Good Morning,
1) KULIM: Shareholders have given the go-ahead for the company to buy six parcels of oil palm plantation land in Johor for RM700mil cash from Johor Corp (JCORP). This sale is a major component of the JCORP's rationalization exercise. The 6 parcels of oil palm land have a total area of 13,687 hectares and 2 palm oil mills. This land buy in addition to the sale of QSR and KFC will see Kulim focus on its core plantation business.
2) MAS: MAS has announced the suspension of four more routes, following up on the rationalization involving 8 routes that was announced last week. The routes that will be suspended include the twice-weekly Kota Kinabalu (KK)-Osaka, thrice-weekly KK-Perth, four-times weekly KK-Tokyo and four-times weekly KK-Seoul. These routes will be suspended starting from early next year and will be reviewed in 3 months from its suspension date. MAS will instead take advantage of its existing code-share operations with Korea Air to provide direct connectivity between Sabah and Korea.
3) PROTON: Khazanah MD Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said that any sale done will be on Khazanah's full 42.7% stake which means it will involve a general offer. They have been receiving offers for various forms of collaborations including acquiring its controlling stake in Proton but have not arrived at any decision to sell to any particular offeror. Among the serious bidders are DRBHCOM and Naza Group while Sime and US-based General Motors may also be interested.
4) Mkt: improving US economic data & positive technicals continue to be supportive for higher markets ahead.