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Trading ideas: NationGate, Zetrix, Malakoff, YNHP, T7, Luxchem, Tomypak, Master Tec, Scope, PetGas, MBSB, Elridge

Trading ideas: NationGate, Zetrix, Malakoff, YNHP, T7, Luxchem, Tomypak, Master Tec, Scope, PetGas, MBSB, Elridge

The Star5 days ago
KUALA LUMPUR: Here is a recap of the announcements that made headlines in Corporate Malaysia.
Nationgate Holdings Bhd said on Tuesday that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had raided the premises of its wholly owned subsidiary, NationGate Solution (M) Sdn Bhd, as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged scrap metal smuggling.
Zetrix AI Bhd, formerly MyEG Services Bhd , said on Tuesday it will challenge Bursa Securities' public reprimand for breaking Main Market listing rules.
Malakoff Corp Bhd is partnering with Evergreen Earth Sdn Bhd to explore investment opportunities in greenfield solar photovoltaic power plants and other renewable energy initiatives across Sarawak.
YNH Property Bhd on Tuesday terminated a development agreement with Chin Hin Group Property Bhd for an apartment project in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur, and will instead sell the 6.5-acre parcel to Chin Hin via a direct land deal.
T7 Global Bhd has on Tuesday secured a six-month contract extension from Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd for the provision of maintenance, construction and modification services.
Luxchem Corp Bhd is acquiring five leasehold industrial lands in Mukim Kapar, Klang, for RM45.6mn in cash.
Tomypak Holdings Bhd 's wholly-owned subsidiary has exercised a call option to acquire an additional 10% equity interest in EB Packaging Sdn Bhd for RM6.7mn that will raise its shareholding in the latter to 90%.
Master TEC Group Bhd has signed a MoU with Kuching-based Senari Synergy Sdn Bhd to jointly assess the feasibility of establishing a cable manufacturing facility in Sarawak.
Scope Industries Bhd is investing RM20mn in Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd through the subscription of preference shares.
Petronas Gas Bhd has entered into a settlement agreement with BASF Petronas Chemicals Sdn Bhd under which the latter will pay RM52mn to resolve disputes arising from an electricity supply agreement.
MBSB Bhd has rebranded its investment banking arm as MBSB Investment Bank Bhd and the group's investment research unit MBSB Research.
Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, a special purpose vehicle under Malaysia's Ministry of Finance, has emerged as a substantial shareholder in Elridge Energy Bhd with a 5.3% direct stake.
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MACC identifies two more companies in data centre graft
MACC identifies two more companies in data centre graft

The Star

timean hour ago

  • The Star

MACC identifies two more companies in data centre graft

KUALA LUMPUR: Two more companies suspected of obtaining data centre construction projects by bribing the project manager of a construction company, have been identified by graft busters. According to a source in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), several company directors have also been identified and will be called to assist in the investigation into the case. 'The investigation also found that the main suspect, the project manager, admitted to having asked for about 3% of the project value from any company that wanted to obtain a project from a prominent construction company,' he said yesterday. The source informed that the bribe was done by leaking the tender price and helping to ensure that the company that paid the bribe was given priority to win the tender. 'This bribe was paid in stages according to the progress of the project payment and it is understood that there are several million more that have yet to be paid by the company to the suspect as per their agreement,' the source said, Bernama reported. The media previously reported that a project manager of a prominent construction company who was detained for investigation into a corruption case involving the procurement of a data centre construction project tender was willing to burn almost RM1mil in cash to destroy evidence after being shocked by the MACC raid through Ops Ways on Thursday. According to sources, during the raid conducted at his home in Petaling Jaya, a team of officers found RM100 banknotes totalling almost RM1mil in flames. As a result of a thorough inspection of the home, the MACC also found cash totalling about RM7.5mil stored in several pillow boxes, three Rolex, Omega and Cartier watches as well as jewellery such as rings and gold coins. On Friday, the media reported that a contract manager, his wife and two men, aged in the 40s and 60s, were arrested by the MACC Investigation Division around the Klang Valley, believed to be involved in corruption involving the procurement of a data centre construction project tender in Johor worth about RM180mil.

Exxon, Chevron set stage for race for prize assets
Exxon, Chevron set stage for race for prize assets

The Star

time2 hours ago

  • The Star

Exxon, Chevron set stage for race for prize assets

The high-stakes clash between Exxon Mobil and Chevron over a prized South American oilfield may be a sign of what's to come in the oil and gas industry as competition for a shrinking pool of prime assets heats up. Chevron is set to finalise its US$53bil acquisition of US rival Hess after the companies prevailed in a legal dispute with Exxon over Hess' 30% stake in Guyana's fast-growing Stabroek oil block. The ruling by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce marks a key win for Chevron chief executive Mike Wirth, who targeted the Hess acquisition to grow the company's production and keep pace with larger rival Exxon's rapid expansion. The Hess deal, announced in October 2023, was delayed after Exxon, which holds a 45% stake in Stabroek, and the field's third partner China National Offshore Oil Corp argued that they had a contractual right of first refusal to purchase Hess's stake in the block. In fact, the multi-billion-US dollar dispute hinged on the interpretation of a single sentence in the joint operating agreement. Exxon's decision to file this arbitration was likely motivated by a desire to hamper the growth strategy of its key US rival, the latest move in a decades-long rivalry that has helped shape the US energy sector. Stabroek is a highly attractive asset, with 11 billion barrels of oil reserves and production costs of only around US$20 a barrel, among the lowest in the world, according to consultancy Rystad Energy. The Guyanese field's production has soared from zero in 2019 to 668,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of March, and is forecast to nearly double to 1.3 million bpd by the end of 2027. Arms race Exxon and Chevron both trace their roots to Standard Oil, the conglomerate formed by John D. Rockefeller in 1870 that came to dominate the American oil industry before being broken up by the US government in 1911. In the past decade, the two majors have competed fiercely for dominance in US shale oil. Chevron had an early advantage given its ownership of large swathes of land in the Permian basin, the shale heartland. But Exxon regained ground in 2010 with its US$41bil acquisition of natural gas producer XTO. It then cemented its position as the largest US producer in October 2023 with its acquisition of US shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources for US$60bil. Chevron responded quickly, however, announcing that it had agreed to acquire Hess only 12 days after Exxon's Pioneer deal. The Hess deal should help Chevron keep pace with Exxon moving forward. Chevron's production is now expected to exceed four million bpd by 2030 from 3.4 million bpd in the first quarter of this year. By contrast, Exxon expects its output to grow from 4.5 million bpd in the first quarter to 5.4 million bpd by the end of the decade. Dwindling reserves Oil and gas companies are facing a future with limited options for building reserves as the unexplored frontier shrinks and shareholders push for cost control. These firms replenish their reserves not only to grow output but also to offset existing fields' natural decline. Depletion has been a major problem for Chevron, whose reserve replacement ratio slid to negative 4% last year, with reserves falling to their lowest point in at least a decade at 9.8 billion barrels, according to LSEG data. That's the equivalent to eight years of production, down from 10 years in 2023, and compared with Exxon's 12 years in 2024. Reserves can be increased either through exploration, a high-risk, high-reward activity, or by acquiring assets and companies. Energy giants have invested billions in exploration over the decades, which has led to the discovery of resources in new basins such as the North Sea, Angola, Brazil and Indonesia. But this activity has slowed in recent years as companies have sought to cut spending to appease shareholders. Moreover, there are fewer accessible fields to tap. Although the world holds vast oil and gas reserves, sufficient to supply around 50 years of current oil consumption, not all resources are created equal. First, many resources are simply far too expensive to develop because of depth, complexity or remoteness. Additionally, over two-thirds of the world's oil reserves are located in countries where Western companies have restricted access. This includes Iran, Venezuela and Russia as well as Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) whose strict terms make operations less attractive for foreign investors. This all explains why the discovery of enormous, low-cost oil resources in Guyana a decade ago was considered such a boon for Western energy companies – and why the two biggest US producers were willing to spend billions battling for access to a single field there. First shot The latest high-profile clash between Exxon and Chevron may be an indication of what the industry can expect in the coming years as competition for low-cost resources intensifies amid the world's transition away from fossil fuels. No one knows exactly when global oil demand will peak. While the International Energy Agency, the global energy watchdog, expects oil consumption to crest by the end of this decade, Opec forecasts demand to grow into 2050. But, regardless, the industry appears to be going through a shift, and the Exxon-Chevron clash, one of the most expensive and consequential legal battles in the sector's history, may be a harbinger of things to come. — Reuters Ron Bousso is the Reuters energy columnist. The views expressed here are the writer's own.

China's open source AI is ‘a catalyst for global progress', Jensen Huang says
China's open source AI is ‘a catalyst for global progress', Jensen Huang says

The Star

time12 hours ago

  • The Star

China's open source AI is ‘a catalyst for global progress', Jensen Huang says

Nvidia's co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang lauded China's progress in open source artificial intelligence and pledged to work with Chinese companies, as the chip designer driving the growth of AI resumes shipping its sought-after chips to the country. Large language models (LLM) developed by Chinese companies, including DeepSeek, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, MiniMax and Baidu, were 'world class', 'developed here and shared openly', and had spurred AI developments worldwide, Huang said. China's open source AI was a 'catalyst for global progress' that was 'giving every country and industry a chance to join the AI revolution', he said on Wednesday during the opening ceremony of the China International Supply Chain Expo, which until Sunday in Beijing. Clad in a dark suit instead of his signature black leather jacket, Huang was speaking as the guest of honour at the expo on his third trip to the Chinese capital city this year. His California-based chip-design firm, established in 1993, is poised to resume shipments of its made-for-China H20 chips to China. The US government 'assured Nvidia that licences will be granted' for exporting the H20 chip, a made-for-China product that was less powerful than Nvidia's gold-standard acceleration chip, according to a Tuesday statement by the company. After the announcement, Tencent said it was in the process of applying to buy Nvidia chips, according to a Reuters report. ByteDance said the report of its application was 'not accurate'. 'I'm very happy that the export control has been lifted on H20 so that we can serve the market,' Huang said during a group interview on Tuesday in Beijing. Nvidia also planned to release a 'new, fully compliant' RTX PRO graphics processing unit (GPU) for China that was 'ideal for digital twin AI for smart factories and logistics,' the company said. The resumption of sales was a boon for Nvidia as the world's first US$4 trillion company gained access to one of the largest investors in AI, where funding could grow 48 per cent this year to US$98 billion, according to a forecast by Bank of America. It is also a breakthrough for China's developers of LLMs and other AI uses, as they get their hands on some of the most advanced chips for high-powered computing. Huang's affirmation of China's open-source progress came as Nvidia seemingly shrugged aside the 17 per cent plunge in its valuation in late January after DeepSeek's roll-out opened the possibility that LLMs could be developed at a fraction of the cost typically needed. Nvidia's shares have since regained their surge, pushing the company to become the first in history to surpass US$4 trillion in capitalisation. Huang on Wednesday also stressed Nvidia's role in Chinese tech firms' achievements. China achieved 'super fast innovation' thanks to its researchers, developers and entrepreneurs, and more than 1.5 million developers in China were building on Nvidia platforms today, he said. Switching between English and halting Mandarin, the Taiwanese-American entrepreneur said that the expo had 'a massive scale and a vibrant atmosphere', which showed China's 'support for innovation'. Huang's comments reflect his efforts to convey Nvidia's commitment to the Chinese market amid a tumultuous chip war between the world's two largest economies. Nvidia's H20 GPU, released in early 2024, was tailor-made for the Chinese market after exports of its advanced AI chips such as the A100, H100, A800 and H800 were banned under intensifying US export controls. The US chip giant said in May that Washington would start to require a licence to export H20 chips to China, a move Huang called 'deeply painful' and 'deeply uninformed'. Nvidia expected the ban to cost the company around US$5.5 billion. Huang also shared a positive outlook for AI's role in manufacturing. The world's most advanced factories will be powered by robots and AI within a decade, as machine learning and automation replace humans in assembly line work, especially those that were repetitive and hazardous, he added. 'Today, AI is [a] fundamental infrastructure, like electricity and the internet before, [and] AI is revolutionising the supply chain, changing how we build and move things,' Huang said. 'Hundreds of projects in China are simulating digital twins in Nvidia's omniverse to design and optimise factories and warehouses.' -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

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