The rise of boutique financial advisers

From Star Online: Business
29 June 2013

In the local high finance corporate scene, a few boutique advisory firms have been quietly etching a name for themselves, putting together mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and other company restructuring deals.

The names of the owners – who are also the key drivers of these firms - have become household names in the corporate world but outside those circles they are hardly known.

And just like high-flying investment bankers, these specialists earn top dollar for their fees, which average around 1% of the size of the deal they are putting together. That’s a tonne of money, considering that some deals go into the billions of ringgit.

Hartalega to emerge as industry game-changer

From Star Online: Business

18th June 2013



Top pick: Alliance says Hartalega has the strongest capacity compound annual growth rate of 14.9% over the next eight years.

PETALING JAYA: Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd are Alliance Research’s top picks for the glove sector, with the research house reiterating an “overweight” recommendation on the sector.

“Among the two, we like Hartalega as a medium to long-term investment (one to three years), as we are convinced that it will emerge as the industry’s game-changer in two year’s time, once its Next Generation Integrated Glove Manufacturing Complex (NGC) kick-starts in August 2014 which could yield a 6% extra margin due to better efficiency.

How to rate an analyst

From Star Online: Business

15th June 2013

WHO do you turn to when you need advice on stocks? A broker or remisier will be the obvious choice but they too get their information from a bunch of number crunchers whose job is to analyse stocks.

They are an important cog in the investment chain, often reviewing results, visiting companies, and writing their analyses of the companies under their coverage. The summary of their research culminates in a recommendation which is either to buy, hold or sell the stock.

Listed companies know just how important they are. Whether it’s a company going for a listing, announcing its new earnings stream or when a stock is to be placed out, analysts are sought to come up with a handle on what the companies are doing and what they hope to achieve.

So should we listen to analyst recommendations? How accurate are they, and do they really have retail investor’s interest at heart?

Catalyst to Bandar Tasik Puteri

From Star Online: Business

8 June 2013

Garden Heights latest phase, to be launched in June 2013, will have 114 units of link houses. As a mid-range product offered within Bandar Tasik Puteri, the 20’ x 75’ houses are priced from RM400,000.

A CATALYST expected to raise a township’s value by at least 30% – simply music to residents’ ears.

That is what Latar Expressway will bring to Bandar Tasik Puteri (BTP) in Rawang the moment it connects the 2,670-acre township to Kuala Lumpur city in only 25 minutes.

BTP has been around for 15 years, with developer Low Yat Group carefully carving out a wholesome township, playing its ear by market demand.

The group says residents have been waiting for this news as the enhanced acccessibility meant improved quality of life.

The group recently announced that it is investing RM100mil into constructing an interchange off Latar in an agreement with the expressway management. The interchange is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2015, benefiting more than 60,000 residents by then. BTP has a population of 55,000.

How to choose a home loan

From Star Online: Archieves

By iMoney.com

18th May 2013

Your priority should probably be to go to the bank that offers you the lowest interest rate.

TO the common folk, choosing a home loan is almost as hard as choosing the property itself. If you're currently in the midst of shopping for a home loan to buy your dream house, here are six things you should consider before making what could arguably be the biggest financial decision of your life.

1) Type of home loan

First and foremost, consider what works best for you: a traditional term loan or a flexible home loan (flexi-loan). A traditional term loan requires you to pay a fixed amount each month for the entire tenure of your home loan (eg. 30 years), while a flexi-loan gives you the option of reducing your interest whenever you wish (i.e. by saving your extra money into a linked current account. The more you save, the less interest you pay).

If you have a strict and predictable cash-flow pattern, a traditional term loan may be best. If you prefer flexibility in paying off your loan, a flexi-loan is recommended.

2) Interest rate

As with all loans, your priority should probably be to go to the bank that offers you the lowest interest rate. Let's consider a home loan of RM500,000, over a period of 30 years. The difference in interest payment between an interest rate of 4.2% and 4.15% (i.e. a mere 0.05%) could be well over RM5,000!

Malaysia's industrial land prices rise to unreasonable levels

From Star Online: Archieves

2nd May 2013

KUALA LUMPUR: “Chronic” speculation has driven up prices of industrial land to outstrip even that of some advanced Western countries, said Malaysian Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Managers Association chairman Datuk Stewart LaBrooy.

Citing an example, he said the cost of industrial land in Germany, at RM20 per sq ft, was now cheaper than Malaysia.

“I can't find land for RM20 per sq ft here unless it is a swamp, in which case it would need a lot of money to rehabilitate.

Bursa attracting special purpose acquisition companies

From Star Online: Business
16th April 2013

Blank cheque IPOs bring hope, caution to M’sia

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's bull market is seeing a type of initial public offering (IPO), still fairly new to Asia, that takes a special kind of company public: one with no profits, revenues or assets.

CLIQ Energy Bhd last week became the second such firm, known as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), to list in Kuala Lumpur, with three more preparing for IPOs.

The spurt comes after Malaysian equities rose for four straight years, including a banner year for IPOs in 2012, and as investors anticipate a jump in mergers and acquisitions in South-East Asia.

But SPACs have historically been high-risk, high-reward investments.

Is the gold rush over?

From Star Online: Business

13th April 2013

"Appetite for the precious commodity have waned as some semblance of stability returns to the global economy, whereby fears of high inflation seem to have diminished, and the US dollar has strengthened. This is evident in the declining trend of gold prices over the last few months."

High-rollers from China make Genting S'pore unit and others see red

From Star Online: Business
10th April 2013

"The more you start to see the increase in their receivables, what you then start to see coming through in their results later on, is possible deterioration in their earnings quality and also including cash flow generation,"

SINGAPORE: High-rollers get lavish treatment and hefty credit lines at Singapore's two casinos, like any other gaming house in the world. But here, more of them skip town without paying their debt, a matter of increasing concern for investors.

Three years after Singapore allowed casinos to open, Genting Singapore PLC's Resorts World Sentosa and Las Vegas Sands Corp's Marina Bay Sands have become the world's most profitable. Chinese nationals account for around half of the VIP gaming volume at their tables.

Higher rerating in the pipeline for Iskandar?

From Star Online: Business
1st April 2013

PETALING JAYA: Property players with exposure to Iskandar Malaysia could see a rerating in the pipeline, following the planned listing of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH) in the fourth quarter of this year.

Maybank IB Research analyst Wong Wei Sum said better connectivity in the area via the rapid transit system (RTS) between Singapore and Johor and the KL-Singapore high speed rail, coupled with rising business activities and an increasing population should further lift land and property prices in Iskandar.

Wong highlighted in the report on property developers in Iskandar that the key beneficiaries include UEM Land Holdings Bhd, Sunway Bhd,Genting Plantations Bhd, IJM Land Bhd, S P Setia Bhd, Dijaya Corp Bhd, Crescendo Corp Bhd, Eastern & Oriental Bhd and KSL Holdings Bhd.