Shareholders of Maxis may be offered big premium

KUALA LUMPUR: Shareholders of Maxis Communications Bhd, which has received notification for a voluntary general offer (VGO) from major shareholder Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd, will likely get the details of the offer today.

Sources said the premium offered for the remaining shares not owned by Usaha Tegas, which is controlled by T. Ananda Krishnan, could be pretty substantial. To make it attractive for minorities, it could range from 15% to 20%.

Reports have said that the move to privatise Maxis comes at a time when capital expenditure for the company's foray into India is expected to be substantial. By taking Maxis private, analysts say, Ananda will have greater flexibility and possibly quicker lead time to manage his capex requirements.

It is believed that ABN Amro and CIMB Investment Bank have been mandated to arrange the financing to take Maxis private.

Ananda directly and indirectly and/or via Usaha Tegas owns 47.05% of Maxis. The company launched its initial public offering at RM4.36 a share in 2002. Trading in the shares was suspended at RM13 on Monday.

Even at RM13 a share, the proposed exercise would cost RM17.47bil.

The Singapore Straits Times reported on Tuesday, quoting financial executives, that Maxis was pursuing the privatisation because of the potential adverse impact a huge expansion plan could have on its stock.

Maxis, which is facing a price war and a maturing market at home, plans to spend US$3bil as capex over the next three years for its expansion in India and Indonesia.

"That massive expansion plan will lead to interest charges on loans and, generally, result in downward pressure on its stock price over the next three years," the report said.

At the same time, the controlling shareholders of Maxis do not want to reduce their control of the company, the report said.

Quoting a senior KL source close to the deal, the report said: "Staying public would mean that the controlling shareholders will get diluted through the issue of new shares to raise funds.

"But for the owners, the question is: At what point does controlling a reduced interest in a bigger company make sense?"

The report said the move by Ananda to take Maxis private underscored the privatisation bug that had bitten the Malaysian market, which many analysts said was undervalued.

Student caught recording Spider-Man 3

PENANG: A 16-year-old student was caught recording Spider-Man 3 during its first screening here.

Spidey swarm: Moviegoers queueing up yesterday to watch Spider-Man 3 at GSC MidValley Megamall. The film was released on Tuesday
Cinema workers caught him recording the movie using his cellphone at GSC Gurney Plaza at 3pm on Tuesday.

His phone was seized and he was escorted out of the cinema. He was later handed over to the police.

It was learnt that the cinema workers were conducting routine checks on patrons via closed-circuit television (CCTV) when they spotted the student recording the movie.

The workers then requested the student to step out of the cinema and upon checking found that he had recorded the movie for more than an hour using his phone.

The cinema management has lodged a police report.

A spokesman for the cinema said the movie-theatre was installed with CCTVs to keep an eye on “pirates” recording movies, especially blockbusters.

He said pirates would usually film the movies during the first screening either during the late night or early morning show.

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid advised patrons not to record movies, warning them that they would face stern action if they did so.

TM leads push for new undersea cable

PUTRAJAYA: TM Bhd and 16 other telecommunications carriers, mostly based in South-East Asia, have signed an agreement to build a US$500mil (RM1.75bil) undersea fibre-optic cable linking the region to the United States.

The 20,000km long Asia-America Gateway, scheduled for completion by the end of next year, will avoid the most earthquake-prone undersea cable routes passing through North Asia.

As one of the lead members of the consortium, TM contributed US$50mil (RM175mil) to the total cost, according to TM chief executive for Malaysia business Zamzamzairani Mohamad Isa. The other consortium members include AT&T, Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT), Bharti Airtel of India, British Telecom Global Network Services, CAT Telecom of Thailand, Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc, and Indosat of Indonesia.

Undersea cables have traditionally passed through the northern Pacific, because they carry traffic from north Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan. But this has meant that they pass through the most seismically active parts of the Pacific Ocean floor.

The disadvantage of this route was demonstrated late last year, when an earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan damaged several undersea cable systems, disrupting for several weeks telephone and Internet links between the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world.

The AAG cable's western terminus will be in Mersing. It will run from there through major landing points in Lantau in Hong Kong, Currimao in the Philippines, and Hawaii to its eastern terminus in San Luis Obispo, California.

There would also be secondary landing points in Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, and Vietnam.

The cable route will avoid the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire," seismically and volcanically active regions along tectonic plate boundaries, but will pass less active tectonic plate boundaries in South-East Asia, Zamzamzairani said.

In addition, a cable passing through a different part of the Pacific Ocean floor would reduce the likelihood of major disruptions similar to that caused by last year's Taiwanese earthquake as it would be unlikely for an earthquake to happen in two different regions at the same time.

The AAG cable's initial capacity will be 480 gigabits per second (Gbps)in total, but this could go up to as much as 1.92 terabits per second if the electronics were upgraded in the future.

Zamzamzairani said the cable would increase add TM's data capacity by 60Gbps from the current 75Gbps. The additional capacity could be used to improve the Internet experience for TM Net customers, or distributed to TM subsidiary companies in the region, he said.

The AAG will increase both the capacity and diversity of Internet links between Asia and the United States, according to TM group chief executive Datuk Abdul Wahid Omar.

"It will also serve as a direct link between major Asian regional centres with the United States. This will make it more viable for more foreign investments to pour into these fast growing economies and subsequently, open up new business opportunities for all," Abdul Wahid added.

Energy Communications and Water Minister Datuk Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who witnessed the signing ceremony, praised TM for its foresight in coming up with a long term solution that would prevent a recurrence of the telecommunications and Internet disruption caused by the Taiwan earthquake.

He called on other local companies to emulate TM in coming up with similar solutions that aided the country and the region.

Health authorities taking steps to combat thalassaemia

KUNDASANG (Sabah): Health authorities are taking drastic measures to combat thalassaemia by urging couples who carry the faulty gene either not to marry, or at the very least, not to have children.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said that battling the hereditary disease on all fronts began with discouraging couples who are both thalassaemia gene carriers from getting married, as there was a high risk of their children contracting the gene.

“Love is blind, (but) sometimes we cannot be blind to the risks involved, so it is important that such couples are properly counselled,” he said when launching the national-level International Thalassaemia Day.

Dr Chua said that if such couples decided to go ahead with the marriage, then the authorities would advise them to avoid having children.

In cases where a child is conceived, the authorities would recommend abortion, although a final decision lay with the couple themselves, taking into consideration their religious practices, he added.

Malaysia is currently staring 800,000 to 1.2 million thalassaemia carriers nationwide in the face.

Dr Chua said that his ministry was also targeting secondary schoolchildren for thalassaemia screening, as well as helping identified carriers not to be discriminated against.

Dr Chua handed over the Malaysian flag to a group of thalassaemia patients who would be climbing Mount Kinabalu on Nov 19.

Thalassaemia is a genetic disorder which destroys red blood cells. While some are only carriers of the gene, those affected by the disease known as “thalassaemia major” have to undergo regular blood transfusions to replace damaged red blood cells at least once a month.

But the blood transfusion, Dr Chua said, causes high levels of “iron” deposits to build up in their heart and kidneys, which could lead to system failure within 10 years.

He said that a gelatine agent was introduced through an infusion pump to remove the iron deposits in the body.

“The patients will go through a normal life but there is a lot of suffering,” he said, adding that Singapore and Cyprus had brought down the number of thalassaemia cases through blood screening and public awareness.

The Government was currently sponsoring the pump that costs about RM2,000 and the gelatine agent that costs about RM1,000 per patient.

“This year alone we have allocated RM40mil to help thalassaemia patients, he said, adding that there were about 3,115 thalassaemia major patients undergoing treatment nationwide, with Sabah recording 1,200, the highest in the country.

Dr Chua later launched the MyTalasenia Vortal that will allow patients to access their relevant health data via the internet or mobile phones, while the public could visit www.mythalassaemia.net.my.

Congestion both on the road and online

PETALING JAYA: As expected, taxpayers waited till the last hour to flock to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) offices nationwide to file their returns.

At the Kelana Jaya IRB office here, there were taxpayers who still came at midnight, although the deadline was 10pm.

Earlier in the day, there was congestion at the customer service counters where people had to wait for almost two hours to e-File their returns.

Out on the road, cars were parked haphazardly.

Another taxpayer said that the IRB should extend its deadline until August as she received her statement only three weeks ago.

To help ease the lines at the counters, the IRB made available about 50 computers and laptops.

“The process is fairly simple, secure and fast and the whole process takes about 10 to 15 minutes,” said Kelana Jaya branch director Rozina Shaik Osman Merican, who added that so far, more than 606,691 people had e-Filed nationwide as of 10.30pm.

High-tech solution: IRB officers helping taxpayers to e-File their tax returns at some of the about 50 computers set up at the board’s Kelana Jaya branch yesterday.
She said a family turned up at the branch just before midnight to submit their returns via e-Filing.

"They managed to do it. They thanked us repeatedly,'' she added.

IRB deputy director-general (corporate affairs) Shahmin Ta Abdullah, when met at the Kelana Jaya office last night, said he could not understand why taxpayers left it till the last minute to file their returns.

"We have reminded them to do so many times, via the media,'' he added.

Among the late comers were S. Pachimah Sunthari, 35, who was received applause when she quipped: "I filed in late as I was too busy, but it is better late than never as I want to be a responsible citizen."

Some of those filing their returns online were upset with the congestion and the long wait.

A taxpayer wrote to The Star stating that the IRB ought to improve its services by conducting annual post-mortems as it took him six hours to file online due to congestion.

“It’s about time IRB gets its act together and not spend taxpayers' money on anobsolete and outdated computer system,” he said.

A similar congestion occurred in Johor Baru where state IRB staff had to deal with thousands of taxpayers who waited till the last minute to file their tax returns.

State IRB assistant director Nor’azam Sulaiman said despite the huge crowd, he had noticed a definite decrease in the number of people coming to manually submit their tax returns compared to two years ago as more people took advantage of e-Filing.