Media Highlights : Mubarak is set to turn over power, Dayang gets RM802m service contract from Petronas Carigali, Suitors up offer for MTD Cap to RM11 a share, Ann Joo eyes more Malaysia, foreign steel mills, Magnum relisting put on hold

Mubarak is set to turn over power
President Hosni Mubarak will meet the demands of the protestors, military and ruling party officials said Thursday in the strongest indication yet that Egypt’s long-time president may be about to give up power and that the armed forces were seizing control. Gen Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, told thousands of protestors in central Tahrir Square, “All your demands will be met today.” The military supreme council was meeting Thursday, without the commander in chief, Mr. Mubarak, and announced on state TV its “support of the legitimate demands of the people.” A spokesman read a statement that the council was in permanent session to explore “what measures and arrangement could be made to safeguard the nation, its achievement and the ambitions of the great people”. The head of the ruling party, Hossam Badrawi, told The Associated Press that he expects that Mr Mubarak will “address the people tonight to respond to protestors demands.” (International Herald Tribune)

Dayang gets RM802m service contract from Petronas Carigali
Oil and gas firm Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd has secured a five-year service contact from Petronas Carigali SB (PCSB) estimated to be worth about RM802m. The Sarawak-based company said the contract is a ‘call-up contract’ made up of work orders, which will be awarded at the discretion of PCSB during the duration of the contract, and the values of the work orders are based on the contract schedule of rates, it said in a filing to the exchange yesterday. The contract for the provision of topside structural maintenance services for PCSB’s Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia operations will run from 2 Feb 2011 to 1 Feb 2016.(Malaysian Reserve)

Suitors up offer for MTD Cap to RM11 a share
The major shareholders of MTD Capital Bhd (MTC Cap) that had proposed to take over the company for RM9.50 ash per share previously have revised their offer to RM11 cash per share. In MTD Cap said it had received notice of the revised offer from Maybank Investment Bank Bhd, the financial adviser to the joint offerors Nikvest SB, Alloy Consolidated SB, Alloy Concrete Engineering Consolidated SB and Alloy Capital SB. The joint offerors, which are also the major shareholders of MTD Cap, are the private investment vehicles of Datuk Nik Hussain Abdul Rahman and Datuk Azmil Khalili, the group executive chairman and president, and CEO of MTD Cap, respectively. (Financial Daily)

Ann Joo eyes more Malaysia, foreign steel mills
Steel maker Ann Joo Resources Bhd is continuously looking at opportunities to buy other steel mills both locally and overseas to expand. Yesterday, Ann Joo signed a deal to raise RM500m from a bond sale to finance its investment in a blast furnace project. The blast furnace plant, the first of its kind in the country and the second in Asia after Thailand, will increase its production capacity to 1.1m tonnes from 800,000 tonnes a year. The plant is 95% completed and is targeted to start production by April this year. It consist of a 450m3 blast furnace and 75m3 sintering plant, in addition to an upgraded electric arc furnace. The new upgraded plant would help Ann Joo save 40 per cent of its electricity costs. It would also have the capacity and technology to switch between iron ore, coke and scrap, depending on the market's raw material prices. (Business Times)

Magnum relisting put on hold
Contrary to wide market expectations, Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd (MPHB)'s plan to relist its numbers forecast operator (NFO) Magnum Corp Bhd has been put on hold, as the company shifts its focus to reformatting its business structure. “There is no plan to relist Magnum for the time being,” MPHB managing director Datuk Surin Upatkoon said in reply to a StarBiz query. Following its proposed acquisition of the balance 49% stake it does not already own in Magnum Holdings SB on Wednesday, MPHB in a statement expressed its intention to make gaming its core business, while it would work towards the rationalisation of its non-core assets such as insurance and stockbroking through a divestment programme. It gave no hint of the widely expected relisting of Magnum shares on Bursa Malaysia. (StarBiz)