Corporate finance malta

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A LAST week, CTOS Digital Bhd made a bold move to raise its stake in RAM Holdings Bhd (RAM), in which it already owns a 19.225% stake. This is the third acquisition that CTOS has undertaken within a year. CTOS, which bought into RAM shortly after it was listed in July last year, launched a general offer last week to buy out the remaining shares that it does not own in the credit rating agency (CRA) soon after it got the green light from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to own more than 51%. CTOS has so far spent the bulk of the RM173.8 million raised from a private placement in March on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). RAM will be the first local CRA to have a controlling shareholder upon the completion of the takeover offer. Dollars and cents aside, the takeover bid has prompted some quarters to question whether the independence of RAM’s rating … [Read more...] about Making sense of CTOS’ venture into RAM

- A + A HONG KONG/JOHANNESBURG (June 27): Prosus NV is planning to sell more of its US$134 billion stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd to finance a buyback programme, reversing a pledge to hold onto the full shareholding. Tencent declined in Hong Kong on Monday as investors pondered the extent to which Prosus, the Chinese company’s biggest shareholder, will unload its stock. The shares fell as much as 2.5% and traded 1.6% lower at the close. “We will keep selling Tencent shares to buy back our own, it’s open-ended and an unlimited programme,” Prosus Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk said in an interview. “It’s actually a small part of Tencent daily traded volumes — it should be maximum between 3% to 5%.” The move represents a change of heart by Dutch e-commerce giant Prosus — majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers Ltd — which said after its last sale in April 2021 it wouldn’t offload more shares for three years. The company, spun off from … [Read more...] about Tencent backer Prosus to cut US$134 bil stake to buy stock

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (filepix) - A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today announced an additional allocation of RM100 million for the Informal and Micro Financing Scheme (SPIM) under the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (TEKUN). He also announced an additional allocation of RM30 million for the Bumiputera Enterprise Enhancement Programme (BEEP) under SME Corporation Malaysia. "I was told that SPIM under TEKUN was allocated RM200 million by the government earlier which had exhausted and the allocation of RM20 million for BEEP for 2022 had also been taken up. "SPIM loans are popular for financing by informal and micro traders...in the interest of small entrepreneurs, I have announced another RM100 million allocation for SPIM. “I also announced RM30 million more allocation for BEEP,” he said when speaking at the Entrepreneur Excellence Awards 2022 in the federal capital here on Monday … [Read more...] about Additional allocation of RM100 mil for SPIM TEKUN, RM30 mil for BEEP, says PM

Siddharthaa Bhaiya, Managing Director and Fund Manager of Aequitas, said their investment philosophy is guided by a multibagger approach that identifies long-term potential through extensive in-house research. They invest in Indian listed equities in small and mid cap space and identify companies that are leaders by way of margin or sales in their respective sectors. Siddharthaa Bhaiya added that they hold stocks through their entire wealth creation journey making average holding period approximately 4-5 years. In an interview to Moneycontrol, he said they do see potential in the auto space. Here are edoited excerpts from that interview: What is your investment philosophy and what is your suggestion to the new-age investors? Close Don't try to time the market : As famously said by Peter Lynch: “Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections, than lost in the corrections themselves.” Nobody can predict what is going to happen … [Read more...] about Don’t try to time the market, advises Siddharthaa Bhaiya of Aequitas

The race to save the planet has given an urgency to corporate efforts to make and deliver net-zero carbon commitments. But for their companies to be truly sustainable, CEOs must focus not only on the E in ESG but also on the S and the G. Human rights, workplace safety, fair pay for a fair day’s work, ethical business practices—these are just a few of the social and governance issues that CEOs must address in their company and in the companies they do business with—their suppliers. advertisement advertisement This is not just about complying with regulations. It is about fulfilling the terms of an unwritten social license to operate. But doing the right thing is hard. To help CEOs, we have identified a series of actions that they should instruct their CPO and the procurement team to take in order to address social and governance issues. To start with, companies should set out their social and governance expectations in their supplier code of conduct, … [Read more...] about To truly address ESG, your company has to also consider its suppliers

Lim is accused of using his position as Penang chief minister to aid CZCSB secure the undersea tunnel project in return for 10% in the profits of the project from Zarul, which resulted in an alleged RM3.3 million in kickbacks to be received by the former. (Photo by Shahrin Yahya/The Edge) - A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): “Dummy” documents were used to withdraw company money to make bribe payments to former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, a former executive testified on Monday (June 27). Azli Adam, the former senior vice-president of finance and corporate services at of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB), said falsified invoices and payment vouchers (PVs) were used to obfuscate the withdrawal of the company cash. Testifying in Lim’s undersea tunnel project graft trial at the Sessions Court, Azli said CZCSB director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli "confessed" this to him after Zarul was arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in … [Read more...] about ‘Dummy’ documents used to facilitate bribe payments to Guan Eng, says former company exec

- A + A (June 27): President Joe Biden rebooted his effort to counter China’s flagship trade-and-infrastructure initiative after an earlier campaign faltered, enlisting the support of Group of Seven (G7) leaders at their summit in Germany. The Build Back Better World initiative, named after Biden’s domestic spending and climate agenda, struggled to get off the ground because not enough G7 partners contributed financially when it was unveiled a year ago, according to people familiar with its lack of progress. European officials cited the Biden administration’s inability to get its own ambitious economic legislation through Congress. “When democracies demonstrate what we can do — all that we have to offer — I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,” Biden said during an event on the sidelines of the summit. The measure has been rebranded the “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment” (PGII) and the US is calling on leaders to agree to … [Read more...] about US resuscitates bid at G7 to counter China’s Belt and Road

I really pity the people who are still holding their breath and waiting for life to get back to normal: that glorious day when we all triumphantly return to business as usual. I've been struggling for a simple way -- by example or analogy -- to break the ugly news to them that they're dreaming. And to demonstrate that, post-pandemic, for a variety of reasons we'll never again look at our lives, our careers, or the world in the same way. Not that that's exactly a terrible thing; nostalgia and tradition are very often just bad excuses to avoid change. We'll never progress by trying to live our lives looking backward. That's why the car's windshield is so much bigger than the rear-view mirror. So, I've settled on single symbol: the ratchet. Not the "full ratchet," which is a venture capital deal provision that protects early investors from later dilution, and something all founders dread. (And lovingly call rat s--t). I'm referring to a basic mechanical device that allows motion … [Read more...] about 4 Pandemic Changes That Will Change Your Business Forever