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business
Petra Energy has order book of RM1b: ECM Libra
KUALA LUMPUR: ECM Libra
Investment Research estimates
for one year, ECM Libra said in a
Petra Energy Bhd currently has an research note yesterday.
outstanding order book of roughly
RM1 billion. Sarawak Shell RM1.1 billion contract
This included the RM52 million (awarded in September last year) and
contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn smaller contracts not yet completed
Bhd to construct the Kumang Clus- are two more maintenance jobs, also
ter onshore tie-in at MLNG-2 and for Sabah and Sarawak Shell,” the
Bintulu Integrated Facilities onshore research firm said.
upgrading and modifications.
IA Group partners C&W to develop
Islamic banking solution
by Alyaa Alhadjri
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s status as
the region’s hub for Islamic finance will be
enhanced with a newly formed partnership
between IA Group Sdn Bhd (IA) and Callatay
& Wouters to jointly develop, implement, sup-
port and market the Thaler Islamic Banking
Solution for the region and global market.
The solution, which will be available by
early next year, combined Callatay & Wout-
ers’ expertise in the core banking field with
IA’s knowledge of syariah-compliance and
experience in large-scale technology project
implementations to provide a system that ad-
dressed a wide range of core and analytical
banking activities in multiple channels.
The partnership was formalised yesterday
by IA chief executive officer Datuk Dr Hamzah
Kassim and Callatay & Wouters global head of
sales and marketing Johan Martens during a
ceremony held at Shangri-La Hotel here.
Hamzah said the partnership augers
well with the Malaysian government’s call
for more local companies to go global as
Malaysia’s niche in Islamic banking industry
has been recognised internationally, opening
huge potential markets.
‘With Thaler on SAP (system application
& products ), not only do we see a scalable
end-to-end platform that is flexible enough
to meet client requirements, but the real
potential to develop a global solution that we
could market,” said Hamzah, adding that IA
and Callatay & Wouters expect RM100 million
worth of implementations within three years
of the solution’s introduction in Malaysia.
Callatay & Wouters is a provider of core
banking and multi-channel distribution solu-
tions based in Brussels, Germany and IA is a
The contract is expected to last
Research, said although the new
contract merely made up about 10%
an indication of the start in the flow
of jobs.
of its total revenue, any additional “However, we are keeping our
“Major jobs include the Sabah and job would be good since the com- financial year 2009-2010 earnings
pany has available capacity, given unchanged as we had earlier factored
the slowdown in local oil and gas in potential job order replenishment
activities. for the company since the nature of
Saying that it has been sev- its business is more stable,” it said.
eral months since Petronas Carigali Although Petra Energy has market
awarded contracts to the local mar- leadership in providing brownfield
Another research firm, OSK ket, OSK Research said this may be services in Malaysia, OSK Research
ZULKIFLI ERSAL/THESUN
Malaysian management consulting, technol- capability, and negotiating joint ventures. Hamzah
ogy and outsourcing company. A long-term solution would be to invest in (left) and
In his keynote address, National Economic research & development,” he said. Johan
Advisory Council chairman Senator Tan Sri “The only way to move up is by developing exchange
Amirsham Abdul Aziz, who witnessed the our own intellectual properties and today’s documents
signing, urged local technology companies partnership is an example of an effort to de- that formally
to enhance Malaysia’s position as a market velop Islamic-based intellectual properties.” sealed the
leader in Islamic finance via developing He said since local companies already partner-
technology solutions for the sector. have a good standing in providing solutions ship as
“Currently, the lack of active participa- for conventional banking systems, they Amirsham
tion by home-grown technology companies should take advantage of Malaysia’s position looks on.
see European and Indian companies selling and expand into Islamic finance sector.
Islamic banking and Takaful solutions to our Islamic banking sector in Malaysia has
Malaysian banks and insurance companies. shown “phenomenal growth” in recent years
“Malaysian companies need to move up and it economically represents a potential
the value chain and expand their market comparative advantage that should be ex-
either through acquiring technology and ploited to its fullest extent.
theSun | THURSDAY OCTOBER 22 2009
said it was not “very bullish on the
company until it see more long-term
and big contracts awards to keep it
busy for several years”.
In the immediate term, the
research firm believed the closest
potential contract would be from the
US$2.1 billion (RM7.14 billion) po-
tential spending by ExxonMobil on
the seven existing platforms located
off the coast of Terengganu.
LBS Bina units’
joint-venture
partner changes
ownership
KUALA LUMPUR: LBS Bina Group Berhad
(LBGB) on Tuesday announced a change
in the ownership of its wholly-owned
subsidiaries Lamdeal Consolidated Develop-
ment Limited’s (LCDL) and Lamdeal Golf
and Country Club Limited’s (LGCCL) joint-
venture partner, Zhuhai Special Economic
Zone Long Yi Enterprises Company (Long
Yi).
Zhuhai Jiuzhou Tourism Group (ZJTG),
Zhuhai’s largest tourism conglomerate, has
taken over ownership of Long Yi from Zhu-
hai City Government Assets Management
Committee with immediate effect subse-
quent to a restructuring exercise on the
state owned investments by Zhuhai city
government.
LBGB board of directors in a press state-
ment said that the change does not have
any impact on its paid-up capital, net assets
and earnings for the financial year ending
Dec 31.
The change is also not expected to af-
fect the operations of Zhuhai International
Circuit Consolidated Development Limited
(ZICCDL) and Zhuhai International Circuit
Golf & Country Club Limited (Zicgolf) – two
Sino-foreign cooperative joint-venture en-
tities established in 1992 by LCDL and
LGCCL together with Long Yi.
Zicgolf owns and operates the award
winning Lakewood Golf Club, Zhuhai while
ZICCDL was formed to develop 197-acre
located within and around the area.
The share of profit between LCDL and
LGCCL and their partner Long Yi respec-
tively, is in the ratio of 60:40.
Myvi tops initial
quality for new
compact car
KUALA LUMPUR: The Perodua Myvi has for
the third time ranked highest for its initial
quality in terms of new-vehicle ownership,
in the compact car segment, according to
J.D. Power Asia Pacific.
In the same segment, Myvi was followed
closely by Proton Savvy, with the Perodua
Viva in tow, the marketing information serv-
ices provider said of its 2009 Malaysia Initial
Quality Index study.
The study examines the quality of new
vehicles during the first two to six months,
and measures more than 200 problem
symptoms covering eight vehicle compo-
nents, it said in a statement here.
Meanwhile, the re-designed Honda City
ranked highest in the entry midsize car
segment, followed by the Toyota Vios and
the Proton Saga. As for the midsize car seg-
ment, the Toyota Corolla Altis was top, with
the Honda Civic coming in second and the
Nissan Sylphy in the third place.
The Toyota Innova ranked highest in the
MPV/van segment for a second consecutive
year, followed by the Nissan Grand Livina
and the Toyota Avanza.
In the pick-up segment, the Isuzu D-max
received top spot, with the Toyota Hilux as
runner up and the Mitsubishi Triton in the
third place. – Bernama