M-shares soon?

TheStar: A group of seven companies from China, with a combined asset value of over RM1bil, is looking at the possibility of listing on Bursa Malaysia. US-based Hampton Court Holdings LLC chief executive officer Dr Marcus Lee, who headed the group that was in Malaysia to study fund-raising opportunities, said each of the Chinese firm was valued at over RM100mil. The companies are involved in various industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and jewellery. Dr Marcus Lee : "We see good potential for Chinese companies to list on Bursa Malaysia. Some of these companies are excited about the prospects of listing on the exchange,”he told StarBiz. So far only a few China-based company have listed on Bursa. Among them is Sino Hua-Ann International Bhd, via a takeover of Antah Holdings Bhd late last year. Another is Media Chinese International Ltd (MCI), the merged entity of Sin Chew Media Corp, Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd and Hong Kong-listed Ming Pao Enterprise Corp Ltd. Media Chinese is also listed in Hong Kong. Lee said the Chinese firms were encouraged by the easier rules on foreign listing in Malaysia. Some of the changes included relaxation on foreign equity, dual listing in Malaysia and other exchanges, full fungibility/tradability across exchanges as well as cross-border mergers and acquisitions and international fund-raising exercises. "The Chinese companies were here to explore fund-raising opportunities via initial public offerings or through commercial and investment banks. If the response (to listing or fund-raising exercise) is good I'm confident there will be many more China-based companies coming to Malaysia. "This (Chinese companies listing on Bursa) is only the tip of the iceberg,”he noted. Lee said many of the chief executive officers who came on this trip were also chairmen of the firms. On the regulatory requirements for listing, he said: “We do not see any major problems as these Chinese companies are very established with solid track record. "We urge the regulatory bodies, including the exchange, to seriously look at this opportunity for Malaysian investors to gain exposure to a huge growing market and a presence in China." On dual listing for China-based firms, he said it could happen via Hong Kong or other exchanges. Dual listing is not new. It's practised in many established exchanges,”Lee said.

MyTake: I am very sure many exchanges in New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore would be glad to take them aboard if they qualify based on their track records. Likewise, these potential companies would rather choose such places before giving Kuala Lumpur a second look. For information, there are now more than 70 top notch Chinese companies listed in NYSE, 100 over companies in Singapore and Hong Kong covering financial, industrial and utilities sectors. These exchanges practise very stringent listing requirements and high disclosure requirements. Are these companies attracted by our less stringent listing requirements? Will we be taking the lesser quality ones? Malaysia has been extremely slow to attract China shares listing compared to Singapore which first started its China shares listing way back in 2002. Remember how we got excited when Avenue Securities says that at least 3 companies from China would be listed by year end 2006 via RTO? One would wonder what have happened to them now. I am also curious to know how would SC ammend its listing requirement policies to be less stringent especially on foreign and local equity participation. Although less stringent listing rules is one of the criteria assessed by these potiential companies, some of the equally important criteria in their evaluation includes sound economic and financial fundamental, favourable legal and investment environment, stable government, high international market liquidity, strategic geological location, complete infrastructure and comparatively high living standards. Does Malaysia has these attributes or at least some of them? How do we fare compare to the other countries?

* Dr M has asked UMNO members to resign in order to force Badawi to step down as UMNO President. Does this man, M above has the courage and sincerity to follow what his dad says?

* Bloomberg reveals that there are at least USD35b in the mortgage related writedowns not reflected in the income statements yet. Global writedowns and credit losses to date is US379b.

* Joint advice from Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture and FAMA: Starfruit is nutritious and can be eaten by anyone except chronic kidney patients undergoing dialyisis treatment.

* BNP Paribas(via TheStar): Taking fundamental and historical patterns into account, the shortest commodity bull market lasted 15 years while the longest was 23 years. BNP expects agriculture commodity prices to rise further over the next 10 years despite having hit record levels. This statement seems to support what was discussed here previously.

* The Standard: Billionaire investor Lee Shau-kee said his investment strategy will switch to aggressive from defensive in August, and he forecasts the Hang Seng Index to hit 30,000 by that time.