http://www.malaysiastock.biz/Corporate-Infomation.aspx?type=A&value=T&source=M&securityCode=6139

http://www.malaysiastock.biz/Corporate-Infomation.aspx?type=A&value=M&source=M&securityCode=1198

Takaful trades at 12 times bigger than MAA in terms of market cap.
Revenue is roughly 3 times more only. And its trading almost 5 times its NTA (versus MAA that trades below its NTA).

also on the other side , Syarikat Takaful stock price is defying gravity everyday since 2012. the valuation is mind boggling. there's huge disconnection between this 2 counters of similar business in terms of valuation.
yes, i'm aware that market behave crazy n irrationally most of the time. i don't ask why. that's the way it is.

Although above news is AIA, ... they are in the same business. :) Better still, Takaful is growing more than conventional insurance.

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/aia-bhd-fy15-pat-tops-rm1b

AIA Bhd FY15 PAT tops RM1b
By Billy Toh / theedgemarkets.com | March 24, 2016 : 2:13 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (March 24): AIA Bhd's operating profit after tax (PAT) rose 8% to more than RM1 billion in financial year ended November 30, 2015 from a year earlier as insurance premium growth outperformed the industry.

Chief executive officer Anusha Thavarajah said AIA's combined conventional life insurance and takaful's annualised new premiums grew 10.7% versus the Malaysian industry's 6% rise.

Anusha said at a media briefing today : “Our excellent results are a clear reflection of our operating ability and strength during times of market uncertainty and short-term volatility."

"They are testimony to the solid foundation we have carefully built since the launch of our transformation strategy three years ago. Malaysia was AIA Group’s third-largest growth market in the 2015 financial year, behind AIA China and Hong Kong,” she said.

According to Anusha, the Malaysian insurance industry still had room for growth.

She said the current insurance penetration rate here was at 56% and the average sum insured per person was less than RM40,000. She said the sum insured should be about RM200,000 per person.

Looking ahead, Anusha said AIA was confident on the life insurance industry’s long-term growth prospect. She said the life insurance sector would continue to benefit from the country’s younger and growing middle-class population besides the nation's rapid urbanisation.

On what differentiates AIA from other insurers in the country, Anusha spoke about AIA's investment in health and technology.

She said the idea was to link insurance with health and wellness. She did not elaborate.

"The initiative is expected to be launched in the second half of this year," she said.

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/03/19/the-rise-of-aspen/

http://enterpriseasia.org/apea/malaysia/awards/my-2015/dato-murly-manokharan/

A 30 years old Dato Murly and/or 31 years old Aaron Tan.

So who is going to take control? Will IGB subscribe more shares to the enlarge merged entity for more control to young Tan if the RTO negotiation goes well ?

Batman and Superman?

Whoever, whatever, I hope Yi-lai shares shoot up to orbit. :)

http://www.southkey.com.my/about-masterplan.html

http://img2.penangpropertytalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/vertu-resort-master.jpg

I have commented before that I invested in Yilai because of the Johor Southkey's 6 billion integrated project in phases. That's lots of tiles to supply to. Midvalley Southkey is in the making.

Then came the RTO news between Yilai and Aspen Group.

A look at both the masterplans at the weblink above (Johor's Southkey and Penang RM8bil Aspen Vision City project in Batu Kawan) . That's even more tiles to supply.

Tiles making business is simply too small worth the Tan conglomerate's attention. Now it makes more sense with this RTO. I won't be surprise see MidValley AspenCity in Batu Kawan in future. Or some sort of private placement for this enlarge entity to IGB, GOLDIS, WAH SEONG or one of their MANY investment vehicles later on.

Yi-lai is good buy. Tan conglomerate is behind.

I invested in GOB purely for Batu Kawan in Penang property play/investment. Since GOB propose to dispose their lands in Batu Kawan, i no longer want to invest in GOB. http://www.bursamalaysia.com/market/listed-companies/company-announcements/4957169

For those of you who originally invested in GOB for Batu Kawan investment like me, YI-LAI is the alternative Batu Kawan property play as written here:
http://klse.i3investor.com/blogs/rhb/92612.jsp

As a matter of full disclosure, I have invested in YI-LAI and GOB shares.

Also, we might see in future more collaborations between IGB and Aspen. Who knows, Mid valley Penang/Northern region in the pipeline. There's synergies between them. BUY call.

I like the comparison with Nokia CEO's speech "We didn't do anything wrong" .

It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change. Adaptability.

Even Jeff Bezos believes Amazon will be disrupted one day.

Even more danger is when one is in denial, delusion, ignorant and failing to recognize that there is a problem.

Please remember as humans we are all fallible.

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/PRA:SP

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/3368:HK

page 16 / 151 of their Annual report regarding the directors remuneration.

Since this company has no core business anymore... Why is the Ong family still withdrawing such high salaries. Millions for "running" an all cash company. Oh well, if I were him, I would happily taking the salary too.

Still wonder how the company reported loss for their latest quarter?

From their latest interim Financial Report for second quarter ended 31 Dec 2015
page 11.

18. Borrowings and debt securities
The Group's borrowings as at end of the reporting period were as follows : RM 2,802,702,000

The Group's borrowings were denominated in the following currencies :

Ringgit Malaysia 84,037,000 = RM 84,037,000

US Dollar 560,000,000 = RM 2,389,434,000

Hong Kong Dollar 594,827,000 = RM 329,231,000

TOTAL = RM 2,802,702,000


Besides such a high geared company (RM2.8 billions of debt on group level), their currency exposure risk is quite high. Sorry, "quite" is understatement. Almost all their debts are in USD. (HKD is peg to USD).

Lets see how bad their Q4 would be. They definitely will only release tomorrow friday after closing time. I predict big loss just like other O&G counters. Maybe no dividend too since they have spend their cash to support the share price. Any surprise would be rebound.

Fundamentally this business is losing market share year by year. It happens globally due to the rise of online shopping. It used to have bright prospect but not anymore. Investing is all about its future prospects. I'm not saying its irrelevant already. People will still shop at departmental store. People will still go. But the middle class are also very tech savvy now. They prefer shop online which is cheaper, convenient etc etc. I shop a lot at lazada nowadays. My friends too. My parents , they dont shop at all. Get the idea?

Just face it. This business is being disrupted quite a while ago. Not only in Malaysia or China. Even in America, JC Penny stock is also being hammered. I can go list more other department stores business facing the same fate.

And Parkson issue is not just this alone. In China, Parkson has lost its shine to its ever growing competitors. It has become like our old Yaohan , slowly bleeding..... then u know. They cant compete with Chinese players. They simply can't. Period.

Will Parkson go bankrupt? No, i don't think so. It still has assets. If you want to invest in growth/future earnings etc, think twice.

The people. Does WC has good reputation? You answer yourself. Look at all his other listed companies.

I think it is taking so long because Zurich wants to buy all (100%) of the MAA Takaful.

"....the Company, Solidarity Group Holding BSC (Closed) (“Solidarity”) and Zurich had jointly submitted an application to BNM on 30 November 2015 for approval of the Minister of Finance pursuant to the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 to enter into an agreement with Zurich for the Proposed Disposal by the Company and Solidarity of their respective 75% and 25% equity interest held in MAAT. "

A foreign insurer can buy up to 70% stake in a local insurance company in view of the liberalisation of the insurance industry although a higher limit than this will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

This is a special case.

Like said, i see no reason for MoF to deny this as it's not good to upset Negeri Sembilan royal family or Bahrain. :) Ok... I shouldn't sensationalize something that I just assume. We all have imaginations. Anyway more rationale is since BNM okay this deal, no reason for MoF to nay.

I also think if Zurich eventually buys all of MAAT, Zurich might do a reverse take over of MAA Group. They make a general offer for MAA Group shares and take control of MAA Group and inject all their insurance businesses (conventional insurance and the newly bought Takaful) into MAA Group and change name to Zurich Holdings/**Whatever** Bhd. and maintain a listing status thru backdoor. Or something like that. I just write a simplify version. Then we have 3 foreign insurance titans which is listed on Bursa - Allianz, Manulife and Zurich.

I like to imagine. :)

Indeed defying worldwide sell-off. What do you do when you have plenty of cash and you see that the market significantly undervalued your company at an absurdity price level? Buy back all you can.

They are privy to that buyout information.

Wait till you see the retail participants only you sell. The best is yet to come.

https://fast.bnm.gov.my/fastweb/public/PublicInfoServlet.do?chkBox=2016020400019&mode=DISPLAY&info=NEWS&screenId=PB010400

Content
We, as the Facility Agent of the Bonds under the stock code: DG130002, wish to inform that the Bonds will mature on 5 February 2016 and the Bonds will automatically be converted into new fully paid ordinary shares of RM0.10 each of SGB upon the maturity date of the Bonds.

Please be notified accordingly.

I don't think MAA Group gonna let go its 75% stake in MAA Takaful business "cheap" since its in strong position (good financial position, high capital adequate ratio etc...) to bargain for better price. If Zurich and MAA cannot agree on price and abort the deal, MAA's fundamental doesn't change. It is still a promising good business. Why want to let go a good business that is growing if the price is not attractive. Look at Syarikat Takaful.
I expect the board will be able to get good price for the shareholders this time. Maybe 2 times or above the book value (BV)!
Look at other previous deals :
http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2014/05/26/mas-in-takaful-sector-stmb-to-explore-merger-option-if-it-can-improve-shareholder-value/?style=biz

Happy Money Year ! .. err... Monkey :0)

Maybank IB TP 0.60 back in Nov 30, 2015 when share price was RM1.08
http://klse.i3investor.com/servlets/staticfile/274197.jsp

I used to own this stock. I got out with small profit. I have faith in the management. I'm on lookout for re-investing when the price is "right". As mentioned, they made wrong bets. Its not end of the world, its part and parcel of investment. They will weather through the storm. They are big enough. I just think there should be more impairment for the wrong bets they made in Petra and Alam. I will wait for the coming quarter result. Numbers don't lie.

Indeed, numbers don't lie. Their balance sheet is not as strong as before. Go look at the 5 years balance sheets. Cash is depleting and short term loans are increasing. Go make your own evaluation.

They are using cash reserve to support the share price. I'll be little surprise if they declare dividend this end February. They might to support the share price.

Wah Seong acquired 49% of ALAM-PE in 2014. It also bought substantial stake ~27% of PETRA ENERGY BHD in 2012. Both big transactions made during the oil prices peak time. Since the oil collapse, I'm surprise to see Waseong share price still not badly battered compare to other O&G counters since both their investment in Alam PE and Petra Energy had lost value. While they actively buyback their own shares to support the prices, EPF is selling.

Capitulation.

http://www.bursamalaysia.com/market/listed-companies/company-announcements/4981157
http://www.bursamalaysia.com/market/listed-companies/company-announcements/4979881

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/01/19/petronas-to-cut-spending-by-rm50bil-over-4-years/

http://bloom.bg/1OYMBmf

http://bloom.bg/1ns8rUP

At our neighbour , both keppel and sembcorp which has almost similar business as MHB is getting short at highest level and shares prices lots of pressure. I have friends who works in o&g, they said the o&g sector is just too gloomy currently (not only because of low oil prices but also there has been over investment during the boom period hence oversupply of rigs and all sort of supporting vessels. Plus there's solvency issue in some of the clients! Triple whammy) .

Consider your lucky that in Malaysia we can't short sell the stock.

Special dividend coming ?

....."Women often cheer themselves up during tough times by 'pampering' with a treat, and one of the cheapest ways remains buying lipstick. Applying it, smiling at the mirror, sends women away into a harsher world with a spring in their step.

So the 'lipstick effect' could be no more than just women's natural instinct to counteract the depressing effect of the recession.

But even if the 'lipstick effect' is not about women needing to find a rich man during tougher times, given the pressure on the household purse, when families struggle to cope with necessary spending on food and rent, many women may conceal the fact that they are also buying products as frivolous as cosmetics - hiding the truth even from themselves.

Although the 'lipstick effect' theoretically relates to all cosmetics, or anything that enhances female attractiveness, lipstick itself might be particularly 'primal', unique in its ability to immediately and dramatically transform appearance.

Take the example of a 34-year-old unmarried teacher. Despite increasing bills and economic recession, Melissa McQueeney adamantly refuses to stop buying lipstick. As she defiantly strides to the cash register with a new lip gloss, she is quoted as declaring: "I didn't even try it on. I'm just splurging".... "

Maybe lipstick effect theory? :)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-raj-persaud/lipstick-effect-female-mating-strategy_b_3363955.html

why would u want to sell unless u have insider info that zurich is backing out from the deal or offer a low price. even so, so what?
how far will it go up? can be anyone's guess. imo; downside is limited. upside is high potential. do the risk/reward math ratio yourself.
said before many times, its the only "relatively" cheap financial services company left on bursa to "play"/invest .
go look at the numbers and all accounting ratios of all the financial services companies (banks, investment banks, brokerage company, insurance)

Nothing unusual at all @jamesooi
"Perfectly" fine and all good

Shares buyback is the only legal "insider trading" :) Market severely undervalued your company. You have money. So what you do? Buyback. Privatise. Cancel the floating shares off. Its all very good signs. If only i have more bullets, i will join their 'buying' spree.

IGB building Mid Valley Southkey in Johor. Its about 70% size of MidValley in KL! Reported to be 6 billion integrated project in phases. Old news. (the only reason why i invest in Yi-lai in the first place).
Suddenly Tan conglomerate bought this small company , YLI (Yi-lai is peanut for them).
Dot the dots.
I just wonder why they have not privatise Yi-lai. Much easier. Cost just few peanuts for them.

The million dollar question is at what PRICE Zurich is buying MAA Takaful. Any rumours? Just have to wait for the announcement. BNM approved. Now wait for MOF approval. It's all for the banking law (Islamic financial service act 2013) . No reason for Najib admin to say no. Beside it's Royal family's company .
I can't wait to know at what PRICE they selling . *drumroll* ..
Good luck to all of us !

Benalec is an outstanding business with outstanding management. Sorry, the latter is not true. That's the whole problem with this company. Do you think he cares? He withdraws RM7 to 8 million a year from the company. Even CEO of Maybank the biggest bank in Msia doesn't demand that pay.

MAA Takaful is growing year by year. Takaful industry in Msia on the whole is growing too. Go check the numbers. Even my friend who sell insurance said "Lately for the past few years all those top performers that win awards are those Takaful one". On the other hand, the conventional insurance is a matured and saturated market. You may ask why? I've said before, its easier to sell Takaful to Muslim although its open to everyone. It is the perception. Anyway, it is Malay population which is growing in Malaysia. Chinese birth rate is slow compared to others . The already majority Malays have always and will give more birth than others. We are consider "emerging market and insurance penetration is low and growing" to the eyes of foreign insurers that based in developed & matured insurance market that at the same time have population birth rate problem. Yes, Swiss is one of those. Japan , Nordic countries, France etc...
So it's no surprising that they want to expand to emerging countries , including Malaysia.

Conventional insurance (under FSA) and takaful insurance (under iFSA) is separate. You can't combined them. Zurich cant inject its conventional insurance business which they bought from MAA into takaful if again this time they buy MAA Takaful. They each need their own license. They are completely different in terms of licensing.
IF eventually Zurich buys MAA Takaful, there is no reason BNM to reject them the separate license of life & general takaful if they comply with all the capital requirements (min 100 mil). Afterall, they are just complying to BNM rules for this separation.

It all really depends on what price Zurich willing to offer to MAA Takaful now. I can't wait to know.

In the matter of full disclosure, I own MAA shares.

This does not change the fundamental value. Let's see the coming 2Q result. I,m hoping they will give dividend . More important is how much Zurich going to offer for the Takaful business. I think it's best that Zurich reverse takeover MAA. Then Zurich can inject all its insurance businesses in this listed entity. Oh well, I can only hope. :)

The one & only thing I don't like about this company is the remuneration of the MD. He alone got paid RM8mil. This is not in line with similar industry IN Malaysia. It tells you something how he treats the shareholders and the company.

Although debt or gearing is high to my dislike, I can accept it due to the nature of its business. Also quite disappoint with its recent financial results. With oil prices so low, this should have benefit the company bottom line. But no.

Overall, I like its business model. Benelac almost can be consider as monopoly in its specialize business with its economy of scale. It is big enough to take big projects. I think E&O will award Benelac again for its STP2 project in Penang soon.

If the Kedah chap is not so grossly greedy, I would say Benelac is a good investment.

And who says Malaysia companies are undervalued? :P

I saw Thorntons chocolate everywhere in UK market. On the other hand, I hardly ever see Cocoaland products in malaysia or anywhere (i know they concentrate on export market like China etc.).

When I read the biz news today http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33221033

Was surprise to see Cocoaland is valued at almost similar league as Thorntons. Cocoaland boleh! :)

Hmmmmmmmmm...

I was hoping with the swelling stock prices of Syarikat Tafaful, they will bid for MAA Takaful instead. I guess Zurich really likes MAA and/or vice versa. Let's hope the board manage to fetch good price this time as this time Maa isn't that desperate as before with its strong balance sheet n capital ratio requirement etc.. It's definitely good news although this came as a surprise to me.
I try to guess why they want to sell this profitable and main business. If Maa Takaful is sold off, Maa bhd will be even more cash rich and then no longer an insurance/finance holdings company maybe? Then they are not bound by iFSA rules and BNM. And they can do whatever they want which I don't want. :)
Let's hope it's just as simple as creating value to shareholders. Don't forget your duty. The group paid MYR5.5 million for your salaries & bonus in 2014. Time to reward us please! Danke.

With respect to the sudden surge in MAA share prices and volume this 2 days, I would rather hold until it hits above its NTA 1.40 . Even if it hits above 1.40 i think I will still hold because I can't find any other financial institutions shares that seem reasonable priced and have good dividend prospect. Will it hit above 1.40 ? I really don't know. Market has priced this stock irrationally for quite some time. Compared to Syarikat Takaful which has almost similiar business , MAA is very cheap. http://www.malaysiastock.biz/Corporate-Infomation.aspx?type=A&value=T&source=M&securityCode=6139
I can only hope MAA can mimic the share prices of Syarikat Takaful.

I suspect some other insurance companies are looking into MAA's books (its seductive cash holdings) and might merge or even takeover MAA. It's highly unlikely the other way round due to its competitor sizes. Too big for MAA's apetite. In fact, Syarikat Takaful Bhd should take advantages of its share price to buy MAA!

In my opinion, I think MAA Takaful management should look into joint venture with other islamic bank to sell its products other than just agency based. There are the only few takaful player without bank JV..The rest JV with other banks and rely on their networks/brances to sell. How about looking into JV with Bank Rakyat?

Just out of curiosity, does any of you shareholders here buy insurance/takaful from MAA? I've compared their medical takaful with other competitors and MAA seems to have good pricing (cheaper premium for same benefits). Just want to know if any of you had experience dealing takaful with MAA? (Are they cheaper because of negative reasons?) I am getting their Medicare2015. https://www.maatakaful.com.my/?page_id=3015
Of course as MAA shareholder, it makes more sense to buy from MAA even if they cost more. Is your insurance with MAA?

something is brewing... Well, even if it hits 1.20 , I think i would hold this stock for there are not any cheap insurance stock left to buy. Dividend prospect is good for this counter. I dont expect the management will screw up big time judging from the fact this industry is one of the most regulated industry (in addition to BNM perusal... Thanks Zeti ). The company cannot afford to buy any other financial company coz all other financial related companies are either too big or too expensive. The company cannot invest in any other industry except in finance related; so be assured we wont hear that MAA will explore opportunity in oil&gas exploration etc... Some can say its conservative. Its good to be conservative sometimes... Slow & steady... Lets hope everyone esp MAA stockholders have a goooooat year! ;) Happy Lunar New Year. Cheers.

The key question about this company for small shareholders like us :
1) Why the lower yield dividend vs previous years. New BOD have not communicate with us so far regarding this.
2) Why founder Mr Lim Oon Kok sold off his entire shares (at abt RM1.30 its not "an offer that cannot resist") ... Why?! Even if you want retire, you can appoint new MD without selling your shares. At RM1.30 ?? SERIOUSLY?? I mean REALLY.... seriously.
3) Can this new young blue blood chap MD from Tan empire reward and have interests on small share holders like previous MD Lim.

Why do you think this chap Mr Hsieh Yu Tien disposed his shares between 2012-2013 for around 0.84-0.95 range AND then bought/acquired shares back lately in 2014 till now for prices above 1.00 . To be fair the transactions amount are small to raise much alarm anyway. Still, something to ponder... Hmmmmmmm...

EPF keep disposing shares wo. :(
http://www.bursamalaysia.com/market/listed-companies/company-announcements#/?company=5222&category=all

Dear Muhamad Umar Swift and MAA Board of Directors,

I would like to applaud the board for finally undertaking a regularization/reorganization plan and decide to carry out general takaful business and family takaful business respectively (under 2 different entities due to the new BNM IFSA rules).

I hope MAA will be uplifted from PN17 status soon as MAA share price has been depressed for many years due to this ‘misplacement’. Although I am disappointed with the share prices, I still strongly believe in this company’s fundamentals for its Takaful insurance business which is growing in Malaysia compared to conventional insurance.

It is easier to push Islamic insurance products to Muslim populations in Malaysia. With the recent bad news about flood in east coasts of Malaysia, this should be big opportunity for MAA to grow its general takaful business in that region. Like they say “The best time to own a general insurer is after catastrophe”. Following natural disasters or any bad news, policyholders are amenable to premium increases and non policyholders are accepting and starting to buy.

Maybe MAA Takaful should venture into travel takaful insurance as well?

Best Regards

www.theantdaily.com/Business-Targeted/MAA-Group-to-be-RTO-target/

Heard that eng Kah being f@cked by berjaya Cosway, its biggest customer regarding their Investment in China . Don't really know the details. As MD , he should be responsible and come out and disclose and explain to its small shareholders what happened. If he wants to hide and be private, then privatise the company.

You guys should write to MD ewe eng Kah and ask him to explain why dividends has drop significantly. What's the reason behind it? Does he want to reinvest the profit for more expansion? Or the company has lost more big contracts? Any mishaps in China investment? What has gone wrong? (Dividend of only 1 cent for two quarters already)