RHB Sakura Widens Network Further as the Group Enhances Product Range

PENANG, Sept 7, 2005: Companies in Penang and the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia that are seeking investment banking services need look no further now – RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers Bhd (“RHB Sakura”) is now at their doorstep.

RHB Sakura, the investment banking arm of the RHB Group of Companies, began operating its newest Desk Office on Lebuh Pantai, here today.

“We expect the demand for investment banking services to increase and we believe that setting up a desk office in Penang offers us the best opportunity to tap into this growing market,” RHB Sakura Chairman, Encik Abdullah Mat Noh, said.

This is the second Desk Office that RHB Sakura has opened in less than two weeks. On Aug 29, 2005, the investment bank opened its first Desk Office in Kuching to serve the needs of existing and potential clients in Sarawak and Sabah.

The expansion by the investment bank is part of an overall enhancement of the RHB Group’s products and services this year, which also saw improved financial performance in the first six months.

In conjunction with the opening of the Desk Office here, Encik Abdullah, accompanied by RHB Sakura Chief Operating Officer Puan Jamelah Jamaluddin and senior management personnel of the investment bank hosted a luncheon for clients at the Gurney Hotel & Residences here.

Also present were directors and senior management personnel from other subsidiaries of the RHB Group.

The luncheon was followed by a seminar on Tapping The Capital Market For Fund Raising. The topics covered at the seminar were Malaysian Economic Outlook for 2005 and 2006 by Chief Economist and Director of RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd Mr Lim Chee Sing, and Listing Opportunities in Malaysia by Senior Vice-President of Corporate Finance, Mr Khaw Soon Hoe.

Another topic covered was Debt Funding from Malaysian Debt Markets, jointly presented by Assistant Vice-President of Debt Capital Market, Mr Goh Chei Han and Vice-President of Islamic Finance Encik Ariff Salleh.

Puan Jamelah said RHB Sakura’s Desk Office here would serve the needs of existing and potential customers not only in Penang but in Perak, Kedah and Perlis as well.

“The business opportunities available to an investment bank such as RHB Sakura are enormous, going by the robust economic growth in the region,” she said.

Puan Jamelah expects to see new demand for various investment banking services from up to 200 companies in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia in the next few years.

These included equity related services, as well as others, such as advisory services for initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, issuance of equity products, project financing and capital restructuring, she said.

“The Penang Desk Office will serve as a liaison between RHB Sakura and its existing and potential clients. It will provide follow-on services to clients, respond to their calls and inquiries, and organise regular meetings and visits to maintain and enhance ties with existing and potential clients,” she added.

Other services that will also be available from RHB Sakura, promoted by its Penang Desk Office, are fund raising via private debt securities (conventional), Islamic securities and corporate lending.

While RHB Sakura has just opened a desk office here, it is not entirely new to the business community in the state. In March this year, the investment bank completed its first deal for a Penang-based company.

RHB Sakura was the Principal and Lead Arranger for a RM100 million commercial papers programme for Texchem Resources Bhd.

Apart from the Texchem deal, RHB Sakura has scored various successes this year. In April, it was one of four investment banks to arrange for an Islamic financing facility to raise RM6.1 billion for a Jimah Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd power project in Negri Sembilan.

In the following month, it arranged an Islamic financing facility to raise RM100 million for Pharmaniaga Bhd to part-finance the construction of a new products facility and for working capital.

Then in July, it arranged a Sukuk to raise RM209 million for Institut Jantung Negara Sdn Bhd to finance its plans to expand the National Heart Institute to meet increasing demand for its services.

Apart from RHB Sakura’s efforts to bring its services closer to investors based outside the Klang Valley, the other units of the RHB Group have also been actively expanding their range of products and services.

In March, RHB Islamic Bank Bhd opened its doors to customers, making it the first Islamic banking window of a commercial bank to mature into a full-fledged Islamic bank. The move has enabled the RHB Group to offer an even wider range of Islamic banking products it could not otherwise offer as a windows operation.

In June, RHB Securities Sdn Bhd and Dow Jones Indexes jointly launched the Dow Jones RHB Islamic Malaysia Index, a new index to track Syariah compliant stocks on Bursa Malaysia.

In the same month, RHB Securities entered into an agreement with Phillip Securities Pte Ltd of Singapore to offer its clients the facility of a multi-exchange trading platform.

There was good news for shareholders too. RHB Capital Bhd reported a 12% increase in pre-tax profit to RM355 million for the six months ended June 30, 2005. Net profit for the period rose 7% year-on-year to RM165.1 million.

RHB Sakura was incorporated as D&C Nomura Merchant Bankers Bhd on Aug 5, 1974 as a joint venture among several domestic and international financial institutions. It assumed its present name on June 16, 1997 following a restructuring exercise involving RHB Capital, Rashid Hussain Bhd (“RHB”) and Kwong Yik Bank Bhd.

RHB Sakura, which is now wholly-owned by RHB Capital Bhd, has several subsidiaries, including RHB Securities Sdn Bhd, RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd, RHB Unit Trust Management Bhd, RHB Futures Sdn Bhd and RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd.

RHB Sakura has received several accolades over the years from domestic as well as international media groups covering the financial services industry. It has won the Best Domestic Investment Bank, Malaysia’s Domestic Bond House of the Year and Malaysia’s Loan House of the Year awards from FinanceAsia.

Among the other awards that RHB Sakura and its subsidiaries have won are Best Domestic Securities House in Malaysia from Euromoney and Best Domestic Brokerage House in the Region from FinanceAsia.