BNP Paribas starts Mewah International (MV4.SG) at Buy with a $1.33 target price. It says Mewah — Malaysia’s second-largest palm oil refiner and sixth-largest globally — has modern plants with state-of-the-art equipment, uses computerised process control and robotic system-storage facilities:

“All of which equates to operational efficiency.”" The house notes Mewah controls 14% of the Malaysian edible-oil market and is embarking on an expansion programme over 2010-13 that is expected to raise refining capacity 19% and quadruple its specialty fats output. 

It says one of Mewah’s key success factors is its management’s decision to integrate and modernise when most competitors were satisfied to remain pure refiners. The house benchmarks Mewah against Wilmar (F34.SG), rated Buy, Olam (O32.SG) not rated, and China Corn Oil (1006.HK) not rated, to derive a target blended mean P/E of 14X. Shares are off 0.9% at $1.09.