By Stephanie Jacob
Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, managing director at Weststar Group said that talk suggesting that he is interested in buying national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) are just rumours. He made the comments at a signing ceremony between his aviation arm Weststar Aviation Services and KKR & Co, an American investment company, to announce the latter’s acquisition of a “substantial minority stake” in Weststar Aviation.
Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim
The point was later reiterated by a high ranking member of the Weststar Group corporate affairs department who said “we have no idea where it came from (MAS rumour), but I can tell you it is just that, a rumour.”
Talk on the street had suggested that Syed Azman who is the founder of the Weststar Group, which includes the above mentioned aviation arm was interested in purchasing the much maligned airline from the government.
MAS is currently striving to reverse its bad fortunes, which have been ongoing since the then privately owned airline hit turbulence during the Asian financial crises of 1997/98. Following its failure to get back on its feet as a private company, the government nationalised the carrier again through its investment vehicle Khazanah Nasional.
It went through two rescue programmes — a so-called widespread asset unbundling or WAU programme in 2002 under which the assets, mainly aircraft were placed under the government, and then again in late 2005 when a new CEO, Idris Jala, was brought in to turn its fortunes around. Idris left in 2008 to become a minister and head of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit or Pemandu in the prime minister’s department.
Post the world financial crisis in 2008, Malaysia Airlines went into the red with large losses requiring a massive capital injection via a rights issue. The current CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya was appointed to take the reins in 2011 and has said that he expects to return MAS into profitability by year end.
In recent months talks that Khazanah might be open to selling the carrier to a willing buyer has been rife, and it got louder after Idris Jala seemed to suggest that the government should sell its stake in MAS. Jala later emphasised that MAS was not for sale, and that he had merely meant that hypothetically the government should sell the airline but only at the right price.
Nonetheless, it has not quelled the rumours that should a willing individual or group make an offer for MAS, it would be seriously considered by the government. Aside from Syed Azman, another interested party is said to be tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary, who so far has not made any public comments confirming or denying that he is interested in the carrier.
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