☕️ Malaysians tipped over RM50 mil to Grab riders and drivers in 2021

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

RM50,354,857 — tips given to riders and drivers through the Grab app in 2021. Take a guess which is the most generous town in Malaysia? Kuala Terengganu — the users in the beachside town have the highest average tip value per booking.

USD150 mil — the US President Joe Biden’s pledge to Southeast Asian leaders to develop infrastructure, security and anti-pandemic efforts. The amount seems paltry compared to China’s pledge of USD1.5 bil in development assistance to the ASEAN countries over three years back in November.

Traders pulled USD7 bil from Tether since the world’s biggest stablecoin last week briefly lost its peg against the US dollar. Tether’s market value has fallen by 9% since May 12 to USD76 bil. Will the rout continue? Read more about stablecoin here.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. In another round of massive data leak — an unknown seller claimed they possess a database that belonged to the National Registration Department (JPN) containing information of the entire population with birth years from 1940 to 2004. It’s currently listed for sale for USD10,000. The seller claimed that the myIDENTITY API was the source of the leak and that the database contains a 160 GB dataset with 22.5 mil rows and 20 attributes (i.e. name, NRIC, address, gender, mobile and photo) — basically, all the important personally identifiable information of Malaysians is on sale. To prove what they have — they posted information of no other than the big boss of JPN — Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin. 

2. In the latest update on the ongoing 1MDB-Tanore trial, former CFO of 1MDB Azmi Tahir testified in court that former PM Najib Razak never disclosed to 1MDB’s board or management that he received billions of ringgit belonging to 1MDB. Azmi added that Najib never reprimanded him for following Jho Low’s directions regarding fund transfers out of 1MDB. 

3. The National Recovery Council (MPN) proposed that the government exempt foreigners from Bumiputera equity ownership for land acquisitions exceeding RM20 mil involving investment in the service sector for two years - the period to get the nation’s economy back to a firmer footing. This proposal came from government findings that RM58 bil worth of foreign investments could not be realised and had to be forgone because of constraints in meeting this equity condition. How much FDI were impacted by this requirement pre-pandemic? Perhaps, do away with it for good with this requirement for FDI? Knock-knock Azmin Ali.

4. Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman has confirmed his rumoured appointment as Malaysia’s ambassador to Indonesia and has received approval from the Indonesian government. Tajuddin was previously fired from his position as chairman of the government’s public transportation company Prasarana over his insensitive remarks and mishandling of the LRT collision. Remember the remark “trains kissing each other”? This came out of Tajuddin’s mouth. A former diplomat described this appointment as a “disappointment” and that Tajuddin is “so lacking in calibre and diplomatic skills”. We are sincerely sorry, Indonesia.

Deals:

1. Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd announced the acquisition of 100% equity interest in Perstorp Holding AB for EUR1.538 bil (RM7.018 bil) in cash. The 140-year old company is a leading sustainability-driven global speciality chemicals company. In FY21, the company recorded EUR1.334 bil (RM6.54 bil) in revenue and EUR248 mil (RM1.21 bil) in EBITDA.

2. Chin Hin Group Bhd will dispose of its 19.34% stake in Solarvest Holdings Bhd to Divine Inventions Sdn Bhd for RM103.28 mil. Chin Hin proposes to utilise the proceeds to repay part of its existing borrowings and its subsidiaries, which amounted to RM790.89 mil as of 31 Dec 2021. This transaction is deemed as a related party transaction (RPT) as Divine Inventions, controlled by the Chiau family, which also owns 36.6% of Chin Hin. 

3. The Westar Group, which owns one of Southeast Asia’s largest helicopter operators and conglomerate controlled by Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim with the backing of private equity giant KKR & Co is planning to list its helicopter services and raise at least USD300 mil in its IPO. In a pre-IPO round, it’s looking to sell 20% of its helicopter unit, valuing the company at nearly USD2 bil. 

4. Rife speculation that the world’s largest glove manufacturer, Top Glove  Crop Bhd, is planning a move to acquire property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd’s glove business in a deal worth RM175 mil. PublicInvest said that Top Glove aims to achieve an annual production of 201 bil pieces by 2025. Mah Sing’s production, once both phases are completed, will have an annual production capacity of 7.4 bil pieces. 

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Swiss building materials company Holcim Ltd agreed to sell its Indian operations to Adani Group for USD10.5 bil, pivoting away from traditional cement. Adani Group is controlled by Asia’s richest man, billionaire Gautam Adani, with a net worth of about US100 bil. The conglomerate is moving beyond its core business of operating ports, power plants and renewable energy and into areas like data centres, digital services, retail and media. 

2. Hundreds of Indonesian smallholder farmers staged a protest yesterday in Jakarta and other parts of the country to demand the government end the palm oil export ban that affected their incomes. Since the export ban was implemented end-April, the price of palm fruit has dropped 70% below the floor price set by regional authorities, and at least 25% of palm oil mills have stopped buying palm fruit, indicating their storage tanks are filling up. This fall in price contrasts with the rising prices of bulk cooking oil. 

3. Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would not support Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Unanimous support from current NATO members is required to add new members. The opposition stems from Sweden and Finland’s support of the Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which Turkey regard as terrorist organisations and arms embargo. The reason NATO was formed is to protect its members against the aggression of the Soviet Union (which collapsed in 1991). Quick history of NATO below.

4. The governor of the Bank of England has warned of global food price rises on an “apocalyptic” scale due to the inability to transport food out of Ukraine caused to a Russian blockade. He added that little could be done to tame inflation as price pressure is coming from global markets, not the domestic economy. 

5. Saudi O&G giant Aramco saw its profit soaring 80% in the first three months of the year, reporting a net income of USD39.5 bil, up from USD21.7 bil during the same period last year. All factors were positive for its bottom line with higher crude oil prices, higher volume sold and improved downstream margins.Aramco currently is the world’s most valuable company, with a market cap of USD2.43 tril, overtaking Apple. The oil giant is weighing an IPO of its trading arm amid booming oil prices, which could potentially value the company at more than USD30 bil and could be one of the world’s largest listings this year. 

6. On the other hand, Southeast Asia’s internet giant Sea Ltd. reported a wider quarterly loss to USD579.8 mil from USD422.7 mil a year earlier. Revenue climbed 64% to USD2.9 bil, making it the slowest growth rate in more than four years. The results show a change in consumer trends, emerging from prolonged lockdowns and cutting back on online entertainment and purchases. View Sea’s quarterly earnings update infographics here.Forrest Li, the founder of Sea, saw his net worth of USD22 bil just a few months ago wiped out 80% to USD4.7 bil as tech stocks got hammered in recent months. He no longer makes it to the top 500 richest people in the world — but hey, he is still a billionaire. 

SHORTS: 

1. Elon Musk's US$44 billion Twitter deal may be much less as he discovered that there’s an estimated 20% of fake users that make up all Twitter Inc. accounts.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. A guide below on what you can claim when your flight is delayed for more than 2 hours, 5 hours or cancelled

2. Yilong Ma - Elon Musk’s Chiense doppelganger. Musk said he would like to meet Yilong but wondered if the man was a deepfake.