The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- CIMB first Asean corporate to be rated by Dagong
- Wong appointed country head of Beiersdorf
- Tanah Sutera sells green concept to house buyers
| CIMB first Asean corporate to be rated by Dagong Posted: 22 Jul 2011 06:52 PM PDT BEIJING: CIMB Bank has become the first Asean corporate to be rated by Chinese private rating house Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. The rating is CIMB's fourth rating after ratings by the Big 3' of Moody's, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's (S&P). "I have long advocated the need for an Asian rating agency to offer an alternative perspective to those of Western rating agencies," said CIMB Group group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak. The unfair perception of Asian debt, institutionalised by international ratings had driven investors to look elsewhere for higher-rated investments, Nazir said. Speaking at the bank's inaugural credit rating by Dagong here yesterday, Nazir said Dagong's rating would provide an alternative assessment of CIMB Bank's financial strength and credit standing to regulators, fund managers and investors in China and the Asian region. Dagong yesterday assigned a long-term local currency issuer rating of AA and a long-term foreign currency rating of AA-, with a positive outlook to CIMB Bank. The ratings are higher than the ratings assigned to CIMB Bank by the other international rating agencies. Dagong chairman and president Guang Jianzhong said: "If the world's best banks can be rated at AAA class, then it is nothing unusual for CIMB Bank to be rated at AA or AA-, given the bank's systemic importance to Malaysia." He said Dagong put relatively more weight on the growing prospects of CIMB compared to the other international agencies, backed by the healthy regional and domestic macroeconomic environment it was operating in as well as taking into account CIMB's corporate governance and development strategy. "Despite being the custodian of most of the world's savings as well as holding the most attractive investment opportunities, Asia remains extremely dependent on Western financial intermediation. I don't understand that," Nazir said. "Dagong has the foundations to become Asia's leader in the field of ratings and we will support that," he said. Nazir voiced out his disagreement on RAM Holdings Bhd's plan to give US-based S&P a substantial shareholding in the company, saying that it was a "wrong strategy". "RAM has very good credentials and I think it is giving up on those credentials by partnering with a Western agency. "That is why we have to find others and in this case, we are betting on Dagong," he said. He said CIMB was not expecting immediate benefits from the rating as the benefits would likely be reaped in the long term. "It depends on the future of Dagong we don't know how long it will be before we reap the benefits but given that Dagong's creditability is growing fast, I think it would be sooner rather than later," he said. Dagong is currently the largest credit rating agency in China. In July 2010, Dagong became the world's first non-Western credit rating agency to issue credit ratings for 50 countries. Guang said he believed that more overseas corporates would seek its services following CIMB Bank's rating by Dagong. Separately, Nazir said there were plans to convert CIMB's representative office in Shanghai into a branch. He did not elaborate on the timeframe for this. CIMB's presence in China is also via its 19.99% stake in the Bank of Yingkou Co, Ltd. Nazir said CIMB's strategy in China would not be via equity stakes but would be focused on partnerships. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Wong appointed country head of Beiersdorf Posted: 22 Jul 2011 06:46 PM PDT WONG Fatt Weng (pic), managing director of Bates141 Malaysia, has been appointed the country head of Beiersdorf Malaysia, a leading skin and beauty care company, effective Sept 1. Wong has been with Bates141 Malaysia for three years. "I'm returning to marketing, which really is my first love," he says when contacted by StarBizWeek, adding that a search for a replacement at Bates141 is currently underway. Prior to Bates 141, Wong was marketing director at Johnson & Johnson Malaysia, and has more than 18 years of mixed experience in brand and sales management with a comprehensive understanding of market research, new product development, sales, distribution, product positioning, pricing, packaging, promotion and advertising. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Tanah Sutera sells green concept to house buyers Posted: 22 Jul 2011 06:43 PM PDT BUYING a property at The Seed @ Sutera Utama in Johor Baru is similar to taking an oath of allegiance to take care of the environment for the present and future generations. The first question that the developer will ask its prospective buyers is whether they are willing and ready to be part of the community by contributing their efforts and time to protect the environment. "If the answer is yes, they proceed to the signing of the sales and purchase agreement, if not they (buyers) can look for other properties,'' Tanah Sutera Development Sdn Bhd general manager Steven Shum says in an interview with StarBizWeek. He says the company is not being "selective or arrogant" but is committed to a clean and green neighbourhood and wants to offer more than just houses to its buyers. Shum says the company is probably the first in Johor or even Malaysia to ask such question to its potential buyers. He also claims many of the buyers do not feel offended and those who bought the properties are looking forward to be part of the "green community" when the project fully developed in 2015. The project with a gross development value of RM700mil is located within a gated 19.02ha encompassing 1,230 units of residential properties ranging from penthouses to garden suites namely the three-storey Garden and Duplex Suites, six-storey Boutique Suites and nine-storey Boutique Suites with floor area ranging from 1,240 sq ft to 2,390sq ft and priced between RM558,000 and RM1.1mil. Tanah Sutera Development Sdn Bhd is a consortium of Malaysian and Singapore-based companies namely Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, CapitaLand, Keppel Land and Lee Rubber Co (Pte) Ltd. "We don't only preach on green-related issues to our buyers but we also practice the green building initiatives in the construction of the houses,'' Shum says. The green initiatives include using pre-mixed reinforced concrete with the effective micro-organisms (EM) glass panels to allow sunlight in and harvesting rainwater to water and clean the gardens. Shum says it is proven in Japan that by mixing concrete with the EM, the concrete become water-repellent and thus prevents sick-building syndrome which is common in Malaysia. Similarly, he says each household is expected to play their part as the "green community" by separating rubbish such as plastic, glass, paper into their respective bins. Shum adds each family will be provided with a container for them to discard their food waste to make compost and the compost will be used as fertiliser for the communal gardens within the projects. "We want to bring back the communal living or the kampong spirit in the good old days where everyone basically knows his neighbours,'' he says. Shum says this can be achieved via activities organised such as get-together parties for residents in celebrating festivals, birthdays or weddings. He says as for the communal garden, each block will have its own piece of land where residents can set-up a garden committee to plant vegetables or fruit trees on the plot. Shum says residents have their own freedom in managing their communal gardens but must adhere to organic farming by not using chemical ferlitisers and use rainwater to water the plants. He says residents can harvest and share the vegetables or fruits among themselves or exchange them with residents of other blocks or may be, they can set ad-hoc make shift stalls to sell the produce. "Living in a gated and guarded community does not mean that ones have to mind their own business for the sake of privacy; our objective is promote esprit de corps,'' says Shum. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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