Summary of business news from April 5 to 11

Malaysia accepts 14% cost increase in China-led rail project, taking longer route

• Malaysia said on Monday that it had accepted an increase of nearly 14% in the estimated construction cost for the proposed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, as the length of the route would be slightly longer.
• The Malaysian unit of China Communications Construction Co Ltd, CCC-ECRL, is contracted to build the line.
• Mahathir put the project on ice because of allegations of corruption and in order to discuss the price, however, he lost power a year ago.

Concerns remain on proposed Celcom-Digi merger

• AFTER Digi. com Bhd and Axiata Group Bhd's subsidiary Celcom Axiata Bhd announced their merger plan to become the country's largest telecommunications company, both stocks soared significantly.
• On Thursday, Axiata's wholly owned unit Celcom and Norway-based Telenor's 49% unit Digi announced their plan to merge to become the country's largest telco provider Celcom Digi Bhd (CDB).
• Assuming no synergies from the merger, we estimate that Digi's forecast financial year 2022 (FY22) earnings per share will increase by 5%, while Axiata's will decrease by 10% as Digi's equity appears to be valued 67% above Celcom's from the share and cash exchange.

Four Malaysians make debut on Forbes billionaires list

• New Malaysian entrants to the Forbes world's billionaires list this year include the Tan brothers of MR DIY Group (M) Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd's Tan Sri G Gnanalingam and Greatech
• In Forbes' 35th annual list of the world's billionaires, brothers Tan Yu Yeh and Tan Yu Wei made their debut with estimated net worths of US$1.8bil and US$1.1bil respectively.
• Gnanalingam was included in the list with an estimated net worth of US$1.7bil while Tan Eng Kee became another of the world's US-dollar billionaires with an estimated net worth of US$1.1bil.

Genting to proceed with theme park

• Genting Bhd remains cautious on its near-term prospects in the leisure and hospitality industry but says it is in a good position to capitalise on the eventual recovery in the sector.
• In spite of this, the group will move forward with its planned expansions for its respective business units.
• These unprecedented challenges will not deter us from carrying out the group's long-term business strategies that will also help to spur the local economies.

Will inflation return?

• Currently, inflation will rise 1% in 2021, and 1.3% in 2022.
• The best environment for risk assets is when inflation is low, but rising.
• Europe cannot afford a stronger euro, but there is not much it can do.