Update on AsiaEP

Truly incredible. (Mou Tak Teng!)

On feb 6th, I mentioned AsiaEP in the following posting: AsiaEP

On Feb 24th, the Star Bisweek carried this article: Googling for growth

On March 9th the Edge reported the following: 09-03-2007: Goldman Sachs buys 5.7% stake in AsiaEP

On March 9th, KN came out with their guns blazing and gave AsiaEP a price target of rm1.97 ( the initial TP was just 0.99)

KN calls it the Goldman factor and this is their reasoning:

VALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION
While our FY07, FY08 and FY09 earnings forecasts remain unchanged (Please refer to our Initiation Report dated 6 February 2007), investors should not under-estimate the positive impact of GSI’s presence in asiaEP for the following reasons:

• Emergence of GSI as a substantial shareholder in asiaEP could lend Itah SE instant credibility – a big vote of confidence on its business potential;
• Presence of GSI could enhance deal possibility between asiaEP and other BIG SE players on Wall Street; and
• Deal potential tends to inflate valuations.

We continue to rate asiaEP a STRONG BUY with a revised 12-month target price of RM1.97 (+99.0%), which is based on a FY09 P/E of 20.0x. Increasing foreign interests, who seem to better appreciate the company’s growth potential, to a large extent, drives the latest re-rating.