MALAYSIAN NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTS - SEPT 1, 2006.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 Asia Pulse - Highlights of today's newspapers:

BUSINESS TIMES:

- Wholesaler Makro Cash & Carry Distribution (M) Sdn Bhd?s planned exit from the Malaysian market could signal the entry of a new foreign player into the country.

- Malaysian cellular phone maker M Dot Mobile Sdn Bhd, better known as M.Mobile, is in the final stage of negotiations with an Iranian party to manufacture mobile phones in Iran, sources said.

- GC Gruppe of Germany, one of the world's biggest designer bathroom products wholesalers, has opened a store in Malaysia, the first in Asia.

- Malaysian plantation companies that want to expand but cannot find available land within the country should look to neighbouring West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

- Ranhill Bhd, an independent oil and gas player in the region, is set to drill its first well in the Philippines by June next year and targets to achieve its first production 18 months thereafter.