KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- Monde Nissin Corporation (Monde Nissin) has priced its proposed initial public offering (IPO) at Philippine peso (Php) 13.50 per share. (Php100 = RM8.63) The IPO consists of 3,600,000,000 Common Shares (the Offer), with an overallotment option of a further 540,000,000 Common Shares granted by the Selling Shareholder. The global food and beverages company headquartered in the Philippines also announced that the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the Order of Registration and Permit to Sell, approving the Company’s proposed IPO on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). The IPO is a landmark for the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The size of the Offer is the largest ever IPO on the PSE, and is also the largest ever Food & Beverage IPO in Southeast Asia. As part of the Offer, Monde Nissin secured 11 renowned cornerstone investors, who will form the long-term base of the Company’s share register. The cornerstone investors are: AIA Investment Management Private Limited, Stichting Depositary APG Emerging Markets Equity Pool, Avanda Investment Management Pte Ltd, The Capital Group Funds, Eastspring Investments (Singapore) Limited, FIL Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited, GIC Private Limited, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Singapore) Pte Ltd, M&G Investment Management Limited, NS Partners Ltd and RWC Asset Advisors (US) LLC. “We are pleased that these world-class investors share our vision of the future and will cornerstone our IPO. Their commitment is a strong vote of confidence in our company, strategy and talented team,” said Monde Nissin Corporation Chief Executive Officer, Henry Soesanto in a statement. The offer period for Philippines-based trading participants and retail investors is from May 19 to 25. Monde Nissin’s Common Shares are expected to begin trading on the Main Board of the PSE on June 1, 2021 under the stock symbol ‘MONDE’. More details at www.mondenissin.com. -- BERNAMA
0 Comments
KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 (Bernama) -- Prestige BioPharma Limited (PBP) and Busan City Government have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish Research and Development (R&D) centre in Busan, South Korea. With the signing ceremony held at Busan City hall in Busan, the signing of this MoU is meaningful for Busan City to have its first local bio-pharmaceutical R&D centre, according to a statement. “With this partnership and the global-scale R&D centre, Prestige BioPharma will be able to accelerate the development of innovative antibody drugs and at the same time, contribute to the growing global demands of vaccines in response to COVID-19 and potential future pandemics,” said Prestige BioPharma Chief Executive Officer, Lisa S. Park. “We strongly believe that this Busan R&D centre will be a landmark of Busan City and will boost the local economy.” PBP is on target to build a global-scale R&D centre with a total area of approximately 45,000 square metres and will invest US$152 million, including hiring 209 of PhD and highly qualified R&D personnel, for the next five years. (US$1 = RM4.125) Through this MoU, PBP and Busan City will cooperate in creating a bio-cluster that supports a local economy and drives mutual growth in academia and industry. The 50 per cent of its R&D resources will be sourced from local universities and community. PBP is the first Singapore-based company to be listed on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index. The first pipeline of PBP, Herceptin® biosimilar has successfully completed its Phase III clinical trial and is currently under EMA review. The company recently expanded its business to vaccine development and production and participated in a consortium in the production of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine as the Drug Substance manufacturing organisation. More details at www.prestigebiopharma.com. -- BERNAMA HKTB Chairman Dr YK Pang (left) and Executive Director Mr Dane Cheng (right) shared their analysis of recent tourism trends and HKTB’s latest strategic planning. (Photo: Business Wire) HONG KONG, May 19 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) held its annual Tourism Update event online on 18 May, discussing tourism trends and sharing details of the HKTB’s latest strategic plans with around 2,700 trade representatives from HK, mainland and overseas travel agencies, attractions, hotels, airlines, retailers, restaurants, meeting and exhibition operators, cruise lines, and other travel sectors. HKTB Executive Director Mr Dane Cheng told the representatives the HKTB was preparing to step up promotions and would launch a new round of the Hong Kong Neighbourhoods campaign. In addition, the HKTB also hopes to relaunch mega events in physical formats to prepare for tourism recovery. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210519005407/en/ Mr Cheng said: “As well as driving local tourism through the Holiday at Home platform, the HKTB has maintained HK’s international profile with a succession of promotional campaigns throughout the pandemic. “The global economy has started to rebound with Asia predicted to recover sooner and the Mainland expected to outperform other markets in economic growth. Combined with the gradual easing of the pandemic situation in HK, this makes it a good time for HK to further raise its profile. As cross-border travel gradually resumes, the HKTB will launch the Open House Hong Kong platform to conduct large-scale promotions in our source markets.” The HKTB has in recent years launched two promotions, Old Town Central and Sham Shui Po, under its Hong Kong Neighbourhoods campaign. Both were warmly welcomed by visitors who appreciated the in-depth experience they offered. To tie in with the opening of M+ visual culture venue in late 2021, the HKTB will focus its next promotion on the West Kowloon Cultural District and its surrounding area in the next quarter by revamping the promotions on the authentic local cultural aspects of the neighbourhood to help boost interest from visitors as travel resumption draws closer. If the pandemic situation in the city remains under control, the HKTB also hopes to relaunch mega events that HK people can initially take part in. The first event to return in a physical format will be the Hong Kong Cyclothon, and the HKTB is studying the feasibility of extending its route to the HK Section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to add to the event’s appeal. For other mega events to be conducted in an “Online+Offline” format, new elements of interests will be added to maintain HK’s global visibility. The HKTB will also continue to lobby for international large-scale business events and meetings to be hosted in HK. However, the pace of global tourism recovery will be determined by the situation surrounding the pandemic and the vaccination rate worldwide. The HKTB therefore appeals to everyone in tourism-related industries to take part in the vaccination programme and help HK achieve herd immunity as soon as possible. At the event, the HKTB invited representatives from leading Mainland and HK brands to share their insights: Forum 1: Seize the Business Development Opportunities in the Mainland and Greater Bay Area Mr Yanxiang Liu, GM of Tickets & Travel BU, Meituan: “In the wake of the epidemic, the travel industry has accelerated its online transformation, and consumer behaviour and demand have changed. Meituan will leverage the strengths of technology and e-commerce to provide a diverse consumer experience and help HK's tourism industry better grasp market trends, allowing us to work together to build a vision for a better life.” Mr Liwei Yang, Head of Volcengine Culture & Tourism Industry, ByteDance: “The idea that ‘content is king’ has become the key to success in digital marketing. Data analysis plays a very important role in the widespread communication of content. ByteDance will continue to maximise its capabilities in big data analysis, cloud computing and artificial intelligence to move forward with our industry partners.” Mr Frank Huang, VP, Fliggy: “The convenience brought by the Hong Kong- Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will further increased the demand for travel within the Greater Bay Area. Fliggy will continue to work with the HK tourism trade to attract visitors from the Greater Bay Area through a variety of promotional platforms and drive tourism development.” Forum 2: Global Hong Kong Brands Gear Up for the Recovery Dr Jennifer Cronin, President, Wharf Hotels and Chair, Heritage Tourism Brands: “Hong Kong’s hotels are renowned for offering the world’s best service. Not only has the quality been enhanced during the pandemic, but we have also committed to be ahead of the curve in guest expectations under the new travel paradigms. I believe the HK tourism industry is more than ready and geared up for a swift recovery.” Mr Simon Large, Director Customer, Cathay Pacific Airways: “To meet travellers' expectation throughout their consumer journey, we believe that digitalization, such as digital travel passes in the aviation industry, will play an important role in facilitating the safe, progressive return of international travel. Moreover, we also believe that vaccination is the key of tourism recovery.” Mr Eric Gnock Fah, COO & Co-founder, KLOOK: “We are witnessing a permanent shift in consumer behaviours and digital adoption will only accelerate further. While the pandemic has brought many challenges to the travel industry, it also presents an opportunity to rethink and reinvent to address evolving customer expectations or risk being left behind.” Mr Syed Asim Hussain, Founder, Black Sheep Restaurants: “I believe in the magic of Black Sheep Restaurants and I believe in our city. HK is going to come back in a big way, and we will be a part of the city’s comeback story. For the last two years, we have focused on survival. Now it is time for us to get back to doing what we love, which is running great restaurants, building dynamic teams and looking after our guests.” View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210519005407/en/ Contact Ms Alice Li Email: [email protected] Ms Chanda Cheung Email: [email protected] Source : Hong Kong Tourism Board - Survey event for K-Fans in celebration of launching SEOUL, South Korea, May 18 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- FNS Co., Ltd announced the official launching of the app service of FANTOO, a global fandom network platform for Hanryu Fans, in 175 countries. FANTOO was developed for 100 million K-Fans across the world. It was created with a goal to promote Hanryu (the Korean Wave) culture around the world and provide the users with a space for fun and interaction. The FANTOO app provides a range of services, which include fan club creation, user reward, multi-lingual chatting & translation, a messenger with improved security, FANTOO Karaoke for live concert, artists’ live streaming, voice call and chat, and AI-based Deepfake and adult content detection. With the FANTOO Karaoke for live concert, users can enjoy singing songs specially, K-Pops and also show off their singing performances through real-time live streaming. The singing can be recorded and uploaded as content. In addition, this function can be used for communication and singing contests between fan clubs. In celebration of the FANTOO app official launching, FNS organized special event, the “Hanryu Best vs. World Best Survey” with Realmeter, the best public opinion polling service provider in Korea. This event was organized with a goal to promote Hanryu culture across the world at the same time as surveying public preference and recognition about Hanryu. From May 17, besides an over-the-phone survey conducted by Realmeter with 1,000 people in Korea, an Internet poll will be held on the FANTOO official website (http://fnsworld.com/kor/vote.html?lang=_en) simultaneously. Participants in this event will be presented with a variety of gifts through a drawing. The survey results will be posted on the FANTOO app and official website. A video analyzing the survey result will be also posted on Realmeter’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJd4z633LElnCm2wM0TdCfw/featured). “FANTOO, a global fandom platform for K-Fans that pulls down borders between countries and generations as well as language barriers will be the one-and-only platform in the world that provides a variety of Hanryu-related contents,” said an FNS official. “We will expand the business fields into investment, shopping, payment, and live streaming and commerce service so that FANTOO will develop into a platform that securely supports the spread of Hanryu culture across the world.” Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/52428946/en http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=40057 PETALING JAYA, May 18 (Bernama) -- Tourism Productivity Nexus (TPN), an industry-led establishment under Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) recently facilitated a discussion between marina association representatives, the relevant industry players and the Immigration Department on steps that should be taken by foreign seafarers with expired Social Visit Passes (PLS).
TPN on behalf of the industry players applauds Immigration Department’s swift action in handling the situation. According to the Immigration Department, seafarers with expired Social Visit Passes (PLS) are allowed to stay in Malaysia until December 31 2021, but they have to obtain a special pass at the nearest Immigration office. The application must be accompanied by a letter of confirmation from the respective embassy and a letter of support from the operator or owner of the marina where the seafarers docked. Uzaidi Udanis, TPN Champion, in his statement responding to a media release by the Immigration Department said, “On behalf of the owners and operators of the marina and the relevant industry players, I am extending our gratitude to the Immigration Department for the action taken to allow seafarers to extend their stay and dock at the marina. This means continuous revenue for the marina operators and owners. I hope the relevant industry players will assist to guide the seafarers who will dock at their establishments to obtain the Special Social Visit Pass.” Immigration Department’s decision to allow seafarers to extend their stay in Malaysia by obtaining the Special Social Visit Pass has resulted in income generation not only for the marina’s operators and owners, but also for the marina workers, retail shops and restaurants around the marina, as well as the local community in the area. SOURCE: Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Name: Huda Atiqah Samsir Corporate Planning Division Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) Tel:03-7955 7266 Ext:484 Fax:03-7954 0795 Email: [email protected] --BERNAMA Study uncovers C-level attitudes on secure access as enterprises embrace the Everywhere Workplace
SYDNEY, May 18 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Ivanti Inc., the automation platform that makes every IT connection smarter and more secure, today unveiled the findings of a Frost & Sullivan study it commissioned, entitled “Embracing Secure Access in a World of Rapidly Expanding Virtual Borders” – which investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cybersecurity and compliance attitudes and behaviors in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Examining the impact of COVID-19 on business demand and cybersecurity strategies The pandemic has negatively impacted business for enterprises in the Asia Pacific region. Most respondents experienced a moderate 1-9 percent reduction in business demand, with Australia having the highest percentage of respondents reported (80 percent), compared to those in New Zealand (73 percent) and Singapore (59 percent). Overall, 38 percent of respondents said that their main strategy was to focus on IT operations to maintain business operations for their remote workforce during COVID-19. However, more than 40 percent of the respondents in Australia and New Zealand stated that they focused more on cybersecurity to better protect their organisation from attacks. When it comes to cloud adoption during COVID-19, most respondents indicated their organisation adopted cloud more during the pandemic, especially those in Australia and New Zealand, with 64 percent and 57 percent of respondents agreeing that their organisation adopted cloud more during the pandemic respectively. Devising the right security formula for today’s hybrid, adaptive modern enterprise Consolidation and integration of solutions was ‘very important’ to 71 percent of respondents across Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. At the same time, the importance of zero trust frameworks increased across the board with 75 percent of all enterprises surveyed during the pandemic stating that this was very important, compared to the 64 percent that stated the same before the pandemic. With cybercriminals now targeting the underlying technologies that support a growing remote workforce, manual, disparate security tools are not going to be sustainable for IT teams. Enterprises are therefore recommended to adopt a strategic approach that focuses on:
Michael Waring, VP Asia Pacific & Japan, Ivanti Security Solutions Group (SSG), said, “In changing the way we work, COVID-19 has also created new security challenges for organizations. As employees, we are increasingly mobile and remote, and we use an ever-changing combination of networks and devices – some of which could be vulnerable or even compromised – to access sensitive corporate IT applications. Businesses today need to adopt a zero trust approach, which enables highly secure yet more fluid ‘anytime, anywhere’ access to applications and information in the data center or in the cloud.” The study surveyed C-Suite respondents at large enterprises with over 500 employees, across the banking and financial services industry (BFSI), as well as retail, manufacturing and healthcare verticals. To learn more, download the Australia and New Zealand report and the Singapore report. About Ivanti Ivanti makes the Everywhere Workplace possible. In the Everywhere Workplace, employees use myriad devices to access IT applications and data over various networks to stay productive as they work from anywhere. The Ivanti Neurons automation platform connects the company’s industry-leading unified endpoint management, zero trust security and enterprise service management solutions, providing a unified IT platform that enables devices to self-heal and self-secure and empowers users to self-service. Over 40,000 customers, including 78 of the Fortune 100, have chosen Ivanti to discover, manage, secure, and service their IT assets from cloud to edge, and deliver excellent end user experiences for employees, wherever and however they work. For more information, visit www.ivanti.com and follow @GoIvanti. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210517005064/en/ Contact Lara Johnstone Hotwire [email protected] +61 433 692 366 Source : Ivanti Inc. KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) – Global credit rating agency, AM Best has revised its market segment outlook to stable from negative for the South Korea non-life insurance industry, according to a new AM Best report.
In the new Best’s Market Segment Report, ‘Market Segment Outlook: South Korea Non-Life Insurance’, AM Best states the revision is based on the following factors. The factors are, improved underwriting performance, driven by favourable auto loss ratio, outweighing impact of increased long-term medical claims; stabilised expense ratios mainly as a result of reduced market competition; potential asset risk effectively limited and controlled by most insurers amid volatile capital market in 2020; and, market interest rate rebound that may alleviate pressure on running yields of fixed income assets. Although the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to partial disruption of face-to-face sales activities, the impact on overall top-line was limited, given non-life insurers’ large base of recurring long-term insurance premiums and strong growth of automobile insurance due to several rounds of industry-wide rate increment exercises in 2019 and early 2020, as well as fast expanding online sales of automobile insurance. According to a statement, favourable claims experience due to the reduced traffic during the pandemic also contributed to the material improvement in auto insurance operating performance. Over the last few years, the South Korean non-life segment reported a rising overall expense ratio–to 23.0 per cent in 2019 from 19.0 per cent in 2015–although it appears to have stabilised at 21.9 per cent last year. The United States-headquartered AM Best notes the over-competition in the general agency channel has receded with the implementation of a regulatory restriction on sales commissions in January this year and insurers’ effort to recover bottom lines. Market rates have since rebounded in the second half of last year, and exceeded pre-pandemic levels as of the first quarter of 2021. AM Best expects significant asset volatility or further sharp deterioration in investment yields are unlikely and insurance company’s investment margin to remain at a similar level over the near term. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. -- BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) -- Over 100 distinguished leaders of business and professional bodies in Hong Kong have joined forces with the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) as Hong Kong Convention Ambassadors. According to a statement, this is to promote the city as the premier choice for regional and global Meetings, Incentive trips, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) events. The HKTB has launched the ‘Hong Kong Convention Ambassador’ programme to help revitalise Hong Kong’s MICE industry, after a turbulent and challenging 2020 with unwavering resilience and agility. With extensive connections, influence and personal standing in their respective fields, the Ambassadors have a significant advantage when they lobby potential conference organisers to consider Hong Kong as the preferred host city for future MICE events. “The Hong Kong Convention Ambassador programme is formulated not only to bring business events to the city when travel resumes. It will also promote the advantages of Hong Kong to the global business community and help drive multi-sectoral recovery,” said HKTB Chairman, Dr YK Pang. “The economic multiplier effect of hosting world-class MICE events is huge. And the HKTB team is here to offer full support to the Ambassadors’ efforts,” he added. Their efforts have begun to bear fruit, with the Hong Kong International Dental Expo and Symposium held successfully in January, a testament to their endeavours. The three-day event, the first trade exhibition held in the city since the fourth wave of COVID-19 hit in late 2020, drew an average daily attendance of over 3,000 dental professionals. The strong alliance of Convention Ambassadors will amplify Hong Kong’s appeal in drawing more top MICE events to the city, thereby driving a robust recovery post-COVID-19. With the HKTB team’s comprehensive support, they will contribute significantly to strengthening the city’s status as ‘The World’s Meeting Place’. -- BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) -- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of ‘a-’ of Police Health Plan Limited (PHP) New Zealand.
The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable, according to a statement. The ratings reflect PHP’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. In addition, the ratings factor in a neutral impact from the company’s ultimate ownership by the New Zealand Police Association. PHP’s balance sheet strength assessment is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation, which remains at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio, reflecting its moderate underwriting leverage and conservative investment approach. As a not-for-profit insurer, AM Best views the company’s financial flexibility as limited, although this is partially mitigated by the company’s prudent capital management and track record of robust internal capital generation. An offsetting balance sheet factor is the company’s modest-sized absolute capital base, which increases the sensitivity of capital adequacy to stress scenarios or fluctuations in performance. The global credit rating agency, AM Best assesses PHP’s operating performance as adequate, with a five-year average return-on-equity ratio of 5.5 per cent (fiscal-years 2016-2020), albeit with a moderate level of volatility over this period. PHP is a not-for-profit organisation that provides health insurance exclusively to current and former members of the New Zealand police force and their families. More details at www.ambest.com. -- BERNAMA NEW YORK, May 17 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- A group of 16 international business and policy leaders today published an open letter to U.S. President Joseph R. Biden calling on him to “demonstrate decisive U.S. leadership now” to combat increasingly deadly Covid-19 outbreaks in Latin America, Europe and Asia.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210511006247/en/ “The U.S. must act now to leverage rapidly increasing U.S. domestic vaccine production, export ever-larger volumes of our surplus supplies, and go to work on the massive technical and logistical challenges to vaccine development on a global scale,” the letter says, noting the rampant spread of the virus in places like India and the Philippines and the likelihood for mutations that will perpetuate globally if left unchecked. The letter also expresses opposition to the intellectual property waiver being promoted by the World Trade Organization, saying the move “would make little difference and could do harm” by not considering the steps necessary for safely manufacturing the vaccines. The full text of the letter is attached. Initiated by Maurice R. Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of C. V. Starr & Co., Inc., the letter is also signed by: Ken Langone, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of NYU Langone Health; Secretary William Cohen; Noel V. Lateef, Foreign Policy Association; Ambassador Carla A. Hills; Ambassador John D. Negroponte; Ambassador John F. Maisto; Alexander Feldman, U.S. ASEAN Business Council; Suzanne Clarke, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Michelle McMurray-Heath, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO); Adam S. Posen, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Hank Hendrickson, U.S. Philippines Society; Dr. John J. Hamre, Center for Strategic & International Studies; Dimitri Simes, Center for the National Interest; Ambassador Mark Green; and Dr. Robert Goldberg, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210511006247/en/ Contact Joe Dillon Senior Vice President, External Affairs [email protected], 212-230-5073 Source : Starr & Co., Inc. --BERNAMA |
Archives
April 2023
Categories |