TJ Ringkas: (Yang penting sahaja)

MAS UNTUK DIJUAL

PM berkata kerajaan akan membenarkan syarikat asing memiliki ekuiti yang lebih besar dalam MAS. Had maksima tersebut telah dinaikkan daripada 30% kepada 45% bulan September lalu kerana prestasi MAS yang semakin merosot.

1. Tahun fiskal 2000: rugi $33 juta (suku tahun pertama)
2. Tahun fiskal 1999: rugi $183 juta
   
3. Tahun fiskal 1998: rugi $62 juta
   

Hutang terkini: lebih $2 billion

Menurut AFP pula:

1. Tahun fiskal 2000: rugi bersih RM $258.57 juta (suku tahun pertama)
2. Tahun fiskal 1999: rugi bersih RM $700 juta

Pelabur luar kini memiliki 16% ekuiti MAS dimana 9% darinya dipegang oleh Brunei Investment Agency, satu badan kerajaan Brunei,

SCMP: EKONOMI YANG PULIH?

Rencana ini agak panjang, tetapi kita berminat dengan satu perenggan berikut:

Although Malaysia's economy has recovered dramatically from the Asian financial crisis, foreign direct investment remained low. The government has funded most new infrastructure projects by expanding its expenditure budget and enlarging public debt.

Walaupun ekoonomi Malaysia telah beransur pulih dengan dramatik daripada krisis kewangan Asia, FDI masih rendah. Pihak kerajaan telah memberi dana kepada hampir semua projek infra struktur (yang besar?) dengan mengembangkan belanjawan belanja dan menambah hutang awam.

Komen:

Sedangkan beberapa syarikat gergasi Malaysia berhutang dengan banyaknya, baik dengan bank atau melalui jaminan bon. Yang bank pula sudah kehilangan RM 3 billion angkara skandal Hottick-NSC.

Sila rujuk rencana yang saya bawa sebelumnya.

Petronas: untung tapi tidak setara pendapatan. Bon yang amat tinggi bunganya.

MAS: RM 2 billion hutang (rencana ini)

TNB: RM 25 billion, dimana 43% dalam matawang RM.
rencana no 2970

IWK: RM 700 juta hutang, hutang bantuan kerajaan sahaja mencapai RM 925 juta
rencana 2980

http://www.thedailydeal.com/features/inthenews/A30363-2000Oct17.html

Malaysian airline for sale

by Lachlan Colquhoun
reporters@thedailydeal.com

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad hung a "for sale" sign on loss-making national airline Malaysian Airline System Bhd. Tuesday, Oct. 16, by nominating aviation as a strategic industry needing foreign investment.

Mahathir said his government would allow high levels of foreign equity in the airline and port industries. The decision, in effect, reverses the country's efforts to limit foreign ownership in designated strategic industries.

"We will allow that because now it is important to have strategic alliances," Mahathir told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

His comments on MAS have been seen as an attempt to attract more foreign interest in the carrier, which has been in discussions with Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. on an equity tie-up.

The decision also comes as Malaysia's dream of creating a regional air hub at its new international airport outside Kuala Lumpur were hit by British Airways plc's announcement Monday that it will cease direct flights from London in April. The airlines has served the country for 50 years.

Now it may be Quantas' turn.

The Australian airline was reportedly set to buy up to 25% of MAS for $260 million, but those talks seem to have stalled.

The Malaysian government would have welcomed Qantas, 25%-owned by British Air.

The airline would have moved its regional hub from Singapore to the new $1.6 billion Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The Australian airline has refused to comment.

But MAS says Qantas is one of a group of potential foreign suitors.

The maximum foreign ownership limit for MAS was lifted from 30% to 45% in September as a response to the company's ongoing poor performance.

After a $183 million loss in fiscal 1999, MAS lost $62 million last year and $33 million in the first quarter of this year.

The company is also more than $2 billion in debt.

Foreigners already hold 16% of the company, with 9% held by the Brunei Investment Agency, a government body.

http://news.catcha.com/my/content.phtml? 1&010&&afpnews.cgi&cat=malaysia&
story=001018101326.4mnkzqyp.txt

Malaysian govt may forego 'golden share' in flag carrier

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (AFP) - The government is willing to forego its "golden share" in Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (MAS) if it would help attract foreign investment in the flag carrier, a minister said Wednesday.

The government holds a special share in MAS -- popularly referred to as the "golden share" -- allowing it to veto key company decisions to ensure consistency with government policy.

Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik said the government has to review its holding of the golden share if this caused foreign investors to lose interest in MAS.

"If the golden share is a hindrance to the continued development of MAS and if it discourages foreign investment, then we might have to think it over again," he was quoted as saying by the national news agency Bernama.

Ling said the government has no intention of interfering in MAS talks with prospective strategic partners, but wanted the national carrier to remain in Malaysian hands.

"We know that MAS is holding talks with many airline companies around the world looking for partners," he said. "In this age of globalisation, the keyword is strategic alliances."

Last month, the loss-making Malaysian carrier said it was still negotiating with several potential alliance partners, including Australian airline Qantas Airways.

MAS posted a net loss of 258.57 million ringgit (68 million dollars) in the year to March, compared to a net loss of 700 million ringgit the year before.

On British Airways' (BA) plan to suspend its Kuala Lumpur-London route from April next year, Ling said his ministry would request talks with BA.

"We are having the talks to see if the BA's flights can be compensated and be given to MAS," he said, adding that the route could be profitable for the Malaysian carrier.

BA operates six flights weekly between Kuala Lumpur and London with a total passenger volume of about 100,000 people a year. MAS flies the same route 14 times a week.

Subject: SCMP : Mahathir calls for foreign investment

From The South China Morning Post, HK
17th October 2000

Mahathir calls for foreign investment

ASSOCIATED PRESS in Kuala Lumpur

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday called for increased foreign investment in Malaysian ports and airline companies, saying that the Southeast Asian nation would favour investors who brought in technology and expertise.

''We do not allow people just to invest. Like the pension funds, they do invest but they bring nothing, except money,'' Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

''What we are interested in are people with certain expertise, markets or services which will contribute toward the performance of our facilities through their investments,'' he told local reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Although Malaysia's economy has recovered dramatically from the Asian financial crisis, foreign direct investment remained low. The government has funded most new infrastructure projects by expanding its expenditure budget and enlarging public debt.

Dr Mahathir, however, said Malaysia's annual budget for 2001 was unlikely to contain any new incentives for foreign investors.

In a speech to ethnic Chinese businessmen earlier on Tuesday, Dr Mahathir cautioned domestic entrepreneurs from expecting too much from the information technology business.

While quick profits might be made, Malaysians might lack the experience to sustain such businesses, he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

''The bubble grew and grew and as expected it burst. A lot of people got hurt. A lot of money was lost. And suddenly dotcom companies became liabilities as their failure to make money became general knowledge,'' he said.

A strong advocate of the new economy and information technology, Dr Mahathir hopes that these would be the new engines of growth for the Southeast Asian country which has so far depended on trade and manufacture.

http://www.scmp.com