$ APStrategic   

ASI seems dead sure about its prospects

The business is pretty niche but a quick straw poll among colleagues, gave negative f'back on buying into this counter. If anyone had read one of Peter Lynch's book, may recall a similar US firm called CSI (uncannyly similar, eh?), that does pretty well at one time by providing pre-need services etc. Will buy into this once I let go a few of my laggard shares. Hope it will go down abit more to 20c region, though ;)

 

Do funeral business sure got monies earn as customers everyday sure will have. Any1 vested already? Seem to be the only RTO Seatown company now listed doing funeral business :P

 

Business Times - 30 Aug 2007 ASI seems dead sure about its prospects By CONRAD RAJ AS IN life, there is money to be made from death. And Choo Yeow Ming, chairman and chief executive of Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments (ASI), knows this very well. While he believes that providing a proper and more pleasant resting place for the dead can be very lucrative, it may be quite a hard sell to investors here - especially the Chinese, who are very prone to superstition. Among many Chinese, even numbers that sound like the word for death in dialect are taboo and almost all will distance themselves from the number 4. So how well will investors take to ASI, which has made a reverse takeover of Seatown Corporation by injecting the funeral and memorial park business of wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary HMSC into the former manufacturer of pre-cast concrete? Better than condos For the long-suffering shareholders of Seatown who have seen their stock suspended since May 22, 2002, at three cents a share, the takeover will provide some relief, albeit not complete. The company also has debts of over $30 million which have largely been converted into equity. Dr Choo believes that the profits to be gained from the business will overcome any reticence on the part of investors. 'On a per square foot basis, the margins are even better than from the best condominiums,' Dr Choo claims. For a start, the business being injected is a 40-hectare site in Semenyih Hills near the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. ASI aims to transform the site into a memorial park for the internment of non-Muslims that will cater to all other religious groups including Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. The park will have facilities for embalming, wakes, memorial services, cremation, burial and columbaria in landscaped terrain. Plots will be sold and priced according to location, including best feng shui and other ancillary facilities. There will also be fee income from providing maintenance and other services, like conducting services, rituals and placing flowers during anniversaries and other occasions such as the Qingming festival. Dr Choo is confident that 'the rich, especially among the Chinese, will pay plenty to get choice plots and niches in columbaria'. He also notes that memorial parks in Japan are so pleasant that they also serve as recreation areas. On its immediate prospects, ASI says: 'We believe that the improving economic climate in Malaysia, the increasingly affluent and sophisticated population coupled with congested public cemeteries in major city centres in Malaysia will lead to continuing growth for the bereavement care industry in Malaysia. 'In addition, we believe that the main driver of growth for the bereavement care industry over and above mortality rates will be the fast-growing demand for pre-need products and services.' Regional ambitions With a paid-up capital of $100 million divided into 500 million shares, ASI hopes to develop and operate memorial parks wherever there are large concentrations of Chinese - Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and, of course, China. ASI's aim is to be the premier provider of funeral and related services in Asia. While some investors may shun the stock, Dr Choo's confidence in ASI's potential appears to be well placed. And he has a few believers, including judicial manager Nicky Tan, whose fee amounting to some $8 million is being paid for in ASI shares valued at 46 cents apiece. Others will probably wait and see how the stock debuts today on Sesdaq. Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.