Four Chinese dailies under Sin Chew Media Corp and Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd will keep their titles and there will be no consolidation between them following their proposed merger with the Hong Kong-listed Ming Pao Enterprise Corp.

At a press conference in Petaling Jaya today, Sin Chew's top management said the dailies will have their respective editorial independence and there will be 'minimal' content sharing.

Present at the press conference were Sin Chew managing director Liew Chen Chuan, executive directors Rita Sim, group editor Siew Nyoke Chow, general manager (legal and corporate services) Chan May May and Christopher Chan, the investment banking director from CIMB.

CIMB has been appointed as the adviser for the proposed merger via a share swap arrangement.

The merger will create one of the world's largest Chinese media conglomerates with Malaysian media tycoon Tiong Hiew King controlling more than half of the enlarged group share.

The merged entity will have more than 5,000 employees, operating and publishing major Chinese-language newspapers and magazines in Malaysia, Hong Kong, the United States, Canada and China.

Explaining that there will be no consolidation between the dailies published by Sin Chew and Nanyang, Sim said the dailies have segmented reader groups.

It is for this reason also, Liew explained, that the sharing of editorial content would be minimal among the dailies.

Sin Chew publishes Sin Chew Daily and Guangming Daily, and Nanyang publishes Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press. The four dailies take up 85 percent of the total Chinese daily circulation in Malaysia.

Under the proposed merger, Sin Chew and Nanyang would be delisted from Bursa Malaysia and replaced with Ming Pao, which would see the first Malaysia-Hong Kong dual primary listing.

Foreign company

Sin Chew and Nanyang will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of Ming Pao which is incorporated in Bermuda.

Questions were raised on whether the merger would result in the two largest Chinese media groups in Malaysia being owned by a foreign company.

Meanwhile, May May said although Ming Pao is a foreign company, its biggest shareholder - Tiong - is a Malaysian.

Following this, CIMB's Christopher said Tiong would control between 51 and 52 percent of the merged entity.

Sin Chew's managing director Liew told reporters that Ming Pao is registered in a country acceptable by Malaysian authorities.

According to Sim, the new media conglomerate plans to venture into new areas such as the internet and electronic media.

On the other hand, Liew ruled out the possibility of retrenchment in Sin Chew but said he cannot comment on behalf of Nanyang.

Asked on MCA's stand, which holds 23.3 percent of Nanyang share, Sim told reporters to direct the question at the MCA leadership.

Nanyang must reply to the general offer by the end of March this year. If it goes according to plan, the merger will be completed by February 2008.