Briefs

Four Vietnamese steelmakers - China Steel Sumikin Vietnam JSC, Phuong Nam Co Ltd, Nam Kim Steel JSC and Dong A Steel JSC - are demanding measures to prevent the sale in the domestic market of overly cheap coated steel sheets from China and South Korea.
Plaintiff representative Mayer Brown JSM asked the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA), under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to consider applying anti-dumping taxes, document review and a data investigation of the suspected companies. The measures would be used to, among other things, calculate any anti-dumping redress.
Nguyen Van Sua, vice chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), said the calculation of anti-dumping duty levels would help to prevent dumping in the Vietnamese market and protect domestic producers.
In December 2015, the VCA received appeals from the four steel firms to start a probe into the issue. The probe applies to the period from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015.
The ministry promulgated Decision No. 818/Q-BCT on March 3, 2016, on initiating an investigation into an anti-dumping tax on imported coated steels from China and South Korea.
On September 1, 2016, the ministry issued temporary anti-dumping duties on the products.
Accordingly, eight Chinese companies have been subject to anti-dumping duties of 4.02 to 38.34 per cent, while those imposed for South Korean firms were 12.4 to 19 per cent. – Viet Nam News

Philippine Airlines open to
taking in foreign partner

Philippine Airlines is opening the door to a strategic partnership with a foreign firm this year as the flag carrier hopes to expand its reach beyond the Philippines and Asia.
The group controlled by Lucio Tan may sell a minority stake in the airline to a foreign strategic partner as early as this year, a company official confirmed last week.
The move would mark a major change in the ownership structure of the 76-year-old airline, just three years after Tan again assumed full control of PAL after buying out San Miguel Corp president Ramon Ang.
Jaime Bautista, president of PAL operator PAL Holdings, told reporters that negotiations with a strategic partner were ongoing and details at this stage could not be discussed since these were covered by a confidentiality clause.
A source said a deal could be closed by the end of this year, and it was likely to be with a foreign airline. This would provide financial resources and, more importantly, a global network that would help PAL reach its goal of becoming a “five-star” carrier by 2020, the source said.
Bautista confirmed that while the timing was uncertain, it would be possible that a deal would be closed in 2017. |– Philippine Daily Inquirer

Key investors sign on 
to Eco World share sale
Eco World International (EWI), which is slated to be Malaysia’s biggest listing this year, could not have got off to a better start.
The property developer secured two of the country’s biggest institutional funds - the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) - as its cornerstone investors.
EWI president and chief executive officer Teow Leong Seng said the funds would be taking up 30 per cent of the initial public offering shares that have been allocated to institutional investors.
He said EWI would be looking to attract more cornerstone investors.
“The EPF and PNB will take up 30 per cent of the 18 per cent of the institutional offering under the IPO. We’ll be signing on the other cornerstone investors progressively,” Teow said at a signing ceremony on Monday.
He added that EWI would be targeting other potential cornerstone investors within the region.
“We’re limiting our efforts to Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. We have a limited offering, so we want to give more an opportunity to the regional funds, especially the Malaysian ones.”
CIMB Investment Bank and Maybank Investment Bank are joint global coordinators for the cornerstone agreement.
EWI on Monday signed a share subscription agreement with Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan’s GuocoLand, whereby the latter will take up a 27 per cent stake in EWI’s enlarged issued and paid-up capital. – The Star