Siam News

The combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of the country’s nine most valued firms got eroded by Rs 65,884 crore last week, with corporate bellwether Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) bearing the maximum loss.

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The Reserve Bank of India will use all available tools to stem a fall in the rupee if the currency’s downward spiral escalates and will take steps to keep liquidity in the country’s markets at comfortable levels, a deputy governor said on Saturday.

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JAKARTA – Indonesia’s rupiah trillionaires have so much money that it’s difficult to count it.

Sinar Mas Group Eka Tjipta Widjaja, the palm oil king worth $8 billion, according to Forbes. More In Indonesia Tragedy Mars Southeast Asia Games Football Final Goals, Not Gold to Decide Bragging Rights at SEA Games Asean Wraps Up Big Year with Bang in Bali, Now What? Survey: Humans Put Orangutans at Risk In Bali, Sun, Surf and the Secret Service Forbes came out with its annual list of the country’s richest this week , and it included many familiar faces among the archipelago’s palm oil, paper, coal and tobacco barons. Most were smiling because they are worth billions more this year than before, thanks to rising stock and commodity prices, and growing domestic demand. “At a time when most of the world’s economies are stagnating, Indonesia’s list of wealthiest individuals demonstrates the continued growth of the economy and its opening up to reward entrepreneurial talents,” said Justin Doebele, chief editorial advisor of Forbes Indonesia. However, when journalists or analysts ask someone like Eka Tjipta Widjaja – the palm oil king worth $8 billion, according to Forbes – or Anthoni Salim – the head of the property-to-food Salim Group, worth $3.6 billion – to give their actual worth, they rarely get a number.

So how accurate are these kinds of estimates? The answer is it depends – on how open the companies are, and the accuracy of the assumption behind the computations performed to reach the final figures. Comparing the Forbes Top Ten to a similar survey by Indonesia’s business magazine, Globe Asia, in June points to the guess-work involved. While both Top Tens include mostly the same names, there are sometimes huge gaps between what Forbes said an individual was worth and what Globe Asia said.

The difference between the two net worth estimates was more than $1 billion for most of the top-ranked rich. Of course, the Globe survey was published five months ago, and commodity and stock price fluctuations can account for some of the difference, though it also seems unlikely those fluctuations account for all the differences. Back then, Globe estimated Achmad Hamami, head of the group which distributes Caterpillar in Indonesia, was worth $250 million; the Forbes survey this week put him at $2.2 billion.

Susilo Wonowidjojo is worth $10.5 billion according to Forbes; in the older Globe survey he was pegged at about one fifth that value. When a billionaire’s companies are publicly-listed, it is relatively easy to figure their worth.

The value of their shareholdings are public knowledge and their companies are required to disclose their assets and liabilities. For unlisted entities it gets tougher, particularly in Indonesia, where there are few public documents and a lot of secretive companies. It’s sometimes difficult to get even a good photo of the country’s tycoons, so trying to find out what they are worth requires some detective work. “It is guess-work, but it is not just plucking numbers out of thin air,” said Shoeb Kagda, editor of Globe Asia. “Some of them are very shy and low-profile but there are ways” to dig up what they are worth, he said. Forbes says it follows a strict and proven methodology to come to its numbers, and confirms with the individuals and companies involved when possible. In particular, it says it estimates the value of non-listed assets by choosing a similar listed company and extrapolating from its capitalization. Globe Asia uses its reporters and connections to get a hint at what revenues are for the non-listed companies and calculates from there.

The massive difference between Globe’s and Forbes’ estimate of Mr. Hamami’s net worth, for example, could be due to the fact that his group has just started to reveal results of its coal operations, said Mr. Kagda. One thing everyone can agree upon though is that all the biggest billionaires have so much money that they have earned their spots in the spotlight. “If you are talking about someone that is worth $11 million, then $500 million here or there is an acceptable margin of error,” said Mr. Kagda.

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Indian companies are expected to continue investing in IT infrastructure despite global economic challenges and the country’s IT spending is projected to grow 9.1 per cent to $ 79.8 billion in 2012, according to research firm Gartner.

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Mumbai: Shares of State Bank of India took a beating on the bourses for the second consecutive session on Wednesday, losing more than 3 per cent in early trade after Moody’s downgraded its rating of the bank’s financial strength. The stock, which settled with a loss of over 4 per cent on Tuesday, declined further by 3.09 per cent in morning trade on Wednesday to a 52-week low of Rs 1,731.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. A similar trend was witnessed on the National Stock Exchange, where the stock, after opening on a weak note, declined by over 3.19 per cent to a 52-week low of Rs 1,730.10. Global credit ratings firm Moody’s on Tuesday downgraded its guidance on SBI’s financial strength. The stock ended with losses of 3.63 per cent at Rs 1,787.20 on Tuesday. However, it managed to regain some of the lost ground and was trading 2,61 per cent lower at Rs 1,740 on the BSE and was down 2.69 per cent at Rs 1,739.05 on the NSE at 1059 hours. Global credit ratings firm Moody’s on Tuesday downgraded its guidance on SBI’s financial strength by one notch to ‘D+’ on account of the lender’s low Tier-I capital ratio and deteriorating asset quality. As per Moody’s, a ‘D’ rating suggest “modest intrinsic financial strength, potentially requiring some outside support at times”, while a ‘C’ rating denotes “adequate intrinsic financial strength”. Moody’s cited a likely rise in the bank’s non-performing assets in the near future as one of the reasons for the downgrade. “The government has asked us to give a report on the reasons for the downgrade,” SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. The standalone rating for SBI’s private sector peers, like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, stands at ‘C-’. The ratings downgrade puts pressure on the government to infuse capital in the country’s largest lender as soon as possible. (Follow IBNLive.com on Facebook , on Twitter , on YouTube , and on Google+ for updates that you can share with your friends.)

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Originally posted on MarketBeat : Bloomberg Chinese stocks got crushed on Thursday, partly because of a report that the U.S. government’s investigation of their accounting is gaining some muscle power. By midday Thursday in New York, Youku.com’s U.S. shares were off 22%, Spreadtrum was down 13%, Baidu was down 12%, and SINA and Sohu.com were each down 10%. Shanda Interactive was down 7%. Many of these names have already been hammered on such concerns for several weeks now. Some of them have political risk at home to contend with, too, along with growing worries about the strength of China’s economy. In addition, Macquarie analysts wrote Thursday that they see Youku.com revenue growth decelerating and gross margins shrinking — not great signs for a company that isn’t yet turning a profit. Reuters reports : A top securities regulator said U.S. criminal authorities are investigating accounting irregularities at Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges. “There are parts of the Justice Department that are actively engaged in this area,” said Robert Khuzami, director of enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In an interview with Reuters this week, Khuzami revealed that a number of federal prosecutors around the country are looking into the issue, but declined to name them. The involvement of the Justice Department adds investigative firepower to the SEC and the FBI, which are also probing Chinese accounting fraud. “I think that you will see greater (Department of Justice) involvement as time goes on,” said Khuzami, a former federal prosecutor himself, when asked why no criminal charges have yet been filed in the massive Chinese accounting scandal. He declined to elaborate on which Chinese companies or auditors the Justice Department may be targeting. The SEC has been investigating accounting fraud in U.S.-listed Chinese companies for more than a year and has suspended trading by numerous companies after their auditors resigned. The agency has struggled to gain access to documents it needs to investigate the cases because strict Chinese laws have made auditors reluctant to turn over work papers. Update: Youku finished the day down 18% with Baidu and Sohu also recovering slightly to finish down 9% and 5%, respectively. Shanda Interactive fell further to end down 9%. – Mark Gongolff

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The top European Union aid official says Burma’s government is pledging increased international access for humanitarian workers during natural disasters. E.U. officials say they are optimistic about reforms by Burma’s new government. European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Humanitarian aid Kristalina Georgieva says she is “encouraged” by Burma’s pledges to give humanitarian workers greater access to troubled areas. Georgieva spoke to journalists in Bangkok following a two-day official visit to Burma.  She said she was “very positive” that it is possible to avoid the chaos and destruction that had come in the wake of cyclone Nargis in 2008. “My impression from discussions with the minister for resettlement and social welfare who is also the chair of the disaster preparedness ministerial group, is that there is a recognition of the need to be on high alert; that experience form other countries is very valuable,” said Georgieva. “In this sense Nargis was a wake-up call.” Cyclone Nargis left more than 140,000 dead and missing after hitting the Irrawaddy Delta region.  The then-military government faced international condemnation over delays to assistance that aid groups says cost thousands of lives. In addition to meeting government officials in Rangoon, the E.U. minister met with Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.  Georgieva said Suu Kyi was positive over her new role in the country since her release from house arrest in November last year.  Suu Kyi had spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. Georgieva and E.U. officials expressed optimism of signs of reform, with Burmese government members “genuinely” seeking change. But challenges remain, she said. “We know that there are now agents for change.  There are people who are genuinely reform minded they want to see the country included.  But we also know that there are many who don’t want this to happen that divested interests that are going to be affected by change.  So therefore how this power struggle would go will be to watch in the months to come,” Georgieva stated. Georgieva, while not commenting directly on Burma’s holding of more than 2,000 political prisoners, said the International Committee of the Red Cross was again granted limited access to three of Burma’s prisons.  The ICRC’s access to prisons and camps had come to a halt amid increasing official restrictions in 2006. E.U. officials also said Burma’s government pledged to pursue peaceful ends to conflicts with ethnic minorities and their insurgent armies, offering talks within months. In April, the European Union eased some sanctions in place due to Burma’s human-rights record to enable the current dialogue.   The European Union now allows ministerial visits to Burma and modified visa restrictions that open the way for civilian members of Burma’s parliament to travel to Europe. The visit by Georgieva comes as Derek Mitchell, the U.S. Special representative and policy coordinator for Burma is currently meeting officials in Naypyittaw, political party members and local civil society organizations.

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Management at Thaicom 6 satellite stated that the company will operate under the law, and will not depend on politics. After the new government led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was elected to run the country, there has been a doubt on conflict of interest, which used to be accused against the government of her elder’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

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