Thumbs up to TPM, says Ongkili

A first hand view of what's in store at the Technology Park Malaysia,

KUALA LUMPUR (March 8, 2012): Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) got the thumbs up for making breakthroughs in the development of products and services using its capabilities in sciences and technologies.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili, who made a surprise visit to the park in Bukit Jalil here last week, was given a firsthand tour of the various products developed by TPM with its wide range of support services .

He said that products and services that were on show had the potential to breakthrough into the market if well managed and will definitely develop the science technology industry.

The minister said he was also impressed with the presentations and breakthrough in discoveries that were showcased in the labs and also at the gallery by tenants especially from the Innovation and Incubation Centre (IIC) at TPM.

The tenants at TPM hope to commercialise their products by taking full advantage of the support mechanisms readily available at the park. They also expressed the hope to seek the ministry’s approval for their product line-up.

Tenants from TPM under the subsidiaries of their Innovation and Incubation Centre (IIC) showcased their products and services which they planned to commercialise with the assistance and support of TPM.

Among the many roles of Technology Park is to enhance programmes in biotechnology and life sciences, technopreneurship and commercialisation, engineering, ICT and halal science labs to name a few. The labs visited were those occupied by Zenotec Biotech, KHL Herbal Biotech and New Cell Nutrients.

Four subsidiaries of TPM, namely TPM IT Sdn Bhd, TPM Engineering Sdn Bhd, TPM Biotechnology Sdn Bhd, TPM College Sdn Bhd took the opportunity to highlight their achievements and future planning in a private discussion and presentation with Ongkili.

Chief Executive Officer of TPm Datuk Azman Shahidin accompanies Ongkili

Accompanying the minister was Chief Executive Officer of TPM Dato Haji Mohd Azman Haji Shahidin with senior officials from the ministry as well as TPM. Ongkili summed up his visit by saying that he was particularly delighted with the development programmes of the IIC.

KL hosts first International

Symposium on Rare Earths

KUALA LUMPUR (May 3, 2012): Malaysia will be hosting the first International Symposium on Rare Earth here in Kuala Lumpur on May 7, attracting four international experts.

Themed ‘Rare Earth Industries: Moving Malaysia’s Green Economy Forward’, the symposium will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic ‘Should Malaysia Invest in Rare Earths?”

The symposium is being organised by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and National Professors’ Council (NPC) Working Group on Rare Earths aimed at disseminating factual information on rare earths processing and refining as well as exposing potential down-stream business opportunities.

In a statement released here today, the Academy of Sciences Malaysia named the leader of the working group on rare earths and its chief spokesman Datuk Lee Yee Cheong as the symposium chairman.

Datuk Lee said the participants would be exposed in face-to-face engagement with international rare earths’ experts where they could gain valuable information on safety, health and environmental impact of rare earth industry.

The symposium, he said was also designed to act as a platform for rare earth experts to give a global supply and demand perspective and their many applications.

At present, the global demand for rare earth is expected to provide wide business opportunities for Malaysia especially in green technology industries.

“This is designed to be a scientific discussion and our primary concern is more about safety with a focus on upstream activities.”

The day-long programme will be held at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur and the keynote address is expected to be delivered by the founding principal of Technology Metals Research Jack Lifton who shall also present a paper entitled ‘The Supply and Demand for Rare Earths Now and in the Next 30 Years.’

The other papers to be presented include those by the executive vice president of Dacha Strategic Metals Alastair S Neill entitled ‘Supply and Demand of Rare Earth and Human Resources Need’, Professor Yan Chun-Hua of Peking University on ‘The Processing and Refining Rare Earth in China’ and the head of analytical laboratories - safety management department of Karlsruhr Institute of Technology Christoph Wilhelm on ‘Thorium and Uranium Radiation Safety Measures and Regulations’.

The sole speaker from Malaysian is the senior research officer with the Malaysian Nuclear Agency Dr Meor Yusoff bin Meor Sulaiman, who will be presenting a paper entitled Experiences Learnt From The Asian Rare Earth Industries.

A panel discussion which will also be moderated by Lee will also be held in the afternoon between the speakers and Malaysian Members of Parliament, a senior editor of a mainstream newspaper and a NGO representative.

The chairman of the paper presentations will be ASM fellow Datuk Hong Lee Pee  while Lee will be the moderator for the panel discussion.

On Tuesday, the international experts are also expected to visit the Lynas facilitiy in Gebeng  near Kuantan, Pahang.

On May 9, the speakers will be joining an intellectual discourse on rare earths hosted by the Academy of Sciences. It scheduled to take place at the Institute for Foreign Diplomatic Relations (IFDR) where they will be engaging with ASM fellows, NPC members, local scientists and academics.

The seminar acts as a platform for rare earth experts to give a global supply and demand perspective and their many applications.

At present, the global demand for rare earth is expected to provide a wide business opportunity in Malaysia for green technology industries.

 Malaysia set to be world’s

  second largest producer of

rare earth elements

KUALA LUMPUR (May 7, 2012): Malaysia is set to become the world”s second largest producer of rare earths element when the Lynas facility comes on stream this year.

 This translates to an annual revenue of USD400 million (RM1.52 billion). This disclosure was made at the First International Symposium on Rare Earths 2012 held here today.

International rare earth consultant who is also the founding principal of Technology Metals Research Jack Lifton in his keynote address entitled ‘The Supply and Demand of Rare Earth Now and in 30 Years’ said that the sheer presence of such a facility producing some 25,000 tonnes fo rare earth oxide will also serve to attract high technology industries to invest and setup plants in Malaysia to take advantage of the ready supply of such rare earth elements.

 

Lifton is also an author and a lecturer on the market fundamentals of the technology metals.

 

He is also the one who coined the word ‘technology metals’ specifically to describe those strategic rare metals who electronic properties make our technological society possible.

 “These include the rare earths, lithium and most of the rare metals,” said Lifton in his paper presented at the symposium.

Lifton was educated as a physical chemist specialising in high temperature metallurgy and started off as a researcher before becoming both a marketing and manufacturing executive before becoming a metal trader specialising in the field of technology metals and of rare metals.

 Lifton is among four international experts on rare earth who will be presenting papers with their views covering a broad spectrum of the rare earth processing industry at the  first International Symposium on Rare Earth here in Kuala Lumpur on May 7.

 

After 48 years of industry involvement, he advises both OEM high-tech industry and the global institutional-investment community on the natural resource issues that impact either a proposed business model or a high volume manufacturing plan for the mass market.

Lifton’s work today is principally as a due-diligence consultant for institutional investors, looking into opportunities where rare earth technology metals availability are a factor in determining the probability of commercial success of a metals-related venture.

 The symposium was themed ‘Rare Earth Industries: Moving Malaysia’s Green Economy Forward’, and was will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic ‘Should Malaysia Invest in Rare Earths?”

 The symposium was organised by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and National Professors’ Council (NPC) Working Group on Rare Earth aimed at disseminating factual information on rare earths processing and refining as well as exposing potential down-stream business opportunities.

Participants were exposed in face-to-face engagement with international rare earth experts where they could gain valuable information on safety, health and environmental impact of rare earth industry.

The symposium, which was chaired by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia working group on rare earth Datuk Dr Lee Yee Cheong, was also designed to act as a platform for rare earth experts to give a global supply and demand perspective and their many applications.

 

At present, the global demand for rare earth is expected to provide wide business opportunities for Malaysia especially in green technology industries. The day-long programme was held at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur.

 The other papers presented included those by the executive vice president of Dacha Strategic Metals Alastair S Neill entitled ‘Supply and Demand of Rare Earth and Human Resources Need’, Professor Chun-Hua Yan of Peking University on ‘The Processing and Refining Rare Earth in China’ and the head of analytical laboratories  - safety management department of Karlsruhr Institute of Technology Christoph Wilhelm on ‘Thorium and Uranium Radiation Safety Measures and Regulations’.

The sole speaker from Malaysian was the director of waste technology development of the centre of waste and environmental technology division Dr Mohd Abdul Wahab Yusof who will be presenting a paper entitled ‘Experiences Learnt From The Asian Rare Earth Industries.’  – Ends

THE HO HUP LEGAL TUSSLE

Court of Appeal: Vincent Lye’s
JDA ‘sound commercial deal’

 KUALA LUMPUR ( May 16): The Federal Court will be hearing Ho Hup’s application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision tomorrow in the wake of the appellate court’s view that the Joint Development Agreement masterminded by the former deputy executive chairman of the construction giant Vincent Lye was a sound commercial deal.

The JDA was designed for Bukit Jalil Development (BJD) as it could afford BJD a minimum guarantee entitlement of RM265 million, whatever the outcome of the development.

The legal dispute revolves around this JDA on a 60-acre plot of land in Bukit Jalil which was signed by Vincent who led the previous board of director in March 2010 between Ho Hup’s subsidiary BJD and a Malton Group company Pioneer Haven Sdn Bhd.

The Court of Appeal on Feb 27 this year, overturned an earlier decision by the High Court which had prohibited the company from carrying out its plans on the disputed parcel of land.

The Court of Appeal shed greater light on the JDA stating that it was a joint venture between Pioneer Haven and Bukit Jalil and not a sale of land as was suggested by Ho Hup and that it was on common ground that BJD continued to be the legal and beneficial owner of the land.

It was also read that there was ‘no transfer of ownership of the land to Pioneer Haven which was not entitled to charge the land and that it was a company unrelated to Bukit Jalil.

“The JDA is a commercial arms-length transaction entered into a bona fide,” read the Court of Appeal ruling.

Malton Group is controlled by influential businessman Datuk Desmond Lim and the new board of Ho Hup which took over from Vincent Lye is backed by Datuk Low Tuck Choy.

Industry analysts, when approached appeared to be puzzled as to why the JDA which was the only option and bail out for the PN17 status construction giant was cast away by the new board succeeding Vincent Lye.

One analyst who is well read on the issue and the details of the JDA, said that the JDA was air-tight in favour of BJD as Pioneer Haven would be solely funding the entire cost of developing the land in addition to the latter not being entitled to charge the land for the purpose of securing financing for the development.

Moreover, the analyst said that BJD was not required to contribute any funds towards the development of the land as land owner under the JDA and in actual terms the agreement was 17 per cent  of RM2.5 billion gross development value  (GDV) which works out to RM425 million.

Irrespective of the commercial risks associated with the development, the analyst said that BJD stood to receive a minimum guaranteed entitlement of RM265 million from the project.

“What is common ground is that at all material times, Bukit Jalil continues to be the legal and beneficial owner as there was no transfer of ownership of the land whether pursuant to the JDA or otherwise.”

The JDA was approved by the then existing and authorised board of directors comprising Datuk Vincent , the group managing director Lim Ching Choy

In the Court of Appeal’s judgement, the question of Ho Hup’s locus standi was also highlighting raising the question as to whether Ho Hup was the proper plaintiff and that it was not entitled to sue in its own right as the JDA did not amount to a disposal and that the directors of Ho Hup can only restrain were those if at all they were directors of BJD only and not of Ho Hup itself as the asset was BJD’s land.

Industry observers opined that Ho Hup under Vincent’s tenure, had to comply with the deadline for submission of their regularisation plan to Bursa by April 4, 2012 in order to avoid a de-listing under PN17.

“Ho Hup and BJD had to show  that as part of their regularisation plan, they have the necessary funding to develop the land in order to meet the Bursa requirement in order to eliminate the accumulated losses of RM110 million,” said one observer.

He said that obviously, there was a need to make timely repayments of outstanding loans with the banks.

Ho Hup had outstanding loans of RM101.10 million with banks and both Ho Hup and BJD had defaulted in their obligations to CIMB which held a charge over the land.

It is reliably learnt that CIMB had rejected proposals to reschedule repayments of the loans and was about to commence foreclosure proceedings of the land.

Moreover what adds strength to the position of Pioneer Haven being in a better position to undertake the JDA is the suit brought against Ho Hup and BJD by Zen Courts Sdn Bhd as recently as March 27, 2012 seeking Ho Hup to buy out all the shares held by Zen Courts in BJD failing which action would be taken to proceed with a winding-up.

The JDA plan was Vincent’s way out given the fact that the Ho Hup board in their financial year ending 2007 and 2008 accounts filed solvency declarations that the company would be able to pay all its debts within 12 months from the announcement. This is besides the PN17 conditions that required Ho Hup to also secure funds to repay bankers under the PN 17 solvency declarations.