Media Highlights : Petronas finds new O&G fields offshore Sarawak, IGB to sell The Gardens Mall to subsidiary, Bidders for Khazanah's stake in Pos Malaysia to go through vigorous process, Plan to relist Magnum put on hold, Handal unit inks RM12m crane deal, AirAsia to order 175 A320s

Petronas finds new O&G fields offshore Sarawak
State-controlled Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) has made a major oil and gas (O&G) discovery after commencing drilling works at NC3 and Spaoh-1 wells in Blocks SK316 and SK306 respectively, offshore Sarawak. The successful drilling of the NC3 wildcat well in March 2010 and a subsequent appraisal well indicated a significant discovery for the national oil company in Block SK316, with early estimates at 2.6tr standard cubic feet (tscf) of net gas in place. ‘The Spaoh-1, well located in Block SJ306, shows similar promise. It was drilled in Dec 2010 and found both oil and gas,” the national oil company said. Petronas pointed out that preliminary evaluation indicated about 100m stock tank barrels (mmsb) of oil and 0.2 tscf of gas in place respectively. Currently, the well is being prepared for production testing. (FinancialDaily)

IGB to sell The Gardens Mall to subsidiary
IGB Corp plans to sell The Gardens Mall, which has an indicative value of RM820m, to its subsidiary KrisAssets Holdings for cash as part of its ongoing streamlining scheme. KrisAssets, its 75% unit, essentially operates like a real estate investment trust, and the purchase will give it a new source of recurring income. IGB entered into an agreement yesterday for KrisAssets to buy all of the shares in Mid Valley City Gardens SB. The purchase will depend on the net tangible assets of MVCG for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2010. (Business Times)

Bidders for Khazanah’s stake in Pos Malaysia to go through vigorous process
Khazanah Nasional will be putting the bidders for its 32.21% equity in Pos Malaysia through a vigorous process that includes a detailed assessment of the business plan and whether there will be a “cultural fit” between the new owners and the postal company. Monday was the deadline for all bidders to submit their offer and sources close to the deal said the format required for the bids was broken up into a few parts. One of them being the business plan, another the indicative office price and a third being the background information on the bidder such as the name of shareholders and partners as well as financial information of all companies in the consortium. (Starbiz)

Plan to relist Magnum put on hold
Multi-Purpose Holdings (MPHB), which has planned to relist its gaming unit, Magnum Holdings is putting the plan on hold. “The board of directors of MPHB wishes to state that the preliminary plans to relist Magnum as announced on 3 and 4 Aug 2010 has been placed on hold for the time being,” MPHB said. (Starbiz)

Handal unit inks RM12m crane deal
Handal Resources wholly owned unit, Handal Offshore Services SB (HOSSB), has signed a RM12m deal with Excell Crane & Hydraulics Inc (ECHI) for the use of the intellectual property rights of the “Seacrane” offshore pedestal crane product line. The “Seacrane” will be used in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. (Business Times)

AirAsia to order 175 A320s
AirAsia say it’s in talks to buy about 175 of the upgraded A320 jet planned by Airbus SAS, as well as some larger A330s with which to add flights to Germany and other European destinations from Kuala Lumpur. The two sides had not yet agreed financial terms for the order, whose size would not be “not dissimilar” to AirAsia’s last 175-plane A320 purchase, chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said. (Starbiz)