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KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission (SC) has cautioned the public on investment scams enticing investors with pre-initial public offering (IPO) shares of companies seeking listing on Bursa Malaysia. The SC said these scams, mostly involving private placement offerings, are usually timed with upcoming IPO listings published on Bursa Malaysia’s website. “Perpetrators of these scams, posing as ‘agents’, usually create a public group on WhatsApp to promote these pre-IPO investments. Following this, potential victims will be added to said group unsolicited. “These schemes may be accompanied by fake testimonials from other investors to appear credible. Payments for the ‘subscription’ will be required to be made to bank accounts of entities not related to the IPO and suspected mule bank accounts,” it said in a statement. The agency also noted that on the listing day, “agents” (will) claim that the shares have been listed and have made profits, prompting additional payments for the shares to be allotted. “This is fraudulent and is to convince the victims to give more money,” the agency added. To date, the SC has received various complaints and inquiries from investors reporting substantial losses, exceeding RM800,000. The SC views this matter seriously and will continue to monitor and take appropriate action against such investment scam activities. The public is advised to be vigilant in evaluating investment offers, ensuring that they do not transfer or deposit money into suspicious accounts, and to verify investment offers through the SC Investment Checker at www.sc.com.my/investment-checker. — Bernama

MELBOURNE: New Relic, the all-in-one observability platform for every engineer, announced the appointment of Peter Marelas to Field Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ). Marelas previously held the role of Chief Architect, APJ at New Relic. In this newly created position, Marelas will work strategically alongside key customers to solve complex technical challenges, while evangelising New Relic and observability through frequent speaking and executive engagements region-wide. The appointment is effective immediately. “We are thrilled to have Peter take on the newly created role of Field CTO for APJ. His deep technical knowledge and focus on customer success will be crucial in scaling our operations, while he continues to communicate and evangelise the value of full-stack observability to our customers, partners and the broader industry,” said Rob Newell, New Relic Vice President of Solutions Consulting for Asia Pacific and Japan. Marelas has more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry where he has led transformative programs and teams at companies including Dell and EMC and solved complex technical and business challenges. Marelas holds multiple qualifications and patents in data science, deep learning, data engineering, data management, cloud engineering and security.  “I’m honoured to take on the role of Field CTO for New Relic in the Asia Pacific region,” said Marelas. “I’ve had the privilege of helping countless customers across multiple industries during my tenure at New Relic, and this new position will enable me to get even closer to our customers by helping them bridge the gap between technology, observability and business strategy.” Leading organisations in the APJ region, including Australia Post, Tokopedia, ANZ Bank, Domino’s, Zomato, Flight Centre, IAG, HT Digital Streams, HealthifyMe and Virgin Australia rely on New Relic’s observability platform to achieve greater scale and efficiency, improve uptime and performance, and accelerate time to market to deliver great customer experiences.

Tokyo: A decade ago, Renesas Electronics Corp was under government control and bleeding cash. Now worth US$35bil, the Japanese chipmaker is targeting a market value of around US$100bil by 2030, thanks to a string of overseas acquisitions. Behind those deals is former Merrill Lynch banker Hidetoshi Shibata. Five years into his tenure as chief executive officer, the 51-year-old sees new business in India and in artificial intelligence-enabling microcontrollers helping the company double annual revenue to a record US$20bil by the end of the decade. His ambition to triple the company’s valuation to 16 trillion yen to 17 trillion yen comes as a fresh surge in artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiasm lifts shares of the chipmaker behind Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co to their highest since the global financial crisis. Formed out of the chip arms that originated from NEC Corp, Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Renesas in 2009 was the world’s No. 3 chipmaker in sales after Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co. But its fortunes faded alongside its Japanese clients. In addition, damage to a key factory in the March 2011 Japan quake prompted automakers to cut their exposure to any single supplier, and Renesas soon ceded ground to rival NXP Semiconductors NV. Since joining the company as chief financial officer in 2013, Shibata’s orchestrated a string of acquisitions. This year, Renesas announced a US$6bil deal to buy Australia-listed software firm Altium Ltd to move upstream in product development and electronics design. In 2021, the company acquired Britain-based Dialog Semiconductor Plc for US$6bil and earlier bought San Jose-based Integrated Device Technology Inc and Milpitas, California-based Intersil Corp, in part to expand beyond the automotive sector into data centres and consumer devices. Shibata also expressed interest in compound semiconductors, which remain popular among electric vehicle (EV) makers. “We need to be a real global player,” Shibata said in an interview last month. “It’s meaningless to be a major player in Japan. We have to be at the top, globally. I want to make that happen.” His buying spree has helped reduce Renesas’ reliance at home and expand abroad. Japan accounted for 26% of total sales last year, down from 44% in 2016. Sales to other Asian countries and Europe and North America have all increased during the same period. India, which currently accounts for only a fraction of Renesas sales, will be important to future growth, according to Shibata. The company aims to earn at least 10% of revenue from the South Asian nation by the end of this decade, betting on that market’s fast-growing needs for electronics. — Bloomberg

PETALING JAYA: Malton Bhd is acquiring four parcels of Genting land from Sering Manis Sdn Bhd, a 51%-owned subsidiary of Global Oriental Bhd, in Bentong, Pahang, for RM65mil. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Malton said the parcels of land measure approximately 30.167 acres and is sited off and to the east of Jalan Meranti, which is connected to the main road leading up to Resorts World Genting and to the south of Genting View Resort, within the locality of Genting Highlands. Malton said the proposed development for the Genting land is expected to comprise serviced apartments and luxury villas, and is expected to generate an estimated gross development value of approximately RM1.29bil. “The proposed acquisition provides an opportunity for the group to acquire a price of prime land in Genting Highlands, which has seen an increase in development activities with several other property developers having already acquired land and commenced development within the vicinity, which are being marketed as a holiday home or for investment purpose given the cooler temperatures and close proximity to Resorts World Genting.”- The Star