60-year highway robbery! Another 'Rosemajib' deal?

FROM THE BLOGS "Kumpulan Xxxx has officially obtained the contract to build a RM7.07 billion highway linking Banting (Selangor) and Taiping (Perak). Xxxx said its 64.2 per cent-owned Xxxx obtained an approval letter yesterday from the Public Private Partnership Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department.

Releasing details of the project yesterday, Xxxx said the West Coast Expressway will cover 316km. Of this, 224km will be tolled, while 92km will be toll-free. The project is based on build-operate-transfer with a concession period of 60 years, Xxxx said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday. Xxxx has secured a government support loan (GSL) of RM2.24 billion to “enhance the viability of the project”. The soft loan will kick off in 2013 at an interest rate of 4.0 per cent per year and an interest subsidy of up to 3.0 per cent from commercial loans for a period of 22 years.

Hot on 'secret' MAS-AirAsia deal comes reprieve for ex-Daim Boy, Tajudin Ramli

Amid growing concern that Malaysian taxpayers have again been taken for a ride by the UMNO elite, Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim ticked off Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz for allegedly instructing Government-Linked-Companies or GLCs to withdraw lawsuits filed against for MAS chairman Tajudin Ramli.

Among the affected GLCs wereTelekom Malaysia Bhd, Naluri Corporation, Celcom (M) Bhd, Atlan Holdings Bhd, Pengurusan Danaharta Bhd, Malaysia Airlines and Duta Skyline Bhd. These firms had sued Tajudin for losses suffered by MAS amounting to billions of ringgit, and there is concern that with a stroke of pen, Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration was bailing out fallen tycoon Tajudin.

"Such orders should have come from the Minister of Finance and not Nazri as this concerns GLCs. The government said it had a strong case against Tajudin involving billions of ringgit in filing the suit. It is a disturbing," Anwar, a former Finance minister, told reporters on Tuesday.

‘Mystery’ shrouded deal to save AirAsia?

Why is Khazanah giving away 20.5% in 'asset'-rich MAS, which has an extensive network and prized position in the Tier-5 airline market, for a stake in debt-ridden AirAsia?

The boss of Khazanah Nasional says that the MAS-AirAsia deal is, among other things, “not a bail-out” of MAS.

Well, we have questions for him.

Firstly, why was this deal worked out in the first place? Why AirAsia? Isn’t AirAsia operating at some 40 times its price earning (PE) ratio?

Looking at its numbers and the fundamentals, the high PE could mean that AirAsia stocks are overpriced.