Petronas:They must get licence from us

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has clarified that companies wanting to start or continue oil and gas upstream businesses and services in Malaysia must get a licence from it.

The policy, enforced under the regulations following the enactment of the Petroleum Development Act 1974 has not been changed. It applies to all foreign and domestic companies, service providers and suppliers, the national oil company said in a statement yesterday.

Petronas was responding to recent reports claiming that it had decided to do away with its licensing system for companies involved in Malaysia's upstream oil and gas industry.

OSK: MBM offer good for Hirotako

PETALING JAYA: The takeover offer by auto parts manufacturer MBM Resources Bhd on Thursday for Hirotako Holdings Bhd, which makes car safety restraint equipment, will help Hirotako to clinch more and bigger deals.

According to OSK Research, though the deal did not see much synergy as Hirotako served an entirely different set of products, its profile would be raised in clinching bigger deals since Daihatsu Motor Corp is a common shareholder in MBM's subsidiaries and associate companies (Daihatsu Motor Corp and Perodua).

“This could potentially enable Hirotako to tap into a bigger market in Indonesia where Daihatsu Motor is eyeing a huge production hub for the small compact car market,” it said yesterday.

Based on the latest financial results, Hirotako had in its second quarter ended June 30, 2011 posted net profit of RM12.67mil on revenue of RM75.17mil.

Its net asset per share was RM1.15 and it had RM77.54mil cash and cash equivalents.

The research house was more bullish on Hirotako's earnings for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2012 (FY12) as it would see its revenue and earnings base grow by 43% and 34% year-on-year respectively, driven by, among others, compulsory airbags for all vehicles, notably for the baseline variants of Proton and Perodua, which would bring in additional revenue of RM30mil to RM35mil from FY12 onwards.

On Thursday, Hirotako said it had received a notice of conditional takeover offer from AmInvestment Bank Bhd on behalf of MBM.

MBM was offering 97 sen per share for all the voting shares of 25 sen each in Hirotako and 5 sen per warrant.

OSK Research believed that the valuation paid by MBM was reasonable after taking into consideration Hirotako's earnings growth potential in FY12.

MBM said it had obtained an irrevocable undertaking from Hiro-Dapat Holdings Sdn Bhd the largest shareholder with 39.948 million shares or 22.85% to accept the offer.

Hiro-Dapat is controlled by Hirotako group managing director Datuk Kuan Peng Ching @ Kuan Peng Soon.

MBM said it did not intend to maintain Hirotako's listing status.

Hirotako's board of directors had yesterday said it did not intend to see an alternative party to make a takeover offer for the securities of the company.

It said under the Malaysian Code on Take-Overs and Mergers, 1998, the board would appoint an independent adviser for purposes of the offer.

The notice would be posted to the shareholders of Hirotako within seven days of its receipt.