☕️ Meet the Malaysian claypot hotpot chain CCH that listed on Nasdaq

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

As of June 2025, Malaysia had 4,287 citizens aged 100 and above, with women making up more than half the number at 2,761. According to the Department of Statistics, the population of Malaysians aged 80 and above is projected to reach 498,700 by 2030, with Malaysia expected to reach the status of an aged nation in just over 20 years. Experts said that this mirrors a global rise in longevity. They also believe that the growing number of Malaysian centenarians reflects a greater awareness of health and lifestyle improvements. However, there are also concerns that a longer life may not mean a better life (healthspan vs lifespan), as systems for healthy ageing, from geriatric care to urban design, often lag. There is also a need for a societal shift in how ageing is perceived.
Looking for a retirement resort? See below - swipe right for more.

Even the United Nations places Malaysia among ASEAN’s faster-ageing countries. According to the UN’s “World Population Prospects: The 2024 Revision”, Malaysia’s population will undergo a sharp demographic shift over the next 40 years, with the median age rising from 29.7 years in 2020 to 40.7 years in 2060. Median age here marks the midpoint of a population’s age distribution, and a higher median age usually reflects the combined effects of longer life expectancy and declining birth rates. While Malaysia is among the fastest-ageing in the region, it is still expected to see its population grow to a peak of 42.4 mil in 2059, compared to our neighbours who face shrinking workforces and surging elderly populations. As an aside, the report also projected that the world’s population will hit 9.99 bil by 2060. Here’s a chart that lays it out. For the full set of numbers, see here.

To drive home the importance of improved care for the elderly, here’s a sombre number. In 2024, over 18,000 older people living with dementia left their homes and went missing in Japan, with almost 500 later found dead. Police reported that such cases have doubled since 2012. Elderly people aged 65 and above now make up nearly 30% of Japan’s population, and this is the second-highest proportion in the world after Monaco, according to the World Bank. Now, Japan’s government has identified dementia as one of its most urgent policy challenges. The Japanese Health Ministry estimates that dementia-related health and social care costs will reach JPY14 tril (RM367.6 bil) by 2030, up from JPY9 tril in 2025.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Starting Friday with corruption stuff
Rosmah is free
The wife of former PM Najib Razak, Rosmah Mansor, is now free from a case involving alleged money laundering of RM7 mil and alleged tax evasion on the same amount, after the prosecution dropped its appeal against the High Court’s acquittal. The prosecution did not state any reasons for its decision to drop the appeal. Separately, Rosmah is still pursuing her appeal at the Court of Appeal against her conviction in a separate corruption case involving a RM1.25 bil solar hybrid energy project for 369 Sarawak schools. The trend of cases dropping left, right and centre is worrying. Let’s look at previous dropped cases:

• Deputy PM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi: 40 charges related to Yayasan Alkabudi have been dropped by the prosecution, leading to DNAA (Discharge Not Amounting to Acquittal);

• Former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng - His abuse of power charge to secure a RM2.8 mil bungalow at below-market price was dropped following Lim’s Letter of Representation (LoR). The reasons were not made public.

• Sabah Governor Musa Aman - All 46 corruption charges involving alleged acceptance of over USD50 mil in return for approving logging concessions were withdrawn before trial, based on an LoR and an affidavit from a former attorney general.

Syed Saddiq’s final appeal
Syed Saddiq’s final fight to defend himself is now at the Federal Court. The prosecution stated that the misanalysis of Section 403 of the Penal Code by the Court of Appeal has led to Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s acquittal from a funds misappropriation charge. The Court of Appeal’s judgment involving the section was wrong from the start, given that it analysed the offence as ‘conversion of funds for own use’ instead of ‘funds misappropriation’. Previously, the Court of Appeal acquitted Syed Saddiq of all charges in June this year, following the Court of Appeal panel’s unanimous finding that the prosecution failed to prove its case against the former Muda president.

The anti-corruption grandmaster’s tenure may be ending soon
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki has hinted that his tenure will end when his contract expires in May next year. Azam Baki is the current top man at MACC since March 2020 and has survived three PMs - Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri, and now PM Anwar Ibrahim. His contract was also extended thrice, though the last one drew criticisms from every quarter, especially from former Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli and PM Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah.

Akhirnya, the KL-JB ETS was launched
Both Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim and PM Anwar attended the completion and operationalisation ceremony of the new electric train service (ETS) linking Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru at the Kempas Baru station. To mark the event, a train departed from KL Railway Station, ahead of its official launch today, on a media preview run. As a start, there will be four services daily on the KL Sentral-JB Sentral route, with two departures from KL Sentral (7.45 am and 5.35 pm) and two from JB Sentral (8.40 am and 4.20 pm). The ceremonial service, where Tunku Ismail and PM Anwar became the VIP passengers, marks the completion of the long-awaited 192km Gemas-JB electrified double-track rail project, which started in 2017 and cost RM9.5 bil.

Shorts

1. From a humble claypot hotpot to Nasdaq

   CCH Holdings Ltd, one of Malaysia’s leading speciality hotpot restaurant groups, raised USD5 mil (RM20.6 mil) upon completing its initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Capital Market in October 2025, and is now trading around USD270 mil (RM1.1 bil man). In FY2024, the company generated US8.9 mil revenue and USD913k in net income. The group is known for signature brands such as the popular Chicken Claypot House and well-loved Zi Wei Yuan fish head hotpot. Funny it listed so far away from home. And valuation is out of whack. A quick background read on the company here.
   View its prospectus here.

2. Pahang claims it has a multi-billion-dollar rare earth deposit

   Pahang state investment, industry, science, technology and innovation committee chairman, Mohamad Nizar Najib (former PM Najib Razak’s son) stated that Pahang has at least RM37.4 bil worth of rare earth element (REE) reserves. He said that of the total estimated reserves, about 70% of areas with REE potential are located within forest reserves, while the remaining 30% are on privately owned land and state land. At the moment, Nizar said that the state government’s main focus is on ensuring that upstream mining operations are carried out sustainably.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

The Trump effect
Gianni Infantino called for breaching FIFA neutrality stance
More like the Trump ‘charm’ effect, as FIFA president Gianni Infantino seems to be displaying some kind of favouritism towards Trump, prompting calls from a human rights campaign group to investigate him for committing “four clear breaches” of FIFA’s neutrality rules. Human rights campaign group FairSquare has written a letter of complaint to the FIFA ethics committee, saying that Infantino does not have the authority to unilaterally dictate the organisation’s mission, strategic direction, policies, and values. Infantino awarded Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, DC last week, and has also posted on social media and given interviews in support of the president. In October, the 55-year-old posted on Instagram saying Trump “definitely deserves” the Nobel Peace Prize. For context, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Trump was selected as the character to be burned with the devil as Guatemalans celebrated the annual tradition to put all bad things behind them before Christmas, aka the “Burning of the Devil” rite.

When font type goes political - Calibri font ‘fired’ from the US State Department
The minimalistic Calibri font has officially been ‘fired’ by the Trump administration for its association with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. How so? Calibri was apparently adopted in 2023 during Biden’s tenure and chosen by the department’s then-DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) office. The font is sans-serif, meaning that it has no decorative swirls and lines at the ends of letters and was chosen to make documents easier to read for the vision impaired for its clean look. Now that the DEI office is no more, State Secretary Marco Rubio, amid Trump’s administration’s anti-DEI directives, has apparently ordered diplomats to use Times New Roman for official documents instead. Even fonts are being politicised in America.

Big Money Talk
Gategroup, co-owned by Temasek, to go for IPO
Gategroup, the world’s biggest in-flight caterer, is reportedly preparing for an IPO as early as the second half of 2026, possibly in Zurich. The company is co-owned by Singapore’s Temasek and Hong Kong-based private equity firm RRJ Capital, which bought it in March 2019. The purchase valued the firm at about USD2.8 bil (RM11.5 bil) with Temasek acquiring a 50% stake in the company in September 2019. A year later, Gategroup was tipped into a crisis by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently underwent a restructuring. The company was first listed on the Swiss stock exchange in 2009, before it delisted when it was acquired by HNA Group in 2017.

Google to make USD111 bil if SpaceX goes public next year
In 2015, Google invested around USD900 mil (RM3.7 bil) in SpaceX for a stake of around 7% in Elon Musk’s space company, which was then valued at USD12 bil. Now SpaceX is reportedly planning to go public next year at a valuation of USD1.5 tril, which would make Google’s stake worth around USD111 bil. Elon Musk has confirmed on X that the imminent IPO talk was accurate. Google parent Alphabet has been one of the best-performing stocks of the year, up nearly 70%, and now has a market capitalisation of USD3.8 tril. Google is also one of the largest outside investors in SpaceX, along with VC firm Founders Fund and Fidelity. So, the rich getting richer.

Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald in an AI world

Mickey Mouse to invest USD 1 bil into OpenAI
Disney announced a staggering USD1 bil (RM4.1 bil) equity investment in OpenAI and will allow users to make videos with its copyrighted characters on OpenAI’s Sora app. As part of the startup’s new three-year licensing agreement with Disney, Sora users will be able to create content with more than 200 characters across Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, although the agreement does not include any talent likeness or voices. Per the agreement, Disney will become a major OpenAI customer as well, as the House of Mouse will be deploying ChatGPT to its employees.

McDonald’s AI ad faces online backlash in the Netherlands
McDonald’s Netherlands has decided to take down a Christmas advert made with AI, following intense backlash online. Viewers were criticising the advert, with a commenter calling it “the most god-awful ad I’ve seen this year”. Some also criticised the film’s uncanny-looking characters and large number of stitched-together clips, calling it “creepy” and “poorly edited”. It appeared that the advert was created for McDonald’s Netherlands by Dutch company TBWA\Neboko and US production company The Sweetshop, who defended that the production process took “seven weeks” where the team “hardly slept” and created “thousands of takes — then shaped them in the edit just as we would on any high-craft production”.

Shorts

1. Cancer-causing sperm gene was used to conceive almost 200 children
   An investigation conducted by 14 public service broadcasters, including the BBC, has discovered that a sperm donor who started donating since 2005 has fathered at least 197 children who are at high risk of cancer. This is due to a genetic mutation in the sperm, known as Li Fraumeni syndrome, which results in an up to 90% chance of developing cancer, particularly during childhood, as well as breast cancer later in life. The tricky part is that such a mutation is not discoverable during donor screening, and the donor was completely healthy. There is no law on how many times a donor's sperm can be used worldwide. However, individual countries do set their own limits. The UK sets the limit at 10 families per donor.

2. Italian cooking awarded UNESCO cultural heritage status

   Who would refuse a delicious, freshly baked pizza? The Italians are celebrating as the country receives a special cultural heritage status from UNESCO for its cooking traditions and the way they are practised. The cultural agency described Italian cuisine as a “means of connecting with family and the community, whether at home, in schools, or through festivals, ceremonies, and social gatherings”. Italy’s industry leaders and government ministers are hoping that the move further boosts tourism to the country, which already welcomes 80 mil international visitors annually.

   Fun fact: Malaysia is already on the list! We were awarded for our breakfast culture that celebrates dining in a multi-ethnic society. Check out the full list here.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. Proton ads in Egypt. Kinda cool.

2. Proton ads by VFX influencer Sofyank. Some Transformers feelz.

3. Finally, all 5 licensed digital banks are up and running. Here’s a comparison amongst all 5. If you have excess funds laying around in traditional banks, you might want to consider moving it to some of these digital banks, given the good interest rates and flexibility (i.e. no locked-in).

Some Christmas vibes to prep for the year-end.

4. Jingala Bells. Will listen to this version many times over Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. Full version here - really awesome! The singer is Sandharu Sathsara. Listen to his cover of Bon Jovi’s classic ‘It’s My Life’ here (58 mil views!).

5. Army of Mixue’s Snow King at a Christmas mall celebration.