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Only Government Agency Awarded With Highest Rating

As an affirmation of its commitment towards service delivery excellence, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has been awarded a Five-Star rating under the Star Rating System conducted in 2009 by the Malaysian Administrative and Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU).

In a statement issued today, EPF Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said, “We are proud to be the only front-line government agency awarded with the highest rating of Five Stars. This accreditation not only recognises EPF’s sound management of its core business but also acknowledges the dedication of EPF staff to rendering the highest service quality to customers.”

The Star Rating was introduced to assess the performance of public sector agencies to ensure efficiency of service delivery and to provide recognition to agencies for good governance and service delivery excellence.

The EPF was evaluated based on three components – management, core services and customer management – and achieved a score of 91.97 per cent, giving it the maximum rating of Five Stars.

“Nevertheless, we will not rest on our laurels and if nothing else, the Five-Star rating has inspired us to work even harder to raise the level of our service quality for the benefit of all our members,” concluded Tan Sri Azlan.

About the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is Malaysia’s premier pension fund, providing basic financial security for retirement. The Fund is committed to preserving and growing the savings of its members in accordance with best practices in investment and corporate governance. It will always be guided by prudence in its investment decisions.

As a customer-focused organization, the EPF delivers efficient and reliable services for the convenience of its members and registered employers.

The EPF continues to play a catalytic role in the nation’s economic growth, consistent with its position as a leading savings institution in Malaysia.

It is expected to be Malaysia’s largest shopping mall REIT

PETALING JAYA: CapitaMalls Asia Ltd, one of Asia’s largest listed shopping mall developers, owners and managers by property value and geographic reach, has launched the prospectus and retail portion of what will be the largest shopping mall REIT (real estate investment trust) in Malaysia to date.

CapitaMalls Asia is part of Southeast Asia’s largest property developer Singapore’s CapitaLand Ltd.

The listing of CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust (CMMT) REIT on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on July 16 is expected to have a market capitalisation of RM1.4bil if an over-allotment option of up to 15% of the offering of 786 million units is exercised. If this portion is not exercised, it may raise RM864mil.

Its initial portfolio of three shopping malls – Gurney Plaza in Penang, Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur and The Mines in Selangor – has a total net lettable area of 1.88 million sq ft and has been valued at RM2.13 bil.

Lim Beng Chee … ‘We see acquisition opportunities in Malaysia’s shopping mall sector.’ The CMMT IPO will have a total of 1.35 billion units in issue, of which 719 million units were offered to institutional investors at between RM1 and RM1.10 each in late June and 67.5 million units for individual investors at an indicative price of RM1.08 yesterday, with a forecast distribution yield of 6.9% for 2011. The final price will be determined on July 8.

CapitaMalls Asia CEO Lim Beng Chee told a press conference that occupancy and rental yields had increased for all three malls in its stable despite a weak economy in the last two years.

“We see acquisition opportunities in Malaysia’s shopping mall sector, with its fragmented ownership structure.

“CapitaMalls Asia will give CMMT a right of first refusal over any retail properties that we may acquire in future, including the extension that is being carried out at Penang’s Gurney Plaza. If acquired, Gurney Plaza extension will increase CMMT’s asset size by about 11%,” he said.

CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Maybank Investment Bank Bhd are jointly managing the IPO sale.

“As part of our long-term commitment, CapitaMalls Asia also plans to set up a Malaysia retail property fund to acquire and develop retail properties in Malaysia. CMMT will similarly have a right of first refusal over this pipeline of retail properties,” Lim said.

CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Maybank Investment Bank Bhd are jointly managing the sale. Individual investors will get a refund if the final price for institutional investors is lower than the retail price. CMMT’s sponsor, CapitaMalls Asia Ltd, will retain a stake of 41.74% in CMMT.

If an over-allotment option of up to 117 million units is exercised, CapitaMalls Asia’s stake in CMMT will be 33%.

The IPO follows the RM1.5bil raised by Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust in its initial sale last week and underscores rising investor appetite for equities in Malaysia amid an economic rebound.

I am thinking of investing in shares but with a full time job, I just don’t have the time to keep track of the share market movements or check out blogs and news daily on events that might affect the prices. Professional stock investors analyse the volume spread, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, Elliot Wave, etc. To have a good peace of mind, I decided to buy government bonds and investing in gold by opening a Gold Investment Account (GIA) through Public Bank. I may earn less, but at least I don’t have the headache to keep track of the stock movements every moment of my life.

My wealthy uncle in Singapore also buy gold coins and give out to us during festive occasions like Chinese New Year. Now I have a small collection of gold jewellery and a gold coin – all collected since I was small. Gold is a good hedge against inflation which is about 4% per year. And for the last 10 years, the price of gold has been increasing steadily from only RM20 a gram in 1970s to over RM120 a gram now. So for those who have invested in gold, would have made a handsome profit now.

Making money from the stocks is possible if you have sound knowledge and know how to read the charts. I was reading a book recently in MPH Readers’ Circle on investment by 2 writers. They talked about value spread analysis of the stocks which means reading the charts and analyse the movement of the herd or crowd to make gains and profits. As Warren Buffet has advised, it is time to be greedy when others are fearful and time to be fearful when others are greedy. It is different from fundamental analysis or technical analysis. One of my methods of investment is to buy gold and I have already opened a Gold Investment Account (GIA) with Public Bank. For those with more money to invest, you might like to consider methods to buy gold bullion for long term investment. I am in no hurry to invest in shares as it requires indepth knowledge and timing to buy and sell at the right time and constantly reading the news, financial blogs and to follow The Edge magazine for tips and company inside news.

There are ways to create alternative energy from waste. This is a brilliant idea that not many people are aware of. You might like to know that a company by the name of N-Viro International Corporation develops and licenses its technology to municipalities and private companies. Their patented processes use lime and/or mineral-rich, combustion byproducts to treat, pasteurize, immobilize and convert wastewater sludge and other bio-organic wastes into biomineral agricultural and soil-enrichment products with real market value. The company has generated sales in excess of $40 million dollars, since its initial public offering in October of 1993. With this huge share market capitalization, no wonder investors are ever ready to put in their money and faith in this brilliant idea and trust this company to deliver more profits. Their web site is at http://www.nviro.com where you can browse for more details. And personally, I have been reading books on the stocks and to learn how to interpret financial reports in the newspapers. Also, I have recently open an online share trading account with Public Bank but am not in a hurry to trade yet until I know all the facts and figures and how to make money from the stock market. It is important to know how to read the charts and predict bull runs to make a gain. I plan to be a fundamental analysis investor or long term investor and not short term investor or also known as technical analysis investor.

During Chinese New Year, the Chinese will bring out their gold jewellery from the bank to wear them on this festive occasion. They will be busy visiting friends and families and give out red packets of money or ‘ang pows’ to children or unmarried youths. If you have the spare cash to invest, it is a good idea to buy gold bullion to hedge against inflation. And recently, it was in the news that both China and India invested billions in tons of Gold instead of the USA greenback which keeps falling since some time ago. You will never go wrong when you invest in gold and my local Public bank account allows clients to open a GSA or Gold Savings Account to trade in gold bars by the weight.

Public-listed companies will be required to provide an e-dividend payment system to shareholders by the third quarter of next year. Investors will be given a one-year grace period to provide their bank account number to Bursa Malaysia Depository to enable the dividend payments to be credited directly into their bank accounts. It plans to undertake a series of investors’ awareness programmes to familiarise investors with the benefits of e-dividends.

Stockbroking companies, meanwhile, will by mid-2010 be required to provide e-share payment options for clients to receive and make payments on their share transactions. This way, payments will be credited into bank accounts more quickly and efficiently compared with cheques.

The e-dividends and e-share payment are an intergral part of the initiative to move towards a paperless environment and promote usage of electronic payments in the capital market. These new measures were recently announced by our Prime Minister in the 2010 Budget.

With the paperless share transaction to be put in place next year, I guess those who are IT savvy may start to invest in the stock market and I hope there will be a convenient way to check the share movement online real time. You can also invest online through Public Bank and Maybank internet banking of the banks’ shares from their individual web sites. I have yet to try out this method as I only go for safe money instruments like Fixed Deposits and Government Bonds. But if you have excess money to invest and put away for a few years, then you might consider the above methods to invest online. What do you think?

In the last 10 years, gold has been increasing in price steadily and will continue to increase. Therefore if you have extra cash to invest, it is good to buy gold and keep it. In the 1970s, a gram of gold only cost $20; while the current price has gone up to $127 per gram! During very long period of mankind’s history gold was, actually, “money” – a measure of value for other goods. Now when somebody talks about reasons for buying gold, he or she usually means gold’s unique ability to save money, and as a rule such words as ‘inflation’ and ‘portofolio diversification’ are pronounced. When we speak ‘investment’ we mean something that can bring us profit. It’s really tricky question whether is possible to make a fortune on gold. The gold price is typically not very volatile, that makes it difficult to earn money on price fluctuation. It’s a very trait that makes gold convenient for saving money but not convenient for making profit. The average investor traditionally uses gold just as a ‘safe haven’.

Some authors argue about influence of inflation on the gold prices: “The main attraction for investors is that gold is seen as the ultimate hedge against inflation. While the pound or dollar may lose their value, depending on the fortunes of the economy, gold historically goes up in value when inflation gathers pace. That is because everyone from market traders to high-powered investors would prefer to be paid in gold when cash starts to lose its worth.” Others just states some facts about the gold rush: “We have seen people in Europe buying gold in quantities that are more typical of the Middle East and Asia. There has been a tremendous amount of activity in countries such as Germany and Switzerland, with people buying coins and 1kg bars, very often just to take home and hide.”