Myanmar proceeded with the award of telco license. The winners of the tender are Qatar-based Ooreedo and Norway-based Telenor with France Orange-Telecom as back up should any of the winners be disqualified. SingTel and Yoma have been shut out of these two highly sought mobile licences. The winners are not within our expectations. However, both have notable experience and ownership of telcos in Asia. 

On Yoma, we are neutral of their consortium's failure to win the bid because no earnings related to this bid is imputed into our forecast. What's next for Yoma? We look forward to progress of Landmark project and expansion of non-property businesses which are small at the moment but mostly strategic and profitable. Management have also mentioned in their announcement that plans and negotiations are ongoing for their agriculture division. Overall, we remain positive on Yoma's prospect as long as Myanmar's momentum sustains. We believe they are still very well positioned to tap on Myanmar's explosive growth. No change to Yoma's forecast and TP. Expect some degree of share price weakness on account of this news. We see weakness as good opportunity to collect stock for investor with long term horizon. Stock though could still decline in the near term on disappointment given the built up in expectations recently. The same for the other contender SingTel, whose share price rebound from $3.50 to $3.72 in recent sessions could be in expectation of the license award that didn't come true. The failure to win any telco licenses could also taper optimism for Yongnam, who is in the running for Myanmar's airport projects pending award in July. Investors are likely adopt a 'wait and see' rather than 'buy in anticipation' given that the stock has already risen 43% YTD.

Overall, for the country, we are encouraged by the authority's will to push ahead with the award of the license, reflecting their eagerness and ability to execute on plan on time. The authority's ability to deliver on promises is an important factor for Myanmar's development going forward.

Keppel is sprucing up its hotels in Myanmar as it looks to ride the wave of newly awakened interest in the country. The group, which owns Sedona Hotel Yangon and Sedona Hotel Mandalay, is pumping in US$80m to add a new 29-storey hotel wing offering 418 rooms to Sedona Hotel Yangon. With the country opening up, the number of travellers has increased and the occupancy has gone up.

CosmoSteel Holdingshas entered into a memorandum of understanding with a Myanmar-based group of companies to explore potential strategic business relationship in Myanmar. The counterparty has its headquarter in Yangon and operates in diversified business areas, including construction, hotel and tourism and trading.

Advance SCT is proposing a renounceable nonunderwritten rights issue of up to 1,168.8m Rights Shares at an Issue Price of S$0.008 per Rights Share, on the basis of two (2) Rights Shares for every five (5) existing shares to raise gross proceeds of approximately S$9.35m. The Issue Price represents a discount of approximately 20% from last traded price. The proceeds will be used for the expansion of the Group's business and repayment of borrowings.

ISDN Holdings has inked a non-legally binding Memorandum of Understanding to acquire 80% shareholding interest in three Indonesian energy-related companies, paving the way for ISDN to gain a firm foothold in the hydropower industry in Sumatra. ISDN has also completed its 80% share acquisition of PT Potensia Tomini Energi, cementing its planned development of two mini hydropower plants in Central Sulawesi.

Passenger numbers grew year-on-year at Changi Airport in May even as cargo continued to slump. Some 4.28m passengers passed through Changi's doors for the month, up 4.7% from May 2012, while commercial flight movements rose 5.4% to 28,500. In contrast, passenger numbers were nearly flat in April, edging up just 0.8% yo-y to 4.24m. Aircargo volume slipped 3.5% to 147,600 tonnes at Changi in May, after the airport saw a 1.8% yo-y decline in April to some 145,600 tonnes. Japan, Malaysia and Thailand - all of which fall within Changi's top 10 markets - posted double digit growth. The top five markets for the month were Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Year-to-date, Changi handled 21.6m passenger movements, up 4.8% from the corresponding five-month span in 2012, while aircraft movements were also higher at 138,600, up 4.3%, for January to May. Meanwhile, cargo shipments fell 2.4% to 727,100 tonnes.

US markets rose on the back of benign economic data and as FED official continued to stress that QE tapering is not automatic and much depends on economic performance. May's pending home sales (actual +6.7% m-o-m, consensus +1%) was better-than-expected. The pullback in US 10-year bond yields to 2.48% (MAS 10-year bond yield dipped to 2.45%) should also calm markets. As this week is the half year and 2Q quarter end, the strength in US equities in recent sessions could also be the result of funds flow out from emerging markets into US equities given the USD strength and recovery hopes there. 

Source: DBSV