head of North America invest-
ment grade and senior portfolio man-
ager Matt Brill said, citing last March
when the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
triggered a selloff, widening bank bond
spreads. “Now, they’re finding out that
there are some regionals that are better
positioned than others.”
Some of the regional lenders with
portfolios weighted toward underper-
forming commercial real estate markets
include Bank OZK,Valley National Ban-
corp and Webster Financial Corp, ac-
cording to Morgan Stanley. None of the
trio of banks responded to requests for
comment from Bloomberg News.
Read the full story
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Nikki Haley to end 2024 bid, setting up
Trump-Biden rematch
(March 6): Republican presidential candi-
date Nikki Haley is ending her campaign
after overwhelming losses in a string of
primary contests, ceding the nomination
to Donald Trump and setting up a rematch
of the 2020 election against President Joe
Biden.
Haley is due to speak in her home state
of South Carolina at 10am, where she will
concede that Trump is her party’s choice,
according to a person familiar with the
matter.
Both Biden and Trump prevailed in
almost every Super Tuesday nominat-
ing contest, including victories in Virgin-
ia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah
that demonstrate their respective holds
over their political parties.
Haley will not, however, immediately
endorse Trump and will instead push him
to pivot on some issues in order to court
her voters, another person familiar with
her plans said.
Haley managed only a token victory in
Vermont — a deeply liberal state Republi-
cans haven’t carried in 36 years — despite
backing from billionaires including Stan
Druckenmiller and Charles Koch.
And a viable alternative to Biden never
emerged: Primary opponent Dean Phil-
lips didn’t stand a chance, no matter how
many times investor Bill Ackman said he
did.
21 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
by Justin Sink, Jordan Fabian
& Nancy Cook
Bloomberg
The dominant
performances by both
Biden and Trump
disguise deep anxiety
and reservations
among the electorate.
Yet the dominant performances by both
Biden and Trump disguise deep anxiety
and reservations among the electorate.
For Democrats, the choice of Biden is
a risky gamble that voters in November
will put aside their concerns about the
ability of an 81-year-old man to continue
to lead the country for another four years,
particularly at a time when foreign wars
are raging and economic angst persists
despite a strong post-pandemic recovery.
On the Republican side, Trump’s myr-
iad legal woes, inflammatory statements
about minorities and immigrants and what
his critics say are his authoritarian plans
for a second term threaten to alienate
moderate voters key to recapturing the
White House.
Trump’s political efforts must compete
for his time, resources, and attention as
he mounts a defence against 91 criminal
charges in four separate cases. He is just
four years younger than Biden, but re-
cently has made verbal stumbles on the
campaign trail that are making it some-
what harder to strike a contrast with the
president on the question of whether they
are too old to effectively do the job.
Trump, casting himself as a de facto
incumbent despite losing in 2020, con-
solidated GOP support following his in-
dictments, with the party’s drift towards
populism leaving little room for Haley to
get traction. Florida governor Ron De-
Santis, Trump’s other main challenger,
stumbled before he even started.
Democrats rallied around Biden, with
no big-name politicians willing to chal-
lenge a sitting president even as party fig-
ures whispered fears about his age.
Divergent approaches
In foreign capitals, the prospect of a re-
match between the two men has already
sown disbelief that the US refuses to move
on to a new generation of leaders, and
leaves bureaucrats to gird for two wildly
divergent approaches to diplomacy, eco-
nomics, and governance.
The vision of a second Trump term is
clear: substantial new trade protections,
a sharp crackdown on immigration, lower
taxes, an isolationist foreign policy bent,
and a campaign of retribution targeting
progressives, federal bureaucracy and a
news media he blames for alienating his
base against the ruling class.
An extension of Biden’s presidency
would guarantee the implementation of
his first-term legislative achievements
aimed at reviving domestic manufactur-
ing, improving infrastructure, and battling
climate change. Biden would also aim to
raise taxes on the wealthy and strength-
en foreign alliances, though his subdued,
technocratic approach has done little to
inspire the electorate.
“We’re going to win this election be-
cause we have to win,” Trump said on
Tuesday night, casting the stakes of the
Biden rematch as existential. “If we lose
the election we’re not going to have a
country left.”
Read also: Kremlin says Russia will not
meddle in the US presidential election
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4 22 TheEdge CEO morning brief

w o r l d

bloomberg

(March 6): Smaller cryptocurrencies are
starting to pull ahead of record-setting bit-
coin, as traders bet the tokens are next in
line to test all-time peaks.
An index tracking the bottom half of the
largest 100 digital assets is up about 60%
over the past month, beating the 56% ad-
vance in bitcoin. During the same period,
the overall value of tokens jumped by more
than US$800 billion (RM3.79 trillion), ac-
cording to data tracker CoinGecko.
Market observers contend there are
growing such signs of speculators rotat-
ing away from the largest digital asset into
smaller rivals that have lagged in the bit-
coin-led crypto recovery that began last
year.
“Our desk has been seeing strong flows
and more excitement on non-bitcoin assets
recently,” said David Lawant, the head of
research at crypto prime broker FalconX.
At one point five times as much investment
was flowing into bitcoin, compared to sec-
ond-ranked Ether, but that has dropped to
two times, he said.
Bitcoin dominance
Coins like Ether remain some way off hit-
ting all-time highs, a reflection of the in-
tense focus on bitcoin amid the launch of
landmark US exchange-traded funds for
Crypto’s US$800
bil rally widens
beyond record-
setting bitcoin
by Sidhartha Shukla
Bloomberg
the token, as well as an upcoming reduc-
tion in its supply growth.
“Bitcoin’s market dominance typically
tops out in the weeks following an all-time
high breakout,” Vetle Lunde, a senior ana-
lyst at K33 Research, wrote in a note. He
added that ramped-up bets on altcoins are
a typical feature of an “all gas, no brakes
stage of the market”.
Frothy wagers on bitcoin have washed
across the derivatives sector, evidenced by
metrics such as elevated costs for perpetual
futures and unprecedented levels of open
interest — or outstanding contracts — at
Chicago-based CME Group’s bitcoin fu-
tures market.
Futures appetite
That too is a positive backdrop for small-
er digital assets, according to Jag Kooner,
the head of derivatives at crypto exchange
Bitfinex.
“It’s anticipated that the surge in open
interest will eventually redistribute towards
altcoins, as the market’s focus shifts away
from bitcoin, further out on the risk curve
towards meme tokens, which accounted for
a third of the volume on major exchanges
last week,” Kooner wrote in a note.
Meme coins Shiba Inu, Floki, dogwifhat,
Pepe and Bonk sat atop the seven-day per-
formance charts at CoinGecko, with gains
of about 150% or more as of 9.20am on
Wednesday in London. Bitcoin changed
hands at US$67,250, a little shy of the re-
cord US$69,192 reached on Tuesday in
US trading.
While crypto veterans might rationalise
the meme trend as part of the pivot beyond
bitcoin, others could well see it as mindless
speculation.

(March 6): Amazon.com Inc’s cloud servic-
es division is halting fees it has long charged
customers that switch to a rival provider —
following in the steps of Google, which re-
cently announced it was ending the practice.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) will no
longer charge customers who want to ex-
tract all of their data from the company’s
servers and move them to another service,
AWS vice-president Robert Kennedy said
in a blog post on Tuesday.
“Beginning today (Tuesday), customers
globally are now entitled to free data trans-
fers out to the internet if they want to move
to another information technology provid-
er,” Kennedy said.
The move follows intensifying scrutiny of
Commission asked for public comments on
Amazon cancels a variety of cloud concerns.
Amazon has said the fees help cover the
fees for customers costs of networking and other infrastructure.
AWS is the world’s largest provider of
moving to rival rented computing power, followed by Mi-
crosoft Corp and Alphabet Inc’s Google.
cloud services Competition among the three companies
heated up recently with the advent of gener-
ative artificial intelligence, which mines vast
by Matt Day quantities of data to generate text or images.
Bloomberg All three are looking to bake the technology
into their cloud offerings.
cloud services by regulators and lawmakers.
UK antitrust authorities launched a probe
into such penalties, and the fees emerged Read also: Elon Musk’s X escapes most of
as a key issue when the US Federal Trade lawsuit over copyrighted songs
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
Investors in China
stick to bargains
as fiscal bazooka
proves elusive
by Ankur Banerjee & Tom Westbrook
Reuters
SINGAPORE (March 6): Foreign in-
vestors returning to China’s recuperat-
ing stock markets say spending plans an-
nounced on Tuesday are not enough to
turn battered sentiment around, and the
main reason to keep buying shares for now
is because they are cheap.
Money managers hunting for bargains
have been trickling back into mainland
stocks since February, after China re-
placed its stock market regulator and
tightened rules around speculation, lead-
ing to a sharp but fragile recovery in the
market.
Few had held out hopes the National
People’s Congress (NPC) would unleash
a torrent of cash big enough to buoy mar-
kets and the mood right away.
But those expecting solid spending
plans to reach a growth target of 5%, as
authorities stuck to a familiar script about
managing risks in the property sector and
municipal debt.
China plans to run a budget deficit
of 3% of economic output, down from a
revised 3.8% last year, belying the fiscal
shot-in-the-arm some had hoped for to
fuel a recovery.
“Investors need to see policies that
could improve governance and final de-
mand, but neither seem to be on offer so
far at the NPC,” Ken Peng, head of in-
vestment strategy in Asia at Citi Global
Wealth, said in an email to Reuters.
Mainland China stockmarkets lost
about US$2 trillion (RM9.47 trillion) in
market value in the year to Jan. 31, with
HONG KONG (March 6): Morgan Stan-
ley has laid off about 9% of its staff at its
asset management business unit in China,
two people with direct knowledge of the
matter said, as the country’s spiralling stock
market dampens prospects for its US$3.8
trillion (RM17.97 trillion) fund sector.
Morgan Stanley Investment Manage-
ment China started reducing headcount
in December and the move has impacted
about 15 employees, the people said on
condition of anonymity as they were not
authorised to speak to the media.
23 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
foreign investors’ net selling of 112 billion
yuan (RM73.6 billion) over the period
drawing down exposures of global money
managers to the lowest levels for years.
They have since bought stocks worth
48.3 billion yuan and China’s blue-chip
CSI300 Index has bounced nearly 15%
off the five-year lows it hit last month.
But where global investors were once
happy to park slabs of their portfolios in
China for the long term, many are running
smaller and nimbler “tactical” books offer-
ing exposure to short-term bounces while
holding back on larger strategic stakes.
“There is a degree of anticipation as to
when all of these collective measures will
start making a lot of sense and moving
markets and moving asset prices,” said
Niraj Athavle, J.P. Morgan’s head of sales
and marketing in Singapore.
“I wish I could tell you what exactly
would be the single point that triggers it ...
but I don’t think any such trigger exists.”
Finding a footing
Investors, both foreign and domestic, are
being selective buying stocks but only in
Morgan Stanley cuts
9% of China fund unit
staff amid market rout,
sources say
by Selena Li & Xie Yu
Reuters
reuters
sectors such as electric vehicles and tech-
nology, says Winnie Chiu, senior director
and investment adviser at Indosuez Wealth
Management.
These sectors lie at the heart of China’s
quest for self-sufficiency.
Mainland markets are also cheap. The
12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio,
a widely used valuation measure, is just
around 10 for the CSI 300, half the levels
for S&P 500 and Japan’s Nikkei.
Enough has been done to at least stop
the carnage, analysts say and Steve Law-
rence, chief investment officer at Balfour
Capital, who manages US$300 million
across different funds, sees money flowing
back into Chinese stocks.
“The reality is when there’s fear, or
there’s a sense of fear, the smart money,
the real money, always buys. If you take
a step back, China is still growing, it will
continue to grow,” Lawrence said.
“It’s just the beginning of a massive
biblical move. When you have such a di-
vergence — the Nasdaq at all-time highs
and where the Hang Seng is — there will
be a teeter-totter.”
This would be the first time Morgan
Stanley has cut staff at the China fund unit
since it bought out its local partner’s 36%
stake in the loss-making business for about
US$54 million in 2023. It rebranded the
unit as a wholly owned subsidiary in June.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The downsizing underscores the chal-
lenges that global financial firms, includ-
ing JPMorgan and BlackRock, face in the
world’s second-biggest economy as a pro-
tracted economic malaise batters markets
there.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
China’s Li vows
more support for
property market
stuck in the
doldrums
by Liangping Gao & Ryan Woo
Reuters
BEIJING (March 5): China will try to stabi-
lise a property sector with targeted measures
while providing financing to “justified” pro-
jects, Premier Li Qiang said on Tuesday, as
Beijing looks to resolve a glut of unfinished
properties that have worried homebuyers.
The policy message in Li’s annual report
to China’s parliament reinforced the view
that the world’s second-largest economy
is still working through a combination of
half-completed projects as well as unsold
homes that will take years to remedy and
remain a brake on economic growth.
The property sector has lurched from
one crisis to another since 2021 after a reg-
ulatory crackdown on high leverage among
developers triggered a liquidity crisis. So far,
authorities have not rolled out massive stim-
ulus to support developers, instead adopting
BEIJING (March 6): China’s 2024 growth
target of around 5% is in line with the
country’s economic potential, the head
of the state economic planner said on
Wednesday while announcing plans to step
up policy adjustments and issue special
treasury bonds.
Speaking at a rare joint briefing on the
sidelines of the annual parliament meet-
ing in Beijing with China’s finance minis-
ter, commerce minister, central bank chief
and head of the securities regulator, Zheng
Shanjie said he expected the world’s sec-
ond-largest economy to have a good first
quarter.
“The target is in line with the annual
requirements of the Fourteenth Five-Year
Plan and matches the potential for eco-
nomic growth, making it a positive and
achievable target,” said Zheng, chair of
the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC).
On Tuesday, Premier Li Qiang in his
maiden work report to the National Peo-
ple’s Congress announced this year’s
growth target would be around 5%, which
many analysts said was ambitious unless
the government rolls out much more stim-
ulus.
24 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
a long series of incremental steps to revive
the sector.
The government will “meet justified fi-
nancing demands of real estate enterprises
under various forms of ownership on an
equal basis, so as to promote the steady and
healthy development of the real estate mar-
ket,” said Li.
Investors remain underwhelmed by the
government’s plans for the property mar-
ket, with the mainland CSI 300 Real Estate
Index down 42% in the past year.
Some analysts are drawing comparisons
with Japan’s lost decades of stagnation and
deflation.
“The property market has yet to stabi-
lise. Its woes reflect insufficient easing in the
China’s 5%
growth target
for 2024 is
achievable, says
state planner
by Kevin Yao & Albee Zhang
Reuters
reuters
reuters
past and have raised the risk of deflation,”
said Chil Lo, Senior Market Strategist, Asia
Pacific, at BNP Paribas Asset Management
in Hong Kong.
“To counter the deflation risk so that
structural reforms and debt reduction can
proceed, Beijing needs to pump-prime the
system by aggressive easing to protect eco-
nomic growth with determination.”
ANZ estimates China’s unsold residential
property had surpassed three billion square
metres by the end of 203, a glut that would
take 3.6 years to clear.
New home prices could decline 0.9% in
2024, according to a Reuters poll of econo-
mists last month, versus 1.1% growth tipped
in a previous poll in November.
“Comprehensive analysis shows that
the economy can be expected to have a
good first quarter,” Zheng said, referring
to February manufacturing and services
sector data.
Zheng also said that China’s exports for
the January-February period increased by
10%, but did not state whether that was
in yuan or US dollar terms. Economists
recently polled by Reuters expected out-
bound shipments in the first two months
grew just 1.9% year-on-year, slowing from
December.
China’s central bank governor said the
bank would keep the yuan basically stable
and that it had “rich monetary policy tools
at its disposal”.
Pan Gongsheng, governor of the Peo-
ple’s Bank of China (PBOC), added there
was still room for cutting bank’s reserve
ratio requirement, following a 50-basis
points cut in January, which was the big-
gest in two years.
China’s disappointing post-Covid re-
covery has cast doubts about the foun-
dations of its economic model, raising
the stakes for government action at the
week-long parliament meeting of senior
policymakers.
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4
DBS cuts CEO’s
pay package in
record year hit
by glitches
by Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Bloomberg
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta is one of the highest-paid banking bosses in Asia.
(March 6): DBS Group Holdings Ltd cut
chief executive officer Piyush Gupta’s var-
iable pay components in a year which saw
disruptions in the bank’s digital services
rub some shine off its record profit.
Gupta, one of the highest-paid bank-
ing bosses in Asia, received a total com-
pensation of S$11.2 million (RM39.54
million) for 2023, down from S$15.4
million a year ago, Singapore’s largest
lender said in its annual report published
Wednesday. That brought his total pay
lower by 27%.
The cut came despite DBS notching an
18% return-on-equity, among the highest
for banks in Asia’s developed markets, ac-
cording to data tracked by Bloomberg News.
(March 6): The Starbucks operator in the
Middle East and North Africa has cut
thousands of jobs as it faces tough eco-
nomic conditions and calls to boycott the
US coffee chain over its response to the
Israel-Hamas war.
Alshaya Group, which has been the li-
censed partner for the chain in the region
for over a decade with 1,300 locations,
eliminated 2,000 jobs, the company con-
firmed to Bloomberg News. That reduces its
regional Starbucks workforce by around
20%. A spokesperson cited “challenging
trading conditions” as the reason for the
layoffs.
Earlier this year, the company said
it saw significant impact on traffic and
sales in the Middle East, and a hit to
US business due to the Israel-Hamas
war. The coffee chain has faced back-
lash from customers accusing it of not
doing enough to pressure Israel to end
its offensive in Gaza.
The Seattle based coffee chain has is-
sued public statements to emphasise its
political neutrality. Yet the boycott move-
ment has has spread rapidly since the war
began, with calls to avoid Starbucks still
spreading.
25 TheEdge CEO morning brief
w o r l d
bloomberg
The higher returns came as the lender’s
record profit exceeded S$10 billion.
“Despite record 2023 profits and out-
performance in many years, the gaps in
technology resiliency resulted in a lower
scorecard appraisal by the board compared
to the previous year,” the bank said in
the report.
Gupta’s retention pay, which is not in-
cluded in the total compensation, dropped
to S$832,650 from S$1.21 million in the
preceding year.
Meanwhile, overall compensation for
the bank’s senior management excluding
Gupta dropped to S$63.5 million from
S$73.8 million to reflect their accounta-
bility for the digital disruptions.
Mideast
Starbucks
slashes jobs amid
Israel-Hamas
war boycotts
by Leen Al-Rashdan & Nicolas Parasie
Bloomberg
bloomberg
Unilever sets
new climate
goals despite
growing ESG
backlash
by Dasha Afanasieva
& Akshat Rathi
Bloomberg
(March 6): Unilever plc is announc-
ing more ambitious emissions-cut-
ting goals, targeting suppliers and
even the shops that stock its brands,
despite concerns from investors that
non-financial objectives have be-
come a distraction for the company.
In its latest climate plan released
on Wednesday, the maker of Ben &
Jerry’s ice cream and Lynx deodor-
ant said it’s aiming to cut green-
house gas emissions associated with
the retailing and consumption of
its goods by the end of the decade.
For example, Unilever wants
emissions from indirect sources,
including ice cream refrigerators in
shops and the recycling of the prod-
ucts it sells, to decline 42% from
2021 levels. It also seeks emissions
from forest, land and agriculture —
which includes growing commod-
ities such as palm oil — to drop by
30% in the same period.
The new approach comes at a chal-
lenging time for Unilever. The com-
pany has been riddled by financial
underperformance and falling mar-
ket share, which some investors have
blamed on its fixation on sustainability.
At the same time, Republican-led
backlash in the US against envi-
ronmental, social and governance
(ESG) investing threatens to make
companies more timid in setting
their climate priorities. Executives
are under increasing pressure to re-
assure investors that environmental
programmes won’t be detrimental
to the bottom line.
Thomas Lingard, the global head
of sustainability — environment at
Unilever, said in an interview that
the company’s climate plans were
built into its financial-growth model.
Read the full story
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4 26 TheEdge CEO morning brief

w o r l d

Hunt says UK
(March 6): Jeremy Hunt said UK growth Hunt has been under pressure from
is due to be stronger than previously Tory lawmakers to deliver eye-catching

growth better-
forecast by the budget watchdog, a boost tax cuts even as he’s constrained by fragile
for the ruling Conservative Party ahead public finances. The UK entered recession

than-expected in
of an election expected later this year. last year and the chancellor went into his
Delivering his annual budget, the budget with just £13 billion (RM77.85

boost for Tories

Chancellor of the Exchequer said
growth is forecast at 0.8% in 2024, com-
pared with the Office for Budget Re-
sponsibility’s previous estimate of 0.7%.
The watchdog is now predicting 1.9%
growth for 2025, compared to a previ-
ous reading of 1.4%, and 2% growth in
2026, equal to the prior prediction of
2%, Hunt said.
“We are delivering the prime min-
ister’s economic priorities,” Hunt said
in the House of Commons on Wednes-
day. “We can now help families not just
with temporary cost of living support
but with permanent cuts in taxation.”
The rosier growth forecast is a wel-
come lift for Hunt and the Tories as
they seek to close a 20 percentage-point
polling gap versus the opposition La-
bour Party. Hunt is set to announce per-
sonal tax cuts in his budget in a bid for
a pre-election boost, including a two
percentage point reduction in national
insurance, a payroll tax.
by Joe Mayes & Alex Wickham
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
The Conservatives
are seeking to close a
20 percentage-point
polling gap versus the
opposition Labour Party.
billion) of breathing space against his key
fiscal rule, a margin near historic lows.
The budget is one of the few remaining
so-called political set-pieces the Conserv-
atives have left to try to boost their poll
standing ahead of the UK vote, which
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must call by
Jan 25 at the latest.
Conservative strategists have said they
want to fight the election on an improv-
ing economy and Britons getting past an
historic squeeze on living standards. Tax
cuts are a key part of the Tory messaging
— even though the overall tax burden has
risen to the highest level since World War
II and polls show voters want repaired
public services more than pre-election
giveaways.
Still, senior Tories say a campaign built
around tax cuts would create a clear divid-
ing line with Labour and claw back votes
from typical Tory voters who are consid-
ering either staying at home on polling
day or backing a different party.

Australian
SYDNEY (March 6): Australia’s econo- purchases and clothing and footwear.
my grew at a snail’s pace in the December “Australian consumers are suffering

economy slows
quarter as a punishing squeeze on house- from higher interest rates and cost of liv-
hold incomes brought consumer spending ing pressures, while the rate of housing

to a crawl,
to a standstill, reinforcing market bets that investment remains in the doldrums,” said
the next move in interest rates will be down. Deloitte Access Economics partner Ste-

underscoring
The slowdown confirmed high borrow- phen Smith.
ing costs were working all too well to curb “There is simply not enough demand

case for rate cuts

demand, prompting treasurer Jim Chal-
mers to declare that the balance of risks
in the economy is shifting from inflation
to growth.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Sta-
tistics on Wednesday showed real gross do-
mestic product (GDP) rose 0.2% in the
fourth quarter, under forecasts of 0.3%.
in the Australian economy to justify the
RBA’s (Reserve Bank of Australia) claim
about ‘homegrown’ inflation.... Monetary
and fiscal policy need to pivot away from
by Stella Qiu containing inflation to stimulating eco-
Reuters nomic growth.”
reuters

That compared with a upwardly revised

0.3% expansion in the prior quarter.
Annual growth slowed to 1.5%, down
from 2.1% the previous quarter and the
lowest since early 2021, when the econo-
my was emerging from a pandemic-driv-
en recession.
In a telling sign of the softness in do-
mestic demand, household spending did
not add to economic growth at all in the
fourth quarter, as a 0.7% rise in spending
on essentials was offset by a 0.9% fall in
discretionary spending.
ABS data showed households are spend-
ing more on electricity, rent, food and health
while cutting back on hotels, cafes and res-
taurants as well as things like new vehicle
 t h u r s d ay m a r c h 7 , 2 0 2 4 27 TheEdge CEO morning brief

M A R K E T S

CPO RM 4,081.00 95.00 OIL US$ 82.53 0.49 RM/USD 4.7323 RM/SGD 3.5290 RM/AUD 3.0873 RM/GBP 6.0249 RM/EUR 5.1470

Top 20 active stocks

NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)
Harvest Miracle Capital Bhd 111.70 -0.015 0.120 0.00 147.1
Velesto Energy Bhd 81.00 -0.020 0.270 17.39 2,218.2
Widad Group Bhd 76.40 0.000 0.095 -80.41 294.2
Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd 57.00 -0.005 0.010 -60.00 51.1
Minetech Resources Bhd 48.20 0.005 0.150 3.45 267.6
Notion VTEC Bhd 46.80 0.010 0.525 64.06 270.8
Powerwell Holdings Bhd 42.40 0.010 0.310 31.91 180.0
AMMB Holdings Bhd 40.10 -0.210 3.990 -0.50 13,199.1
YTL Corp Bhd 39.10 -0.040 2.580 36.51 28,290.7
TWL Holdings Bhd 38.60 0.000 0.035 16.67 192.3 World equity indices
TDM Bhd 35.70 0.010 0.260 44.44 447.9 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE
Genting Bhd 34.50 -0.070 4.820 4.33 18,559.8 (%) (%)
YTL Power International Bhd 31.60 -0.110 3.840 51.18 31,116.1 DJIA * 38,585.19 -404.64 -1.04 INDONESIA 7,329.80 82.34 1.14
Malayan United Industries Bhd 27.80 0.000 0.055 -8.33 177.4 S&P 500 * 5,078.65 -52.30 -1.02 JAPAN 40,090.78 -6.85 -0.02
My EG Services Bhd 26.70 -0.005 0.795 -2.45 5,930.3 NASDAQ 100 * 17,897.87 -328.61 -1.80 KOREA 2,641.49 -7.91 -0.30
Dialog Group Bhd 26.00 0.010 2.140 3.38 12,075.1 FTSE 100 * 7,646.16 22.30 0.29 PHILIPPINES 6,878.54 -26.92 -0.39
Evergreen Max Cash Capital Bhd 25.90 -0.005 0.425 3.66 473.8 AUSTRALIA 7,733.54 9.34 0.12 SINGAPORE 3,136.14 29.04 0.93
Malaysia Building Society Bhd 22.80 -0.005 0.775 9.15 6,372.3 CHINA 3,039.93 -7.86 -0.26 TAIWAN 19,499.45 112.53 0.58
MASTER TEC GROUP BHD 22.70 0.015 0.815 0.00 831.3 HONG KONG 16,438.09 275.45 1.70 THAILAND 1,370.55 11.29 0.83
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd 22.30 -0.020 6.510 11.28 69,429.8 INDIA 74,085.99 408.86 0.55 VIETNAM 1,262.73 -7.25 -0.57
Data as compiled on Mar 6, 2024 Source: Bloomberg * Based on previous day’s closing
Data as compiled on Mar 6, 2024 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by %) Top losers (ranked by %)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)
Pegasus Heights Bhd 0.010 100.00 1,436.0 100.00 108.2 Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd 0.010 -33.33 56,964.9 -60.00 51.1
Focus Dynamics Group Bhd 0.015 50.00 332.5 0.00 95.6 TECHNA-X Bhd 0.010 -33.33 571.5 -33.33 22.1
Mlabs Systems Bhd 0.015 50.00 4,195.2 0.00 21.7 SC Estate Builder Bhd 0.010 -33.33 1,194.4 -35.71 32.2
XOX BHD 0.015 50.00 1,431.0 0.00 77.9 MQ Technology Bhd 0.015 -25.00 1,270.1 -40.00 22.8
EVD Bhd 0.145 26.09 1,809.5 26.09 61.5 Metronic Global Bhd 0.015 -25.00 3,913.5 0.00 23.0
Saudee Group Bhd 0.025 25.00 474.6 0.00 39.0 Sapura Resources Bhd 0.250 -24.24 0.1 -33.33 34.9
WMG Holdings Bhd 0.240 23.08 8,925.7 140.00 106.7 G3 Global Bhd 0.020 -20.00 119.6 -20.00 75.5
Theta Edge BHD 1.140 19.37 16,871.5 66.42 134.5 Xidelang Holdings Ltd 0.025 -16.67 281.0 0.00 52.9
Ta Win Holdings BHD 0.035 16.67 1,176.5 -12.50 120.2 XOX Networks Bhd 0.025 -16.67 260.0 -28.57 28.4
Silver Ridge Holdings Bhd 0.355 16.39 5,834.3 -69.13 79.0 Sinaran Advance Group Bhd 0.060 -14.29 5.0 -29.41 54.9
HB Global Ltd 0.080 14.29 5.0 -11.11 62.6 Harvest Miracle Capital Bhd 0.120 -11.11 111,687.7 0.00 147.1
ARB Bhd 0.045 12.50 1,670.8 -30.61 56.2 Classita Holdings Bhd 0.040 -11.11 1,770.0 -11.11 49.3
Sapura Energy Bhd 0.050 11.11 8,638.2 11.11 918.8 Country Heights Holdings BHD 0.205 -10.87 9,233.3 -36.92 60.2
Transocean Holdings BHD 1.700 10.39 2.7 0.00 110.7 Fitters Diversified Bhd 0.045 -10.00 1,287.0 -10.00 105.4
Eksons Corp BHD 0.540 10.20 5.0 -3.57 86.3 Hiap Huat Holdings Bhd 0.135 -10.00 1,356.5 -6.90 53.3
Tanco Holdings Bhd 0.770 10.00 8,778.4 30.51 1,597.4 SMTrack Bhd 0.045 -10.00 16,139.2 -10.00 55.0
Rekatech Capital Bhd 0.055 10.00 35.0 -15.38 32.6 ASTEEL Group Bhd 0.090 -10.00 660.0 -14.29 43.6
Techbase Industries BHD 0.220 10.00 7,621.4 103.44 60.70 mTouche Technology Bhd 0.045 -10.00 495.2 -10.00 41.7
OCR Group Bhd 0.060 9.09 2,789.5 0.00 83.2 PESTECH International Bhd 0.205 -8.89 6,330.0 -36.92 201.8
Innity Corp Bhd 0.450 8.43 0.1 -6.25 62.7 Ho Hup Construction Co Bhd 0.165 -8.33 561.6 -34.00 85.5
Data as compiled on Mar 6, 2024 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Mar 6, 2024 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by RM) Top losers (ranked by RM)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)
Nestle Malaysia Bhd 121.000 1.500 198.3 2.89 28,374.5 Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd28.600 -0.300 256.5 1.42 5,689.4
Ajinomoto Malaysia Bhd 18.660 0.400 76.7 17.36 1,134.5 ViTrox Corp Bhd 7.080 -0.260 154.3 -2.88 6,693.6
Amway Malaysia Holdings Bhd 7.900 0.320 98.6 34.35 1,298.6 AMMB Holdings Bhd 3.990 -0.210 40,085.8 -0.50 13,199.1
Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd 28.920 0.300 223.1 3.31 10,607.2 Petronas Dagangan Bhd 22.060 -0.200 503.5 1.01 21,915.6
United Plantations BHD 23.500 0.240 633.8 32.02 9,747.4 Hume Cement Industries Bhd 2.680 -0.170 1,444.3 19.11 1,681.0
Theta Edge BHD 1.140 0.185 16,871.5 66.42 134.5 AEON Credit Service M Bhd 6.170 -0.150 450.7 10.77 3,150.5
Kotra Industries Bhd 4.980 0.170 0.3 3.11 738.6 Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd18.580 -0.140 226.7 -3.63 5,680.8
Transocean Holdings BHD 1.700 0.160 2.7 0.00 110.7 Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd 5.760 -0.120 4.6 12.06 2,649.6
Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd 3.070 0.110 495.6 18.53 2,733.4 Petronas Gas Bhd 17.880 -0.120 604.8 2.76 35,379.7
PPB Group Bhd 15.400 0.100 698.3 6.35 21,908.0 Paragon Union BHD 3.770 -0.120 104.5 35.13 316.0
Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd 6.960 0.100 2,446.3 -2.79 55,680.0 Dutch Lady Milk Industries BHD 23.880 -0.120 231.5 3.11 1,528.3
Jaya Tiasa Holdings BHD 1.390 0.090 11,474.1 52.75 1,345.5 YTL Power International Bhd 3.840 -0.110 31,573.7 51.18 31,116.1
Zhulian Corp Bhd 1.370 0.080 402.9 -14.87 630.2 Harrisons Holdings Malaysia Bhd8.590 -0.090 2.7 -0.35 588.2
Deleum Bhd 1.350 0.080 1,586.8 41.36 542.1 D&O Green Technologies Bhd 3.110 -0.090 3,772.4 -14.09 3,851.1
HeiTech Padu Bhd 1.990 0.070 4,327.4 126.14 201.4 Malayan Cement Bhd 5.030 -0.090 414.4 18.91 6,595.3
Edaran Bhd 1.180 0.070 3,646.1 35.63 68.3 AirAsia X Bhd 1.290 -0.090 7,451.1 -31.02 576.7
Tanco Holdings Bhd 0.770 0.070 8,778.4 30.51 1,597.4 CELCOMDIGI BHD 4.180 -0.080 2,252.6 2.45 49,037.7
Hong Leong Industries Bhd 10.220 0.060 43.1 10.97 3,265.0 Teck Guan Perdana BHD 1.600 -0.080 1.0 -6.98 64.2
TH Plantations Bhd 0.745 0.055 10,801.0 53.61 658.5 Sapura Resources Bhd 0.250 -0.080 0.1 -33.33 34.9
Unisem M Bhd 3.380 0.050 356.2 2.11 5,452.2 IHH Healthcare Bhd 5.960 -0.080 3,631.2 -1.16 52,489.7
Data as compiled on Mar 6, 2024 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Mar 6, 2024 Source: Bloomberg