TU-E Capital Looking At Funding Projects With GDV Of US$294.87 Billion

By Massita Ahmad KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 (Bernama) -- TU-E Capital Bhd is looking at arranging fundings for projects worth US$294.87 billion (RM900 billion) in gross development value (GDV), says its senior general manager, Azhar Idrus. "Many local and foreign companies have indicated their interest to expand on the concept of strategic partnership with us," he told Bernama here, Monday. Among the projects to be undertaken are those from the mining, oil and gas, housing and manufacturing sectors. "This follows the company's successful arrangement resulting in the purchase of a 40 per cent equity in Bangladesh's airline company, Bismillah Airlines Bangladesh, recently," he said. The purchase, made in March, involved a capital injection of RM108.5 million. It was reported that Tu-E Capital, which arranges credit facilities, had the capacity to invest and ready to hold equities in two other airline companies, namely Thailand-based Platinum Airlines and Dubai-based Middle East Airlines. Azhar said TU-E Capital's credit facility arrangements are made via foreign banks, specifically from the "top 25 banks". The company today also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PuBel Bedford Capital Ltd, its holding company based in Labuan International Bsuiness and Financial Centre. Its new Chairman, Suleiman Mohamed said the MoU witnessed the restructuring of new powers given to TU-E Capital and the obligations of PuBel Bedford Capital. "It is to tidy-up the existing operations," he said. Suleiman said effective with his appointment, PuBel Bedford will now only act as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) specifically to receive fundings from only foreign credit facilities institutions. Suleiman who was appointed on May 1, said the fundings would be distributed according to the Labuan FSA and Central Bank of Malaysia's rules and regulations. Under the new structure, TU-E Capital will be responsible for all collateral arrangements in the form of bank instruments from prime banks. TU-E has a branch in Ujana Kewangan, Labuan state in east Malaysia. The restructuring is to also ensure that there is separation between the different entities of the two companies in order to prevent any conflict of obligations between the offshore financial institutions and domestic companies, he said. (US$1 = RM3.05) --BERNAMA