Archive for the ‘Malaysia’ category

Investing in Asia? Check out Malaysia

January 21st, 2018

Malaysia is an oft-overlooked nation for those looking to invest in Asia.  Right now, it’s a particularly good time for those looking for investment opportunities since the strong currency (the ringgit) is indicative of investors already having positive feelings toward the economy.  As they should given that the region’s economy is looking good.

Indeed, according to recent stats put out by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, vis-à-vis the dollar, the ringgit is really impressive with its 2017 appreciation of 10.4% against the US currency.  Plus, earlier this month, the ringgit “broke the four dollar psychological barrier.” And this is not a new phenomenon either since the country has been undergoing many years of

“strong growth with figures that most developed economies could only dream of – even during times of global economic turmoil and uncertainty.  In fact, last year Malaysia exceeded all expectations, with the World Bank having to revise its estimate for our growth upwards not once, not twice, but three times – to 5.8%. Our capital market, a key facilitator for financing business growth, has continued to grow from strength to strength. In 2017, foreign net fund inflow recorded a positive RM10.8bil, the highest since 2012.”

The even better news is that this growth and stability is likely to continue, particularly in the next few months.  according to the DoS (Department of Statistics), this comes from the improvement at the end of last year with the Landing Index (growth of 121.3 points in November and a jump of 4.5 percent in January) and Coincident Index (increase of 0.5 percent in November).

Furthermore, it looks like the country is now “poised to take on the world in the gold industry.” This is because, as the PM explained: “Previously, gold had to be melted, refined and manufactured overseas before being imported into the country. Now, with the development of our first commercial gold refinery, we have the ability to process gold – from the smelting phase through to refinement – within Malaysia.”

So investors into Asia…check out Malaysia!

Boosting Malaysia’s Economy

February 18th, 2016

malaysiaVarious initiatives have been taken recently in an effort to boost Malaysia’s economy. One of them is the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) that is set to “continue investing internally” in 2016, with, according to Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, EPF CEO, an analysis on “the right assets.” Shahril said that one way of doing this is to encourage foreigners to invest in Malaysia. Indeed, Malaysia’s partners around the world have been “encouraged by the EPF to “invest jointly in Malaysia.” Vis-à-vis anticipated domestic investment allocation, this is hard to predict, as Shahril explained that “it depends on the availability of the right asset.”

Investment from local companies is crucial to spur the domestic economy given the weakened global economic condition. But local experts are optimistic. Indeed, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, said that he was anticipating a “boost” in the economy in 2016 and that there will likely be a continued extension of governmental support from the Chinese community.

However, on the flip side, it was indicated by Datuk Wee Ka Siong, a minister in the government, that 2016 will encounter “economic challenges.” He explained that given the reality of “the global oil price slump, we will see a more challenging year ahead … we are however, hoping to achieve an increase in economic growth from 4 to 5%.” However, in this statement there was no addition of methods being used to put this in practice. Further, the sentiment was reinforced by Datuk Seri Michael Chong, of the Malaysian Chinese Association Public Services and Complaints Department, who said that there were many fiscal and social welfare issues the party needed to address.

On a related subject matter, with the recent signing of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Malaysian companies will be eligible for the same treatment as American businesses when competing for American agency contracts. VP for Policy at the US-ASEAN Business Council, Marc Mealy explained that: “for global American companies with operations in Malaysia and Vietnam, the benefit would be that they could have the additional flexibility of supplying a US government contract from those locations.”

In addition, America will benefit from the TPP, with improved access to government contracts in those three regions. General Electric, Motorola Solutions, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems are some of the major companies that are likely to benefit from this.

So all in all, a lot is going on with regards to Malaysian economy boosting. 2016 is set to be a year of substantial potential for the region.

Australaysia Resources Investing Globally in Mining Sector

March 4th, 2013
Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff

Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff

The fourth special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to be listed on Bursa Malaysia, Australaysia Resources and Minerals Bhd, is about to expand into the international mining business from Asia to South America.

The company’s draft prospectus states that it hopes to raise gross cash of between RM157.5 million and RM315 million ($50.9 million and $101.81 million) from its IPO from its sale of between 210 million and 420 million shares.

The head of the SPAC will be Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, who will be the executive chairman. Other members of the board of directors are:  Australians David George Savage and David Kent McAdam, Irishman Brian Egan, South American Carlos Armando Ballon Barraza, and Malaysian Lim Hun Soon.

A SPAC is a company that has no operations of income-generating business at the time of their IPO. Rather, they have their IPO in order to raise the money they need to purchase operating companies or other businesses.