Media Highlights: Petra Energy to bag RM100m Murphy Oil job, RHB Investment tops in deal value, CIMB in number, Tesco to spend big on expansion, Sunway awarded RM219m jobs, MK Land sells land for RM130m, MRCB-IJM Land merger aborted 'over CEO choice'...

Petra Energy to bag RM100m Murphy Oil job
Petra Energy is close to bagging a RM100m contract from Murphy Oil for hook-up and commissioning works, sources say. It is learnt that Petra Energy could make an announcement to the local bourse soon after ironing out a few minor issues. The job from Murphy is said to be at the same rates as the one offered by Petronas Carigali. (Financial Daily)

RHB Investment tops in deal value, CIMB in number
RHB Investment Bank worked on USD20.6bn of deals, followed by Morgan Stanley, UBS AG and CIMB. RHB Investment Bank (RHBI) emerged as the top adviser for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Southeast Asia (SEA) last year in terms of deal value, but rival CIMB Investment Bank dominated in terms of deal count. In second spot on the league table of announced deals was Morgan Stanley, followed by UBS AG and CIMB, which handled USD18bn (RM55.44bn) of deals. CIMB handled 39 M&A deals in total, the most in the region, followed by RHBI's 23. Malaysia turned out to be the second busiest market in the region for M&A activity last year, accounting for 29% of a total 1,523 deals, after Singapore (43%). (BT)

Tesco to spend big on expansion
Tesco Stores (Malaysia) SB plans to invest RM280m and open four more hypermarkets over the 12 months, from March this year. This would bring the number of stores it has nationwide to 40. Tesco Malaysia chief executive officer Tjeerd Jegen is bullish on business this year. "We expect to close the year with double-digit growth," he said yesterday in Mutiara Damansara, Selangor, after the closing of the SME Fair promotion. Last year, Tesco Malaysia made RM3.6bn in revenue. (BT)

Sunway awarded RM219m jobs
Sunway Holdings has secured two contracts totaling RM218.82m for the expansion of a Universiti Teknologi Mara campus and a proposed link bridge in the city centre. The proposed projects are expected to contribute positively to the earnings of Sunway Group for the financial year ending 31 Dec onwards (StarBiz) Please see accompanying report

MK Land sells land for RM130m
MK Land Holdings is selling two plots of leasehold land in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, to Foster Estate SB for RM130m cash. It told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that it had entered into sale-and-purchase agreements with Foster Estate on 30 Dec, 2010 to dispose of 18.54 acres for RM100.78m and another 8.32 acres for RM29.21m. MK Land said it was disposing of the two plots to unlock their value which it had no immediate plans to develop and the proposals were expected to be completed by the end of 2011. On a separate note, MK Land Holdings' deal raised eyebrows because the buyer shares the same set of shareholders for another major deal - the RM26bn bid to take over PLUS Expressways. According to the Companies Commission of Malaysia, Sumami Kiman and Saharuddin Abdullah hold one share each in the RM2 company. These two were also the same shareholders of Jelas Ulung SB, which is making the bid to buy PLUS. (StarBiz and BT)

MRCB-IJM Land merger aborted ‘over CEO choice’
The inability of Malaysian Resources Corp (MRCB) and IJM Land to come to an agreement over who will lead the new entity is the cause of the merger between the two property firms being called off. A source confirmed this to StarBiz yesterday following both companies' announcements to Bursa Malaysia last Thursday that the merger was aborted as they were unable to reach an agreement on the definitive terms and conditions of the proposed merger, following a series of discussions. The source said there was a difference in opinion on whether MRCB chief executive officer (CEO) Mohamed Razeek Hussain or IJM Land CEO-cum-managing director Datuk Soam Heng Choon should lead the new entity. (StarBiz)

Parkson receives licence to operate in Cambodia
Parkson Holdings’ unit has received the nod by the Minister of Commerce of the Kingdom of Cambodia to operate department stores in the Cambodia. Parkson Holdings added that the establishment of Parkson Cambodia did not have any material impact on the Group for the financial year ending 30 June, 2011. (FinancialDaily)

94.69% acceptance for United Kotak takeover
Oji Paper Asia SB (OPA) has received acceptances amounting to 94.69% of United Kotak’s shares on the closing date of its takeover for the latter last Friday. On Oct last year, OPA made a conditional takeover offer to United Kotak by acquiring all the voting shares in the company at an offer price of RM1.40 each. (FinancialDaily)