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The first Lao smart phone brand will be introduced to shops and agencies in Vientiane and the provinces this month after a local investor began displaying the product at the company showroom last week.
The phone branded ‘ALO’ will enter the local market after its investor conducted a market study last year. The launch of the phone represents the investment of a Lao-owned company, ALO Technology Sole Co Ltd, in Vientiane.
“It will be a challenge to compete in the market in the future. Our plan is not try to win a foreign product that now has a large coverage in the local market,” company chairman and CEO Thanousone Phonamat said.
Samsung, Huawei, and iPhone are among the famous brands dominating the Lao market. – Vientiane Times

CIMB Group to gain RM 760m from stake sale 

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd will make a one-off gain of about RM 760 million from the proposed sale of its 18.21 per cent stake in China-based Bank of Yingkou Co Ltd (BYK) for about RM 972 million.
AmInvestment Bank Bhd said in a report that the disposal is in line with meeting the Group’s T18 targets which includes Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of over 11 per cent, and to achieve higher capital efficiency and optimisation.
It said the exercise, which is expected to be completed in 2017, is not expected to have any impact on CIMB Group’s 2016 earnings.
“In any case, we will treat gains from the disposal of the stake in BYK as one-off and this will be excluded from our core earnings estimate for FY17. 
“Recall in April 2009, CIMB |completed the acquisition of 19.99 per cent stake in BYK for 348.8 million |renminbi in cash. Base on our |estimates, the one-off gain is expected to be about RM760 million,” the investment bank noted in its report. – The Star