KUALA LUMPUR (April 20): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made the news on Thursday (April 20) involving MISC Bhd, Cypark Resources Bhd, Aeon Co (M) Bhd, Advancecon Holdings Bhd, GDB Holdings Bhd, MKH Oil Palm (East Kalimantan) Bhd, Pestech International Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, AME Real Estate Investment Trust, Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust, LPI Capital Bhd, Tower Real Estate Investment Trust, Westports Holdings Bhd, Jerasia Capital Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, OCR Group Bhd, Boustead Plantations Bhd, CTOS Digital Bhd, SHH Resources Holdings Bhd, Citaglobal Bhd, Reneuco Bhd and TIME dotCom Bhd.

MISC Bhd said it has entered into a US$527 million (RM2.3 billion) syndicated loan facility to finance six very large ethane carriers. The 11-year sustainable-linked non-recourse term loan is the group’s debut sustainability-linked loan and is structured to align with its long-term business strategy and sustainability aspirations.

Cypark Resources Bhd announced that it had accepted a letter of award dated April 13 from Selgate Corp Sdn Bhd for the execution and completion of the remaining works for the proposed construction of a 10-storey private hospital, together with a six-storey parking lot in Rawang, Selangor. The contract sum for the job is RM108.84 million, and it is targeted to be completed by Jan 29, 2024, with a construction period of nine months from the date of site possession or commencement.

Aeon Co (M) Bhd is acquiring a piece of land measuring 8.691 hectares in Kota Bharu, Kelantan for RM165 million. Aeon is buying the land from Liziz Standaco Sdn Bhd using internally-generated funds. Aeon said the purchase is in line with the group’s corporate strategy of developing its future retail business, and is expected to be completed within five months.

Advancecon Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned Advancecon Infra Sdn Bhd has bagged an RM86 million construction contract from Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS) for Phase 1 of its Sierra Alam development in Section U10, Shah Alam. The 24-month job involves earthworks, major infrastructure and other related works.

KSK Land Sdn Bhd has terminated its contract with Grand Dynamic Builders Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GDB Holdings Bhd, as the main contractor of mixed development 8 Conlay at Jalan Conlay, Kuala Lumpur. Following the termination, KSK Land has been in discussion with a new potential main contractor.

MKH Oil Palm (East Kalimantan) Bhd is offering up to 250.7 million shares in an initial public offering as it seeks to list on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market, according to its prospectus exposure published on the Securities Commission Malaysia website. The 250.7 million shares — 24.5% of its enlarged issued share capital of 1.023 billion — comprise 220 million new shares and an offer for sale of 30.7 million existing shares. The issue price as well as the opening and closing dates of the IPO have yet to be fixed.

Pestech International Bhd said its unit has won an asset replacement and rehabilitation contract worth RM34.86 million from Tenaga Nasional Bhd in Cahaya Baru, Pasir Gudang, Johor. The group said it will focus primarily on the replacement of equipment such as busbar disconnectors, feeder disconnectors with earth switches, circuit breakers, current transformers, capacitor voltage transformers, surge arresters and marshalling kiosks, and digital relay panels. Pestech said the contract was awarded to a joint venture between its wholly-owned subsidiary Pestech Sdn Bhd and Mega Linear Sdn Bhd.

AME Real Estate Investment Trust (AME REIT) has declared its second income distribution per unit since listing, of 1.82 sen per unit, for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023 (4Q23). It was the second distribution whereby AME REIT distributed 100% of the quarter’s distributable income to its unitholders. For 4Q23, AME REIT’s distributable income was RM9.5 million, which was higher than the RM9.21 million in the preceding quarter ended Dec 31, 2022.

Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust (Pavilion REIT)’s net property income rose 11.5% to RM104.8 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 (1QFY2023) from RM93.99 million in the same quarter a year earlier, as it reported stronger revenue thanks to higher rental income due to increased occupancy, rent revenue, and advertising and marketing income at its retail malls. Revenue grew 16.23% to RM156.41 million from RM134.57 million. Net profit was 7.37% higher at RM70.05 million versus RM65.24 million in 1QFY2022. Distributable income rose 7.21% to RM72.43 million from RM67.56 million a year earlier.

LPI Capital Bhd's net profit grew 14% for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 thanks to higher investment return that was mainly contributed by fair value gains amid recovery in the bond market. The insurer posted a net profit of RM73.83 million, up from RM64.9 million a year ago, while revenue grew 11% to RM463.3 million from RM416.09 million.

Tower Real Estate Investment Trust (Tower REIT) reported an 87% year-on-year drop in net trust income or net profit in its third quarter ended March 31, 2023 (3QFY2023), as earnings were weighed down further by higher electricity tariff, minimum wage hike, as well as interest, housekeeping and security expenses. Net profit fell to RM146,000 from RM1.16 million a year ago, while net property income dipped 4.6% to RM3.96 million from RM4.15 million. No income distribution was declared for the latest quarter.

Westports Holdings Bhd said additional taxes totalling RM143.23 million imposed on its wholly-owned subsidiary Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd (WMSB) has been set aside. The port operator said this came after the Ministry of Finance reviewed Westports' appeal letter dated Dec 24, 2021 relating to tax imposed on lease payments made by the subsidiary.

Jerasia Capital Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary Canteran Apparel Sdn Bhd (CASB) has received a winding-up petition from RHB Bank Bhd over unpaid debts amounting to RM28.81 million. The apparel manufacturer and fashion retailer said case management via e-review and hearing for the winding-up petition have been fixed for June 15 and Nov 21 respectively by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

RAM Ratings has revised Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd’s (CMSB) outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’ due to the group’s improved business and financial profiles, driven by its new phosphate production business and solid position in Sarawak's cement industry. The rating agency also reaffirmed the Sarawak-based cement manufacturer’s AA3/P1 corporate credit ratings and the AA3 ratings of its RM2 billion Islamic MTN Programme (2017/2037).

OCR Group Bhd has maintained that there is no operational impact on the group arising from the lawsuit filed by a former contractor over alleged payment default of RM30.93 million in relation to projects in Kuantan and Petaling Jaya. OCR said the claims by the ex-contractor, Kencana Amanjaya Sdn Bhd, are baseless and frivolous, and that  it has instructed its solicitors to contest the matter to fully defend its interest.

Boustead Plantations Bhd has appointed Lt Gen (R) Datuk Azizan Md Delin as a new non-independent non-executive director. The appointment took effect on Thursday. Azizan, 63, had served more than 41 years in the Malaysian Armed Forces. The pinnacle of his military career was as the Army Western Field Commander.

Creador has moved the ownership of a 14.7% stake in CTOS Digital Bhd to the private equity firm’s fifth fund — Creador V LP — from Creador II LLC previously. Creador said the roll-over of this investment was because Creador II, which was launched in August 2013, is approaching the end of its 10-year fund life by August this year. Creador V, meanwhile, was launched in July 2021, and the purchase price for the 14.7% block was set at RM1.35 per share.

SHH Resources Holdings Bhd has appointed Yee Swee Meng as its new chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from Thursday after its former CEO James Teo Bok Yu resigned on Monday to "pursue other interests". Bok Yu is the son of SHH Resources founder and managing director Datuk Teo Wee Cheng, who along with his wife Datin Teo Chan Huat, are major shareholders in the group with a combined stake of 17.28%.

Citaglobal Bhd and Reneuco Bhd, which have won a tender to develop an independent power producer (IPP) project for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) network, on Thursday, signed an agreement to formalise their collaboration via a new special purpose vehicle (SPV). Citaglobal will contribute 60% and Reneuco 40% of the RM500,000 initial share capital of the SPV. They said Citaglobal will lead the negotiations with Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) to finalise the terms and conditions for the IPP project.

TIME dotCom Bhd (TDC) believes it is well positioned for a rapid and tactical expansion of data centre facilities across primary and secondary cities in Asia after concluding the sale of stakes in its data centre companies to US digital infrastructure assets firm DigitalBridge Group, Inc. TDC also said the partnership with DigitalBridge Group will focus on providing best-in-class services to multinationals, large enterprises, content providers, internet infrastructure providers and financial institutions.