Summary of business stories March 20-April 4

Shell Malaysia appoints Ivan Tan as chairman

• Shell Malaysia has appointed Ivan Tan as country chairman effective April 1, succeeding Datuk Iain Lo.
• Tan will oversee all Shell Malaysia businesses, in addition to his current role as senior vice president and managing director for the upstream business in Malaysia.

Touch ‘n Go enters financial services

• Touch 'n Go Sdn Bhd (TNG Group) has kicked the e-wallet sector up a notch with the rollout of GO+, a financially inclusive investment product.
• TNG Digital, the joint venture company between CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's wholly-owned TNG Group and China's Ant Group, is the company behind the Touch 'n Go eWallet.
• The GO+ product is anchored on the Principal e-Cash Fund, a money market fund managed by Principal Asset Management Bhd.

TNG Digital to close fundraising by mid-2021

• TNG Digital Sdn Bhd, the e-wallet joint venture between CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's Touch 'n Go Sdn Bhd and China's Ant Group, is looking to close its fundraising exercise by mid-2021.
• In January, Reuters reported that TNG Digital was in advanced talks with investors to raise US$150mil, which will see CIMB and Ant Group paring down their stakes.
• CIMB owns 100% of Touch 'n Go, which in turn, owns 51% of TNG Digital.

Bank Negara relaxes forex policies

• The central bank will be lifting the export conversion rule, which will allow resident exporters to manage their own export conversions according to their foreign exchange cash flow needs.
• Secondly, exports will be allowed to settle domestic trade in foreign currency with other resident corporates operating in the global supply chain.
• Exporters will also be allowed to net off export proceeds in its permitted foreign currency obligations as a move to enhance business efficiency and cash flow management for exporters.

Unsold commercial properties worrisome, says Bank Negara

• The number of unsold properties has seen a respite amid the government's Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) except for the commercial market, as it remains worrisome amid the new norms.
• It is about 170,000 units but it has been coming down.

Thai baht takes a hit from tourism wipeout

• A current-account deficit, resurgent US dollar and the seasonal repatriation of dividends by Japanese investors have all helped make the baht the worst-performing currency for Asia's emerging markets for March.
• But it's the bleak outlook for tourism that's underlying the weakness, sending the US dollar-baht to nearly a six-month high and ever closer to a test of its four-year downtrend.
• The more than year-long pandemic has helped erode a key attraction for the baht - the Thai current-account surplus - which has flipped to a deficit for four straight months after six years in the green.

AirAsia posts RM2.44bil loss in 4Q

• AirAsia Group Bhd posted a net loss of RM2.44bil in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31 against RM384.43mil a year ago as its operations were adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The low-cost carrier saw its revenue stood at RM267.43mil, down 91.7% from RM3.22bil previously.
• For the full financial year ended Dec 31 (FY20), AirAsia posted a net loss of RM5.09bil on revenue of RM3.13bil.

Oil slumps as Suez Canal container ship starts to move

• Oil slumped more than 2% on Monday after news from the Suez Canal that salvage crews have managed to move the giant container ship that has been clogging up the vital global trade passage for nearly a week.
• Brent oil was down $1.38, or 2.1%, at $63.19 a barrel by 0511 GMT.
• The stranded container ship Ever Given has almost been completely floated and will be inspected before it is moved, a shipping source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Widad, Bin Zayed to jointly develop RM40bil Widad@Langkasuka

• Widad Business Group (WBG) has signed a collaboration agreement with Bin Zayed International (BZI) LLC to jointly develop a mixed development project known as Widad@Langkasuka in Langkawi worth RM40 billion.
• WBG's founder and group executive chairman, Tan Sri Muhammad Ikmal Opat Abdullah said the financing for Widad@Langkasuka will come from both WBG and BZI on the agreement of 50:50 basis.
• Meanwhile BZI has targeted to bring in RM100bil worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia for the next few years, to be delivered in phases starting with the development of Widad@Langkasuka.