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THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JUNE 14-15, 2014

1MDB holds board meeting in Lucerne

Issues discussed
include 500 MV solar
photovoltaic project
across Malaysia
By Anita Gabriel
anitag@sph.com.sg
@AnitaGabrielBT
Singapore
MALAYSIAS state-owned fund
1Malaysia Development Bhd
(1MDB) held a three-day board
meeting this week in Lucerne,
central Switzerland, to discuss
several issues including a lofty solar power plan for the country.
A curious choice of venue, perhaps even extravagant, some
may say for a sovereign wealth
fund with largely home-based assets and given its highly indebted
status based on latest accounts,
it has debts of over RM35 billion
(S$13.6 billion).
But of much wider implication, as The Business Times understands, is a key agenda at the
meeting the state-backed
funds ultra-ambitious solar photovoltaic (PV) project that will
generate up to 500 MW of electricity which it plans to build in
various parts of the country over
the next five to six years.

First off the bat under the ambitious plan is a RM350 million
50 MW solar PV pilot project that
1MDB has described as a government to government initiative, not unlike several other
pacts with 1MDBs Middle Eastern partners, some of which had
failed.
It was hoped that the project
would be launched with much
pomp and fanfare by Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who
also is chair of 1MDBs board of
advisers, and US President
Barack Obama during his official
visit to Malaysia in April but that
did not happen.
1MDBs chosen partner for
the project, Washington-based
DuSable Capital Management
a money-management firm
which, according to its website,
is focused on energy and infrastructure has piqued interest
among insiders. Its other partner
in the project is Malaysias national utility, Tenaga Nasional.
DuSable, co-founded by
Frank White, Jr a top individual
fund raiser for Mr Obama, according to reports and another
of the presidents backers,
Shomik Dutta, describes itself as
a private equity firm which
blends a unique understanding

Structure of
1MDBs
solar plant
pilot project

1Malaysia
Development Berhad
100%

1MDB Energy
Holdings Sdn Bhd
100%
Master JVA: 1MDB Synergy (51%) & DuSable (49%)

Tenaga Nasional
Berhad

1MDB Synergy

(via Yurus Private Equity Fund 1, LP)

25%

38%

1MDB Solar Sdn Bhd

(The pilot project co)

of government and regulatory dynamics in the renewable energy

and infrastructure investments.
Its an in-country project so
why would 1MDB need a foreign
firm like DuSable to advise Tenaga, Malaysias national utility, to
navigate the power industry in its
own country? asked an observer.
Recently, in mid-April, Tena-

ga said that it signed a power purchase pact that will last for
25 years with 1MDB for Malaysias biggest solar power project.
It is understood that the plant
will be built on a 300 acre site in
Kuala Ketil in Malaysias northern state, Kedah. If things work
according to plan, it will start
commercial operations in October 2016, said a source. If the pilot project is viable, then more

Samsung launches
featherweight tablet
Tab S as thick as five
credit cards stacked
together; nearly 1 mm
thinner than iPad Air
By Joyce Hooi
joyceh@sph.com.sg
@JoyceHooiBT
Singapore
HEAVYWEIGHT Samsung Electronics has unveiled its thinnest
and lightest tablet yet the Galaxy Tab S, which has Apples
svelte offerings in its crosshairs.
The Tab S, launched at New
York Citys Madison Square Garden yesterday morning (Singapore time), almost disappears
when it is held sideways. At 6.6
millimetres thick or about the
equivalent of five credit cards
stacked atop one another it is almost one millimetre thinner
than the iPad Air.
This tablet, which Samsung
has anointed as its flagship product, comes in two sizes an
8.4-inch model and a 10.5-inch
one.

Both have telling weigh-in figures the 8.4-inch Tab S, at

294 grams, makes the 331g iPad
Mini with retina display look a little hefty in comparison. The larger 10.5-inch Tab S weighs 465 g
just a touch lighter than the iPad
Airs 469g. Tab S buyers have a
choice of two colours Titanium
Bronze and Dazzling White.
While the Tab S price in Singapore has not been announced,
its US pricing for the 16-gigabyte
(GB) Wi-Fi models put it on the
warpath with Apple, too.
The smaller and larger Tab S
tablets are priced at US$399 and
US$499 respectively the same
as their equivalent iPad rivals.
The Tab S will be available in Singapore and the United States in
July.
Apple currently leads in the
tablet stakes, but has every reason to look over its shoulder. In
the first quarter of this year, its
share of the tablet market fell
from 40.2 per cent to 32.5 per
cent year-on-year, based on research firm IDCs estimates.
At the same time, Samsung

DuSable Capital
Management

THIN IS IN
At 6.6 mm thick, the
Tab S comes in an 8.4
inch and 10.5 inch
model, at US$399 and
US$499 respectively
closed in, growing its market
share from 17.5 per cent to 22.3
per cent. Last year was a particularly good one for the South Korean electronics giant; its tablet
sales target of 40 million units
was easily surpassed by
year-end, Samsung told The Business Times this week.
The firm did not reveal its
sales target for this year, but said
that it was hitting close to a double-digit growth rate each year,
and that it expected sales to grow
even further and faster with
the Galaxy Tab S.

The tablet on which Samsung

is pinning its hopes has the distinction of being the only active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (Amoled) tablet in its
current range.
Amoled displays offer a sharper, brighter viewing experience,
and the Tab S features a
souped-up version of this technology, dubbed Super Amoled.
This emphasis on display quality is aimed at what Samsung
calls the mass premium market consumers who use the tablet for activities that are heavy on

37%

Power Purchase Agreement

Electricity generation license

such plants that power up to

500 MW will be built.
BT contacted 1MDB and DuSable for comments but none
were forthcoming.
The mega solar project was
awarded to 1MDB not too long
after the state-owned fund
snagged another sizeable
RM11 billion 2,000 MW coalfired power plant project on a
direct negotiated basis.

the eye, such as surfing the Internet and watching long-form videos, like movies.
The Tab S also boasts a SideSync function which lets Samsung Galaxy S5 users remotely access their smartphone through
the tablet. This means that they
can make and receive calls and
operate apps on their phone
through the Tab S.
Samsungs spirited assault on
the tablet market comes at a time
of burgeoning demand for these
devices. By 2017, the total worldwide sales of tablets will reach
381 million units, Forrester Research reckons. By then, more
than one in every eight people on
earth will be using a tablet.
Even so, some analysts have
their reservations about how far
the Tab S will be able to carry
Samsung in the tablet realm.
Clement Teo, a senior analyst
at Forrester Research, said: I
dont expect that this announcement will convert Apple iPad (or)
iPad Air users as they have already invested in that ecosystem.
It might make them consider it
as an iPad back up, but thats a
big if.
He added that the Tab S is
more likely to appeal to Android
users and maybe some frustrated Windows users who want a
large screen tablet for watching
videos or playing games.