AEC Feed by Asia News Network

Petroliam Nasional Bhd is considering selling its majority stake in a C$36 billion (Bt948 billion) Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, three people familiar with the matter said. 

Petronas is weighing options for the project as a more than 50 per cent slide in crude oil prices since the middle of 2014 has hit the group’s profits and prompted cuts to capital expenditure and jobs. Amid the cost-cutting, the economics of the Canadian project – which took three years to get approval due to environment concerns – have been called into question as LNG prices (LNG-AS) have fallen more than 70 per cent in two years. 

Petronas was given the go-ahead for the $36 billion project by the Canadian government earlier this week. It said then that executives would study the 190 conditions imposed by the authorities and conduct a review before deciding on the next steps.

 

TTC after new investors 

ahead of S’pore listing

Vietnam’s TTC Group, a sugar, energy and real estate conglomerate, is stepping up production of the sweetener and seeking new investors as it gears up for a Singapore listing for one of its sugar units in five years that will raise around US$600 million (Bt20.7 billion).

Ahead of the planned share sale, the group’s Thanh Thanh Cong Tay Ninh SC, or TTC Sugar, will merge with another sugar company to create a combined entity worth $200 million that would be Vietnam’s largest, group officials said in an interview.

TTC vice chairwoman Dang Huynh Uc My, who has relocated to Singapore to spearhead the sugar unit’s listing, declined to identify the merger partner but said the deal would be completed early next year. The company has already expanded its sugar operations beyond Vietnam to Cambodia and will soon be in Laos, she said.

 

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts launched the |Table by Golden Circle

 

It is a new food and beverage loyalty programme that offers unparalleled benefits to members who dine at Shangri-La properties both on the road and nearer to home. The dining programme is the latest initiative in the ongoing transformation of Golden Circle, which has rolled out industry-leading member benefits, new partnerships, exclusive offers and Golden Circle Event Planner Rewards during its nine-month Loyalty Is anniversary campaign.

The Hong Kong-based hotel group, which operates 98 properties and over 500 restaurants and bars worldwide, commissioned consumer research in developing The Table – surveying Golden Circle members, hotel guests and local residents on their attitudes towards dining, restaurant preferences and loyalty. 

 

Vietnamese retailers face tough foreign competition

Vietnamese retail firms are |being forced to become more |serious about their development strategy and improving their |competitiveness following the |penetration of foreign retailers into Viet Nam with M&A deals. Several deals, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, have been clinched the past two years.

One cannot deny that the entry of foreign retailers, such as Aeon from Japan, Lotte from Korea, and TCC Holding and Central Group |from Thailand has benefited |consumers and promoted the development of the modern retail industry. The problem, however, lies in competing with these foreign retailers and developing and promoting the distribution of Vietnamese goods, which local retail firms must think about seriously, experts have said.

Experts agreed at on online forum held by Dien dan Doanh Nghiep (Business Forum) on Thursday that M&A was an unavoidable trend and effective for foreigner retailers to penetrate Viet Nam's retail market, forecasting that the trend would continue for the next two to three years.