PETALING JAYA: Speculation that tycoon T Ananda Krishnan could be looking to sell his controlling stake in Kuala Lumpur-listed Maxis Bhd has surfaced, although not for the first time.
The rumours arose a few months ago, but seem to have gained momentum following what is said to be a “house-cleaning” exercise at the telco, where seven senior executives, including its chief executive, have parted ways with the company just recently. More top management staff could be leaving, sources have said.
Although close associates of Ananda have rebuffed the idea, saying that no such sale was taking place, other insiders are bandying about a figure of RM35bil as the price tag to purchase Ananda's effective stake of 29% in Maxis.
Ananda owns 45% (via Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd) in the telco's holding company, Maxis Communications Bhd, which, in turn, owns 64.4% in the listed Maxis.
The other shareholders of Maxis Communications are Saudi Telecom Co (25%) and certain bumiputra shareholders (30%).
Maxis is the country's largest mobile player by revenue and subscriber base and is in the midst of repositioning itself as an integrated player.
The RM35bil price tag is more than double what the market values the stake at. Maxis' market capitalisation last Friday stood at RM50.6bil, giving Ananda's 29% stake a value of RM14.6bil.
One of the names being linked to a possible acquisition of Ananda's stake in Maxis is Puncak Semangat, a new kid on the telco block which had won a block of 4G long-term evolution or LTE spectrum. It would make sense for any newcomer to the capital expenditure-intensive telco industry to acquire existing operators who have invested well in their networks.
However, industry players said that it was unlikely that any one player in the market currently had that kind of firepower to acquire the controlling stake in Maxis.
“You think anyone has that kind of money? I would dismiss the talk,” said someone in the know.
On the other hand, there are insiders who reckon that the time would come for Ananda to start looking at hiving off his major assets, especially when they are trading at a high value.
“Ananda is 74 years old. Although in relatively good health, there isn't a family scion to take over the businesses. It only makes sense for him to start divesting assets and putting the cash into trusts for his family,” said one corporate executive who used to work for one of Ananda's companies.
Incidentally, Ananda is said to be taking a personal interest in the reorganisation underway at the top management of Maxis. There is also a plan to streamline operations and “flatten” its organisational structure.
Aside from the seven top management personnel leaving the company, more are believed to be on their way out, considering that the reorganisation plans include reducing the 24 divisions at Maxis into less than half that number.
“The idea is also to enhance accountability within the group,” said a source.
Maxis was expected to announce a new reorganisation structure early next week, the source added.
By B K SIDHU, bksidhu@thestar.com.my
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