‘Invisible dealmaker’ who left indelible impression on Malaysia

 

Ananda Krishnan was a successful dealmaker with a reputation for being an impeccable timer of markets. (EPA Images pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

To say that reclusive tycoon Ananda Krishnan – who passed away today at 86 – is an enigma is probably an understatement.

To most Malaysians, he is a man of mystery in that hardly anyone knows his thinking or views given that he had given very few interviews over the years.

News agency Reuters probably summed it up best when it described him as the “invisible dealmaker” in a 2012 article.

It described Ananda as having quietly initiated a number of deals that left observers perplexed but earned him a reputation of being “an impeccable timer of markets”.

Despite his reticence, he built a business empire spanning telecommunications, pay-TV, gaming, property, and oil exploration, making him Malaysia’s sixth richest man with a net worth of US$5.1 billion (RM22.7 billion), according to Forbes.

While people may not know much about the man, many Malaysians have benefitted from his business ventures over the years, especially his Measat satellite, Maxis mobile phone and Astro pay-TV services.

His corporate empire also includes TGV Cinemas Sdn Bhd, the country’s second largest cinema chain.

Ananda also played a key role in the development of the iconic Petronas Twin Towers in the early 1990s.

Having forged close ties with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, he sold the leader the idea of building the 88-storey twin towers on the land occupied by the Selangor Turf Club, according to the same Reuters article.

Billionaire from Brickfields

Ananda, also known by his initials AK, was born in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur to Tamil parents of Sri Lankan origin.

The billionaire from Brickfields had his early education at Victoria Institution. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia, as a Colombo Plan scholar.

He earned his Master in Business Administration (MBA) at Harvard University in 1964 where he met the Arabs who would later give him his break in the oil trading business.

He began his entrepreneurial journey by setting up MAI Holdings Sdn Bhd, a consultancy firm. He then ventured into various sectors including oil drilling through Exoil Trading, when he secured significant concessions internationally.

In the 1970s, he was roped in by former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to beef up Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) trading business.

Ananda served as a director of Petronas for two years in the mid-1980s, and was also a director of Bank Negara Malaysia between 1982 and 1987.

An astute businessman, Ananda was one of the few tycoons who successfully made the transition out of the old economy – oil trading and property development – to the new economy of telecommunications and entertainment via Maxis Bhd and Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, respectively.

Measat, then known as Binariang Sdn Bhd, launched its first two satellites in 1996, propelling Malaysia into the space industry. The move paved the way for reliable mobile telephone and data transmission services throughout the country.

Corporate potholes

However, it had not always been a smooth ride for Ananda in his corporate journey. He upset some shareholders by taking Maxis private in 2007 only to relist it in 2009 in a IPO that raised RM11.2 billion.

The deal cemented his reputation for taking his firms private and re-listing them for maximum gain.

In July this year, he was in the limelight again with market talk suggesting that Maxis was exploring a buy-out of U Mobile Sdn Bhd. However, the potential deal fell through after tycoon Vincent Tan, one of the major shareholders of U Mobile, rejected the offer, according to reports.

His oil field services company, Bumi Armada Bhd, was also in the news recently on the prospect of buying MISC Bhd’s offshore energy business.

News reports indicated the two companies were exploring a merger, particularly involving Bumi Armada’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) assets.

Away from the corporate world, Ananda was known for his philanthropy, contributing to charitable causes and leveraging media platforms to drive such initiatives.

According to Forbes, Ananda, a devout Buddhist, helped raise millions for the Live Aid concert for African famine relief in the mid-1980s. The concert in London featured rock band Queen and their frontman Freddie Mercury.

He is survived by his son, Ven Ajahn Siripanyo, whose mother is of Thai royal descent. Ven later became a Buddhist monk. He also has two daughters. - FMT