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Another week ends and readers with busy schedules would have missed some of our more interesting stories. Have you seen these news, analyses and comments? You won’t get them anywhere else:
Pick 1 — The ups and downs of the world’s largest condom manufacturer? If you thought that Durex was the largest manufacturer of condoms in the world, you’d be very wrong indeed. Malaysia is home to Karex, which is indeed the world’s biggest manufacturer of condoms, including the quintessentially Malaysian durian-flavoured one. Follow KiniBiz as we relate the history of the company, take a tour of its factory and explore its future.
Pick 2 — Water, water everywhere. The problems revolving around the water assets as well as the current water shortage in Selangor continued to fill the news. This week both the Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Damansara Utama ADUN Yeo Bee Yin weighed in on the issue with very opposing views. Read them here as well as here and judge for yourself.
Pick 3 — Creating global giants. In France, the battle for control of Alstom escalated with GE and Siemens putting in rival bids. The business is coveted by the French government, which wants to extract the best terms from any bidder for jobs and the country’s energy independence. Read about the ongoing war for control here and here. That’s not the only battle being fought between titans. Pharmaceutical giant and creator of the infamous blue pill Pfizer has entered takeover discussions across the Atlantic with AstraZeneca. Pfizer however seems to be facing an uphill battle as can be seen here, here and here.
Pick 4 — Whither Liew Kee Sin. Although SP Setia president and CEO Liew Kee Sin has said that he wishes to relax and enjoy his retirement, reports have it that he will actually be joining Eco World Development Group Bhd next Tuesday as a director. Bursa Malaysia however was not impressed with these suggestions and as Eco World’s shares continued their sharp drop and wiped out all the gains made in April.
Pick 5 — Now it’s time to say goodbye. Liew Kee Sin may be poised to leave SP Setia and retire but he’s certainly not leaving the Battersea project. Now if Liew shows up at Eco World next week, will PNB let a board member of a close competitor run its crown jewel development in Battersea? As for Liew, after 18 years that culminated in him being the unofficial king of the Malaysian property jungle, it’s a sad thing to mar his name — arguably a property brand unto its own now — by hanging onto Battersea despite clear conflicts of interest. Read what the KiniBiz tiger has to say here.
Pick 6 — Three cheers for klia2. After months of speculation, worry and arguments flying back and forth klia2 finally opened to the public on May 2. In fact, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd received an overwhelming response from the public during the klia2 open day held last Sunday, Apr 27 2014, with 78,000 visitors making their way to the new terminal building. klia2 seems to be set to be much more than a place from which to get on and off planes as the terminal boasts 67,516 sq metres (726,700 sq ft) of retail space, the size of a typical suburban mall. It apparently has the highest retail floor space composition of any airport globally.
Hope you have a good weekend catching up. If you like what you see, follow us on Facebook here and on Twitter here to stay on the business news pulse with us.
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– Nesa Sivagnanam, Executive Editor
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