Personalities to look out for in 2014

By KINIBIZ

KiniBiz reveals its list of personalities who are likely to make a mark for better or for worse in 2014. We also outline briefly why you should keep a keen eye out for them.

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Liew Kee Sin

At 55, SP Setia president and chief executive officer Liew has reached a pinnacle that culminated in having the prime ministers of Malaysia and United Kingdom officiate the groundbreaking ceremony of SP Setia’s RM38-billion Battersea Power Station redevelopment project.

Having built SP Setia into the leading player it is today, winning the Oscars of the industry along the way, his contract ends in March 2015 and Liew has expressed his desire to leave — many expect him to depart as early as March 2014.

But at 55, it seems too early for the man’s property journey to end. If Liew indeed departs SP Setia in 2014, the big question is what he will do next.

There is much talk around Liew and fast-rising Eco World Development Holdings Berhad, with his youthful son sitting on the board as director seen as his proxy. While he has denied involvement, the fact is that he provided financial backing for his son’s involvement in the renamed Focal Aims Holdings.

Additionally, the sheer number of his close associates in Eco World carries heavy suggestions on Liew’s future. However, Liew previously told KiniBiz that he has had enough of work and wants to retire.

Is Malaysia’s top property man really taking a bow next year? Only time will tell where Liew ends up next and it will be an exciting story to watch as it unfolds further.

— by Khairie Hisyam

Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Ibni Almarhum Sultan Mahmud Iskandar Al-Haj of Johor

Earlier this month, Hong Kong-listed developer Guangzhou R&F made headlines with a 116-acre land acquisition in Johor for which the company will be paying RM4.5 billion.

The seller is none other than the Sultan of Johor himself. About a week later, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail emerged as a 20% stakeholder in Berjaya Times Square Sdn Bhd, which owns Berjaya Times Square Mall in a RM250-million cash buy-in.

But the Sultan’s involvement in business is nothing new. In May 2013, for example, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail increased his stake in REDtone Sdn Bhd to 51% from the previous 30% in a RM315,000 cash deal. What is notable is the fact that the Sultan’s dealings of late involve his name being on the paper rather than staying out of the limelight.

In addition, it is no secret that the Johor royal family owns plenty of prime real estate in the state. That coupled with having plenty of cash— the Guangzhou R&F money will come in four stages, but a deposit of RM100 million is already paid — means the spotlight is firmly on Sultan Ibrahim Ismail for his majesty’s next investment move.

— by Khairie Hisyam

Morten Lundal

Maxis chief executive officer Morten Lundal’s management style and ideas are the opposite of what Malaysia’s largest celco is used to, which is why analysts believe it is exactly what the wounded giant needs.

While Maxis has always had a strong reputation for being fiscally prudent and cost efficient, it has also for a long time been known as being top-heavy with too much red tape encumbering the decision making process.

This is where Lundal comes in; known for his preference for a leaner more and more informal company structure, he is likely to remove much of the bureaucracy that exists in Maxis and create a team more conducive to responding to the market and consumer needs.

He has said that one of his first and main priorities will be to regain the prepaid market share that Maxis has lost. But more importantly, he notes that next year will be year of transformation and it is fair to say that Maxis’ success beyond 2014 will largely depend on Lundal’s success in transforming Maxis and the way it works in the next 12 months.

— by Stephanie Jacob

Kenneth Pereira

Due to the nature of Spacs, investors have to decide if it is a good bet on the back of the strength of their management team. As Hibiscus is an oil and gas focused Spac, it is perhaps fair to say that Kenneth Pereira with his industry background was Hibiscus Petroleum’s best marketing feature.

As its managing director it is also likely he was the driving factor behind acquiring the Rex Technology as its qualifying asset, which Hibiscus touts as being able to improve the odds of finding oil in prospective fields. That technology is being put to its most important test this month in Hibiscus’ oil fields in Oman.

Should it succeed, Pereira will be helming a company possessing technology that improves the odds in a business where usually only one in every seven wells drilled, actually has oil. However if it fails, Pereira will have to convince investors that he was and is a good bet and show them that he still has the capacity to grow Hibiscus into a strong oil and gas player in the Malaysian market.

Either way, Pereira’s expertise and management skills are going to be in the limelight come 2014.

— by Stephanie Jacob

Abdul Farid Alias

Abdul Farid Alias took the reins of Maybank in August, after the top post fell vacant when then chief executive officer Abdul Wahid Omar was appointed as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

He immediately had a full plate of issues to deal with, not least the resignations of two other key senior personnel – head of Indonesian operations Khairussaleh Ramli and the CEO of Maybank Investment Bank Tengku Zafrul Tengku Aziz, with market talk suggesting that both left after missing out on the top post.

In terms of meeting the banking groups goals however, one of Abdul Farid’s key challenges was to determine how Maybank will meet its goal of generating 40% of profits from operations outside Malaysia by 2015.

It had been widely expected that the bank were looking at merger and acquisition options in Thailand, but Abdul Farid appeared to dismiss this early last month when he said that he felt the Thai market was over-valued. On the other hand, the bank has been indicating that it is looking to expand upon existing operations to meet its targets.

With key decisions to be made in a competitive banking sector, Abdul Farid’s decisions in 2014 will be key to determining if Maybank meets its own ambitious goals.

— by Stephanie Jacob

Teh Hong Piow

Teh Hong Piow, 83, currently operating out of Pantai Hospital, is the 3rd richest man in Malaysia, and also the founder of Public Bank Bhd, which he founded in 1966, as well as  non-executive chairman of the board, making this year his 63rd year of banking experience.

At the age of 20, Teh began his foray in banking as a bank clerk for Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd, where he was promoted to a bank officer five years later. In 1960, Teh was a manager in Malayan Banking, and four years later, he was the general manager. Two years after that, he founded what is now the third largest banking group in Malaysia.

However, with Teh still in hospital, there remain worries about the passing of the mantle should anything happen. His children are not keen on taking over, and the question on the minds of shareholders is whether or not Teh will let go of his shares in the group, or if he will pass it on to someone in the group? If he were to pass it on, who would he pick? Would it be managing director Tay Ah Lek? What about the speculations of a merger between Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank? These all remain unanswered.

Teh remains one of the people to look out for in 2014, as the bank hinges on his decision as, whatever it may be, there will be a cascading set of events to follow.

— by Xavier Kong

William Cheng

William Cheng, chairman and chief executive officer of Lion Group, is another figure to watch in 2014. Head of the group that not only owns Parkson Holdings but also sector-dominant Megasteel, the 70-year-old is now faced with a dilemma regarding the steel company.

Megasteel was slapped with a charge of non-competitive conduct, and subsequently fined RM4.5 million by the Malaysian Competition Commission, for selling their hot rolled coil at a price that produced anticompetitive effects. At the same time, there were also rumblings that Syed Mokhtar had an eye on the company. Megasteel is the only integrated flat steel mill in the country to produce both hot and cold rolled coils.

If the offer ever comes, will Cheng sell Megasteel? This is the question shareholders are looking forward to in the coming year.

— by Xavier Kong

Nik Hamdan Daud

With Barakah Offshore Petroleum having a breakout year in 2013, its founder and deputy executive chairman Nik Hamdan Daud is expected to steer the company to bigger things next year as it targets between RM500 million and RM600 million worth of yearly contracts.

“We believe we can take the company into the big league in the oil and gas industry,” Nik said.

After making a promising debut on Bursa Malaysia this year and with a clientele that includes big players in the industry such as Petronas, SapuraKencana and ExxonMobil the company has gone from strength to strength.

Barakah (through its subsidiary PBJV Sdn Bhd) was one of the big winners in Petronas’ RM10 billion Pan Malaysia TNI (Transportation & Installation) contracts that were awarded this month. In the much-anticipated decision by Petronas, Barakah nabbed Package A that could be worth up to RM1.5 billion to RM2 billion over three years.

The Petronas Pan Malaysia contract is said to be a game-changer for Barakah because it elevates the company’s prospects as a turnkey TNI contractor. It is generally known as the market leader in the pipeline pre-commissioning segment.

— by Khairul Khalid

Ngau Boon Keat

Dialog’s founder and executive chairman Ngau Boon Keat is set to have another stellar year with its flagship PIDPT (Pengerang Independent Deepwater Petroleum Terminal) expected to start operations in the first quarter of 2014.

“The company will see (PIDPT’s) revenue flowing by April next year,” said Ngau who is a veteran of the oil and gas industry.

The RM5 billion PIDPT project is a partnership between Dialog, Dutch company Royal Vopak N.V (the world’s largest independent tank storage provider) and the Johor state government. PIDPT was initiated by Ngau who envisions it as a future “Rotterdam of Asia.” It is part of the government’s ambitious plans to turn Pengerang, Johor into a petroleum hub.

Ngau is also adamant that PIDPT will succeed despite the recent delay in Petronas RM60 billion RAPID (Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development), a centerpiece in the Pengerang project.

Besides PIDPT, Dialog has also signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Singapore’s Concord Energy for a feasibility study on a dedicated crude oil and petroleum storage terminal in Pengerang. It is also preparing the final investment decision on its RM4.08 billion LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) terminal also to be developed with Vopak.

— by Khairul Khalid

Surin Upatkoon@ KK Lau

Thai-born Surin Upatkoon (also known as KK Lau) emerged in MWE Holdings Bhd’s surprise acquisition of a 22.15% stake in the West Coast Expressway (WCE) concessionaire Kumpulan Europlus Bhd (KEB) from Chan Ah Chye and Sze Choon Holdings. The deal worth RM155 million took MWE’s shareholdings in KEB to 27.40% to become its largest shareholder. KK Lau holds 32.96% of MWE as well as being the largest shareholder of Magnum Bhd and MPHB Capital Bhd.

Even though the deal allows MWE to diversify from its core textile business to KEB’s WCE highway concession, it is said to be more interested in the future prospects of Bandar Rimbayu a township development by IJM Corp Bhd, the second largest shareholder of KEB with a 23.85% stake. The township is worth RM9 billion in GDV (Gross Development Value).

The deal also signals the exit of Chan from KEB. He has worked on WCE for the last 17 years but his  lack of financial clout was seen as a major stumbling block in raising funds for the long-delayed 233km tolled highway from Banting to Taiping worth an estimated RM6billion. With Chan out of picture, WCE could finally take off.

— by Khairul Khalid

Low Taek Jho @ Jho Low

Jho Low is likely to be in the spotlight next year when 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) goes for its much awaited initial public offering (IPO).

The young, high flying businessman has been instrumental in much of the debt papers issued by the state controlled 1MDB, which has raised eyebrows.

Other than the debt papers, 1MDB’s acquisitions of power plants, previously held under Tanjong Plc, Genting Sanyen Sdn Bhd and Jimah Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd, could also thrust it and possibly those linked to it, including Jho Low, into the spotlight, when disclosures are made in its prospectus.

1MDB has generated much interest with the opposition led Pakatan Rakyat questioning the high coupon rates for the debt papers.

Will Jho have to surface to assist in the IPO, placing shares out to his Middle Eastern billionaire buddies?

Other than 1MDB, it would be interesting to see if Jho Low and his partners’ acquisition of Coastal Energy will change the landscape of the Malaysian oil and gas industry.

Jho Low and an Abu Dhabi government linked fund, acquired Canadian oil and gas outfit, Coastal Energy Co for US$2.2 billion.

Among others, Coastal Energy has expertise developing marginal oil fields.

Coastal at present has a risk service contract with publicly traded Petra Energy Bhd, developing the Kapal, Banang and Meranti oil fields.

Will Coastal Energy become a key oil and gas outfit in Malaysia, and bag more RSCs?

— by Jose Barrock

Daim Zainuddin

It’s never easy to link anything to former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin. Latest from the rumour mill however had him looking to develop land in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, a stones throw away from the twin towers, where dance club Zouk is located.

Market watchers however add that, many of Daim’s point men have been busy these past few years, and are all sitting on cash, large sums of cash.

What they plan to do with the cash however is not known.

One such example is Focal Aims Holdings which is being taken over by Eco World Development Holdings Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Maple Quay Sdn Bhd), and Liew Tian Xiong the son of tycoon businessman Liew Kee Sin.

Focal Aims and it chairman Mohd Razali Abdul Rahman were instrumental in sealing the takeover by property development giants SP Setia. In SP Setia the company’s former chairman who is now with Eco World Development, Abdul Rashid Manaf, was Daim’s lawyer.

Mohd Razali was also also chairman of Peremba (M) Bhd a Daim linked company. Mohd Razali as at end December last year had 7.3% in Focal Aims.

To recap Eco World Development was buying 65.05% of the of the company’s stock, for a total cash consideration of RM230.7 million cash which is equivalent to RM 1.40 per share. Mohd Rozali has made quite a bit from the sale.

Other than Mohd Razali, Robert Tan Hua Choon, another known associate of Daim, has also been active on the local market.

Across the causeway, in Singapore, Daim’s son Mohd Wira Dani, and another supposed associate of the former Finance Minister, John Soh Chee Wen wreaked havoc on the Singapore bourse, with several companies’ stocks tanking and losing chunks of their market capitalisation.

Then one of the local property counters supposedly linked to Daim, Plenitude recently hit record highs, of RM2.74 late last month giving it a market capitalisation of about RM690 million. It was trading at the RM1.80 band in January this year.

— by Jose Barrock

Mohd Wira Dani Abdul Daim

Usually low key, Wira Dani, son of Daim Zainuddin, hit the news for all the wrong reasons when the stocks of companies he was linked to, tanked, leaving investors and the authorities in a quandary.

Among the stocks that were impacted were LionGold Corp Ltd, Asiasons Capital Ltd and Blumont Group Ltd, Innopac Holdings Ltd and ISR Capital just to name a few.

At LionGold (which was in the heart of the mess), a substantial shareholder other than Asiasons is Wira Dani who at that time had 6.3% equity interest, and is a non-executive director at the mining company.

Wira Dani is also the executive chairman of ISR Capital and had a 17.8% shareholding in the company. Other substantial shareholders in ISR Capital are Asiasons with 32.5%, and ECM Libra Financial Group which has 24.4% interest.

News reports from Singapore state that ISR Capital was the stock broking arm of Asiasons.

While nanny state Singapore has been uncharacteristically silent on the whole issue, the market has been churning out a whole slew of stories, and implicating a whole host of Malaysians.

Wira Dani should hog the limelight again, should Singapore choose to take action as a result of the melee.

Even if Singapore decides against taking action, Wira Dani’s name has hit the news for all the wrong reasons.

— by Jose Barrock

John Soh Chee Wen

After many years below the radar, Soh’s name surfaced this year, supposedly as the force behind the melee in Singapore where several stocks such as LionGold Corp Ltd, Asiasons Capital Ltd, Blumont Group Ltd, Innopac Holdings Ltd and ISR Capital Ltd’s stocks plunged.

While there is no direct link to Soh, all fingers are said to point to Soh with many of his point men from the go-go years in the 1990s surfacing in the Singaporean counters that saw erratic price movements.

Soh’s silence like that of the Singaporean authorities has been deafening to say the least.

While many link him to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, others say he has been a Daim man for many years, and his support of Anwar is merely him (Soh) hedging his bets.

Is he done with the stocks in Singapore, or will there be more such action next year? Can and will the Singaporean authorities pin anything on him?

Despite his long absence from the Malaysian stock market scene, Soh’s name still generates a lot of interest. Will he broaden his horizons, from across the causeway into Malaysia this time around?

— by Jose Barrock    

Robert Tan Hua Choon

The low key tycoon Tan, is one of Daim’s known associates. Prior to Daim listing his ICB Financial Group on the Alternate Investment Market or AIMS, some of the former Finance Minister’s banks in Eastern Europe were held by Tan.

At present some of the companies linked to Tan include PDZ Holdings, FCW Holdings, Jasa Kita, Keladi Maju, GPA Holdings, Marco Holdings and Goh Ban Huat, while his family is said to control other counters like UBB Holdings.

Interestingly enough his sister Tan Kewi Yoon is married to another prominent businessman Desmond Lim Siew Choon of Pavilion REIT and Malton Holdings fame.

Unlike other years, where there is pin drop silence other than irregular and sharp share price movements, this year he made the news when SunSuria Development Sdn Bhd took over the listing status of his Malaysia Aica.

From January until September this year Malaysia Aica was largely a 50 sen counter, but surged to a high of RM1.11 in October, a multiple year high, on news of SunSuria taking over.

According to sources next year Tan may exit more companies of his or get more involved in mergers and acquisitions, but details are scarce at this juncture.

The question is what is Tan’s game plan, and will there be any indication of what the big picture is, or what lies in store for his slew of assets.

— by Jose Barrock    

Halim Saad

This year Halim Saad made the headlines when he sued former Minister in the Prime Department, Nor Mohamed Yakcop, the Government and state controlled investment arm Khazanah Nasional, alleging that Khazanah’s takeover of his companies, Renong Bhd and United Engineers (M) (UEM) and related assets, was unlawful.

He claimed RM2 billion general damages among others for the Renong purchase obligation, and alternatively damages for fraudulent misrepresentation, interest, cost among others.

The application was struck out at the High Court level, it seems Halim failed to raise a reasonable cause of action for the case to be tried, adding that the suit was also filed out of time. Nevertheless Halim has appealed the decision.

Whether he succeeds or not, Halim has certainly ruffled some feathers, in his uncharacteristic suit, and his next moves could generate interest next year.

Other than the suit, Halim’s Sumatec Resources has been among the most active counters on the Bursa Malaysia of late.

While some say that Sumatec is undervalued as the company has oil and gas assets in the Rakushechnoye Oil Field in Kazakhstan, others however are still sceptical.

Sumatec signed a joint investment agreement with Halim’s private company, Markmore Energy Labuan Ltd and CaspiOilGas LLP in March last year, to enable Sumatec to participate in the development and production of oil and gas in Kazakhstan until 2025.

According to company officials there are 47 wells drilled in the oil field and five are operational and producing oil.

Thus Halim is likely to be in the news next year, either by virtue of his suit against the Government, Khazanah Nasional and Nor Mohamed, or his current flagship Sumatec’s oil and gas exploits.

— by Jose Barrock

Desmond Lim Siew Choon

The reclusive tycoon’s flagship companies are Pavillion Real Estate Investment Trust and Malton Bhd, could be in the news next year as a result of many large property deals he is undertaking.

With the legal wrangling between Johor Corp (JCorp) and Malton solved amicably, Lim’s vehicle seems likely to enforce a 2009 agreement whereby JCorp will sell prime land in Pusat Bandar Damansara for RM700 million — made up of a 20-storey commercial building in Petaling Jaya known as V Square, as part payment and RM500 million cash.

Malton had previously announced that Lim’s plan entailed the construction of five new towers, (two office blocks and three residential) as well as a mall on the tract of land.

Analysts have forecasted Pusat Bandar Damansara being the next growth area for Lim, and pegged the redevelopment exceeding RM10 billion in gross development value.

Lim with his deep pockets made headlines in 2010, when his Urusharta Cemerlang Sdn Bhd, acquired land just adjacent to his Pavilion for a hefty RM210 million or some RM7,209.80 per sq ft, setting a new record, for land in the area.

Sources say the plan involves Lim and another tycoon, Syed Mokhtar who also owns many parcels of land in the region jointly developing the area.

Lim’s Malton also has plans to develop Pavilion 2, in Bukit Jalil, partnering a land owner in the area.

Other than the above, Lim was also in the running to bag a RM8 billion railway construction job, linking Gemas in Negeri Sembilan to Johor Baru, partnering China Railway Engineering Corp.

Lim is also closely linked to officials of Qatar Holdings LLC, a Qatar state investment arm, and the two are building Harrods in Kuala Lumpur. Qatar Holdings is also a substantial shareholder in Pavilion REIT.

— by Jose Barrock

Chandran Ramamurthy

He is on his way to becoming a household name in this country. Regardless, he is certainly one to watch in the local aviation scene for next year.

Chandran is the CEO of Malindo Airways, which only started operations early this year. Malindo is backed by Lion Air of Indonesia in a 51:49 joint venture with a Malaysian partner, National Aerospace and Defence Industries (NADI).

In the first year of operations alone, Chandran has led Malindo on an aggressive charge to establish Malindo, a self-styled hybrid carrier, as the third largest domestic carrier and not far off in terms of size of operations from Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia.

Chandran has plenty of experience in running an airline, completing a fruitful stint at Lion Air prior to his current position.

Like the charismatic Tony Fernandes, Chandran knows exactly how to build media hype around his airline. In late 2012 he put the airline on the map when he announced Malindo would be hiring unemployed Malaysian pilots.

Periodically he has invited members of the media, finance analysts and bloggers on flights to inaugural destinations to reach out to a broad audience.

But after getting off to a roaring start this year, Malindo may need to tone down the pace of its growth as heavy discounting becomes financially unsustainable in the current environment of declining passenger yield, a measure of average ticket prices.

Malindo entry into the market this year coincided with a massive expansion of domestic flight capacity at Malaysia Airlines, causing yields to plunge as both airlines discounted heavily to fill excess seat capacity.

With budget stalwart AirAsia reporting some of the lowest cost structures in the world, Chandran will have to manage cost expansion at Malindo, which some assume to be high, owing to the ‘frills’ in the airlines standard product offering.

Next year should see Malindo add international flights to its network to build on synergies with associate airlines, Lion Air and Thai Lion Air. Chandran and Malindo will continue to make the headlines for some years to come.

— by Chan Quan Min