General Announcement
Reference No
O&-040806-61758
Submitting Merchant Bank
:
K & N KENANGA BHD
Company Name
:
ASIAEP BHD
(MESDAQ Market)
Stock Name
:
ASIAEP
Date Announced
:
06/08/2004
Type
:
Announcement
Subject
:
ASIAEP BERHAD ("AsiaEP" or the "Company")
Memorandum of Understanding between the Company and the following:-
(i) Dalian Information Resources Management Centre;
(ii) Teloon Soft Strategy Co., Ltd; and
(iii) Dalian Internet Union Co., Ltd
Contents :
1. Introduction
K&N Kenanga Bhd, on behalf of the Board of Directors of AsiaEP (
"Directors"
), is pleased to announce that the Company had on 2 August 2004 entered into three (3) separate Memorandum of Understandings (collectively the
"MOUs"
) with Dalian Information Resource Management Centre (
"DIRMC"
), Teloon Soft Strategy Co., Ltd (
"TSS"
) and Dalian Internet Union Co., Ltd (
"DIU"
) respectively to cross-promote and market each others products and services within the People's Republic of China (
"PRC"
) and internationally as well as to seek cooperation with each other to enhance their respective competitive advantage in the information technology medium.
2. Background information on DIRMC, TSS and DIU
(i) DIRMC
DIRMC is a Dalian Town Council-approved government body engaged in the following activities:-
§
Being in charge of fund distribution in the area of information technology (
"IT"
);
§
Being involved in information management, gathering and distribution to its users within
approved regulations; and
§
Engaged in research activities to facilitate the opening up of IT in Dalian, PRC and the
provision of business models and suggestions to assist in IT implementation in Dalian.
(ii) TSS
TSS is principally involved in the development of software for foreign trade management as well as B2B Internet construction. Some of its major projects include Trader Window Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Shippingchina.com and Hichem.com.
(iii) DIU
DIU was established in July 2000 and is a joint investment between the Dalian City Xigang District and Dalian Internet Union Association with the support of the Dalian Bureau of the Information Industry. The main objective of DIU is to develop electronic commerce and other high technology industries.
Its flagship
www.dl100.com
portal had won the provincial government's commendation and is within the framework of the "1248 Project" in the Dalian City, PRC. It has developed twenty (20) Internet-based bank card payment systems for more than ten (10) banks within the PRC. In addition, DIU is the only company approved by the authorities to conduct telecommunication-related operations in northeast PRC.
www.dl100.com
has in the excess of 300 fixed trade customers and site visits in excess of 50,000 hits daily. Furthermore, its
www.longliang.com
business-to-business operations have opened up the traditional foodstock market in the electronic commerce arena, resulting in an improvement in revenues for its trade members.
www.longliang.com
has more than 10,000 members and has an annual trading of foodstock in the excess of two (2) million tonnes with an estimated value of RMB3 billion through its portal.
3. Salient terms of the MOUs
(i) The salient terms of the MOU between AsiaEP and DIRMC are as follows:-
(a)
AsiaEP will provide its Internet Trade Alliance Hub (
"ITAH"
) interface to host DIRMC's website at
www.dalian.net.cn
. AsiaEP will also be responsible in promoting DIRMC's services for a period of three (3) years;
(b)
AsiaEP is to also promote
www.dalian.net.cn
in the international market while DIRMC is to also promote AsiaEP's products and services to its 50,000 to 80,000 corporate members including the cross-promotion of each others products and services in their respective websites; and
(c)
Both AsiaEP and DIRMC are to jointly organize promotional activities with the aim of penetrating the PRC market.
(ii) The salient terms of the MOU between AsiaEP and TSS are as follows:-
(a) Both AsiaEP and TSS agree to market each other's product and services as well as agree to promote each other in their respective websites including in any of their promotional events via various medias;
(b) AsiaEP will link TSS's shipping portal at
www.shippingchina.com
to AsiaEP's website. AsiaEP will also provide its ITAH interface to host TSS's shipping portal;
(c) TSS is to provide AsiaEP with access to its international trade related information database as well as link AsiaEP's website to its website; and
(d) Both parties are to jointly organize promotional activities with the aim of penetrating the PRC market.
Through the Company's collaboration with TSS via TSS's shipping portal, it is expected that the Company will be able to tap into TSS's member database.
(iii) Salient terms of the MOU between AsiaEP and DIU:-
(a)
Both AsiaEP and DIU agree to market each other's products and services through cross-promotion within each others websites including any of their promotional events via various medias;
(b)
In addition, AsiaEP will also provide its ITAH interface to host DIU's web portals of
www.dl100.com
,
www.longliang.com
, ncp.dalianwww.com and www.chinashipinfo.com;
(c)
DIU is to link AsiaEP's website at www.asiaEP.com to its own website, and to provide AsiaEP with access to its information database; and
(d)
Both AsiaEP and DIU are to jointly organize promotional activities with the aim of penetrating the PRC market.
All other terms and conditions to be agreed upon between AsiaEP and the parties to the MOUs are subject to further negotiations and the Company will make further announcement on the progress of the MOUs in due course.
4. Statement by the Directors
The Directors are of the view that the MOUs are strategic partnerships, which are complementary to the Company's business and would provide opportunities to the Company in expanding regionally, especially in the PRC. Furthermore, such collaboration would also provide an opportunity for the Company to enhance and expand its products base via the promotion and access to PRC traders or MOU parties' member-base from such collaboration as described above.
The Directors are of the opinion that the MOUs will not have any immediate material effects on AsiaEP's financial results. However, such collaborations with DIRMC, TSS and DIU are expected to add value to the Company in the long run. There is no expected capital commitment on AsiaEP's part under the MOUs at this stage.
5. Directors' and Substantial Shareholders' Interest
The Directors and the substantial shareholders of the Company do not have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the above MOUs. In so far as the existing Directors and the substantial shareholders are able to ascertain and are aware, no persons connected to them have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the said MOUs.
This announcement is dated 6 August 2004.