Sarawak businessman Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, who is a son of the sitting Sarawak governor Abdul Taib Mahmud, acquired a 5.03% stake in KNM in the open market yesterday to make himself a major player in the ongoing saga.
In a statement issued today, Johor princess Tunku Kamariah Sultan Iskandar welcomed Mahmud, whom she referred to as her “favourite businessman”, to the upcoming EGM to consider replacing the current board of directors with a line-up handpicked by her.
In her first statement on the saga surrounding the events that have led to the proposal to call for the EGM, Tunku Kamariah also touched on a wide range of issues, from statements on the pricing or valuation of KNM to her vision for the company over the next five years.
She urged shareholders to cast their vote at the EGM, scheduled for Monday, “to protect their rights and rescue KNM”.
By doing so, she said, the shareholders could prevent a potential lawsuit and “any undesirable outcome” for KNM.
The EGM has been called by parties aligned to German businessman Andreas Heeschen, who is a substantial shareholder of KNM, to enable shareholders to consider replacing the current board of directors with a new line-up led by Tunku Kamariah.
Also included in the proposed line-up are Heeschen and former KNM executive director Flavio Porro.
Heeschen now holds a 7.91% stake in KNM. Together with Mahmud’s 5.03% and those of eight other shareholders, Tunku Kamariah’s side now has control of 15.71% of the interests.
Negeri Sembilan prince Tunku Yaacob Khyra, who is chairman of KNM, is also the largest shareholder. He has a 9.5% indirect stake, according to the company’s local bourse filing dated Oct 6.
Coupled with MAA Group Bhd’s 8.55% stake, Tunku Yaacob’s interest in the company now amounts to 18.05%.
The statement stated that Heeschen, who has also been described as a friend of Tunku Kamariah, had been invited to invest in Malaysia “with the hope of restructuring KNM from its financial struggle while bringing in foreign direct investment (FDI) and to create jobs”.
It said that her intention was to form a board of directors to steer the company out of PN17 status to safeguard the interests of creditors, employees, customers and shareholders.
Based on a statement by current CEO and managing director Ravindrasingham Balasingham, Tunku Kamariah believes that the current directors “lack the necessary resources to effect a turnaround”.
In an official statement from KNM dated Sept 8, Ravindrasingham had been quoted as saying that “we lack the resources necessary to fund such a turnaround”.
Tunku Kamariah expressed confidence that the new directors have the ability to take KNM out of its PN17 status.
She also outline a five-year plan that will include injecting new capital, acquiring new assets, investing in new projects, cooperating with inter-governmental bodies and securing new long-term contracts.
“We have local and European resources to help KNM settle the debt. Possibly, a migration of debt of about Є160 million via bridging loan and special issuance of bond. And we have the resources for capital raising of around RM400 million via appropriate corporate exercise,” she added.
Tunku Kamariah also took a swipe at “certain parties” for valuing KNM at 40 sen a share, asserting that it does not align with the company’s net tangible asset of 21 sen as stated in its latest quarterly report.
She added that such remarks, which she described as “speculation”, were an attempt to influence investors.