Daily Briefing: Grab app to stream movies and TV shows by March; Axiata weighs in on Keppel's exit offer for M1

And Singapore and Malaysia discuss maritime issues.

From CNBC:

Grab partnered with regional video streaming start-up Hooq to be able to stream movies and TV shows on its app by March.

The companies said they will offer over 10,000 hours of content from an extensive library of Hollywood films, popular local dramas and free-to-air channels from Hooq. Grab users would also get a three-month trial with the service, which will first be available in Singapore and Indonesia by the end of March, the companies said.

“Amongst our customers ... video is the most important form of engagement for them. We’re looking at the subscription-based video on demand, (which) actually is poised to grow three to four times over the coming few years,” Liu told CNBC in an interview.

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From Bloomberg:

With three weeks left to decide, Malaysian telco giant Axiata held a board meeting last week to discuss the merits of the $1.9b offer made by Keppel and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), sources revealed.

“From the way it has played out, it’s clearly something that they are considering, and they probably don’t want to be antagonistic,” said Jin Rui Oh, a senior analyst at United First Partners in Singapore. “It’s not a lose-lose situation for them, since this goes towards paying off debt on their balance sheet.”

Keppel and SPH, which hold a combined 32.8% of M1, earlier said that they won’t increase their bid of $2.06 per share “under any circumstances whatsoever.” They extended the closing date for the offer by two weeks to 18 February, giving investors more time to consider tendering their shares.

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From Yahoo! News Singapore:

Singapore and Malaysia kicked off their working group which dealt with the ‘constructive discussion’ for the recommendations regarding the ongoing maritime dispute involving the respective port limits of the neighbouring countries.

Meeting for the first time in Putrajaya Malaysia, they aim to submit the recommendations to the foreign ministers of Malaysia and Singapore for their consideration when finalised.

Singapore and Malaysia have been embroiled in a maritime dispute since 25 October last year, sparked off by Malaysia’s unilateral decision to extend the Johor Bahru port limits. Subsequently, there were repeated intrusions of Malaysian government vessels into Singapore waters, beyond what Malaysia had previously claimed as its own waters in a 1979 map.

Read more here.