Khalid forgotten how much he bought Guthrie?

 

Here is more on the Ijok ADUN wannabe.

Something is amiss here. It seems Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, former Generalissimo Guthrie claimed that he bought Guthrie’s shares from PNB back in 1994 at market prices. This was reported by The Star (www.thestar.com.my ) :

 

Nation

Friday April 27, 2007

I bought shares at market price, says Khalid

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said his acquisition of shares in Guthrie Bhd was a commercial transaction.

“The idea of obtaining the share options was first suggested to me by the late Tun Ismail Ali in 1994 and it was agreed by the chairman of Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputra (the holding company of PNB), then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“I acquired them at market price and it was a commercial transaction, not free or discounted shares. This matter remains in court and any further discussion should happen during the court proceedings,” he said in a press statement yesterday.

Khalid, also a former Permodalan Nasional Bhd chief executive officer, was commenting on Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s claim on Wednesday that Khalid’s animosity for Barisan Nasional was because he had failed to acquire a 20% stake in Guthrie.

Khalid said he planned to sue Najib and those who had made false and unfounded statements about him.

“I have instructed my lawyers to prepare a lawsuit against Najib and all others who have been making false and unfounded statements. It is my intention to be transparent and straightforward in all my dealings.”

In a separate statement, Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he was instructed by Dr Mahathir in 1994 to write a letter to allow Khalid to purchase Guthrie shares at market price.

“I have known Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim for many years. During my time as Finance Minister, he approached me on many occasions for many issues, but never once had he ever asked for shares or allocation for his own benefit.

“I was and still am very impressed by Khalid’s honesty, integrity and his concern for the common people by introducing the Amanah Saham Nasional and Amanah Saham Bumiputra schemes in the country,” Anwar said.

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However, this what something dug from The Asian Wall Street Journal report, on the same issue, dated 17 June 1994:

PNB Chief Moves to Guthrie With Lucrative Share Deal

By Raphael Pura

Staff Reporter

775 words

17 June 1994

The Asian Wall Street Journal

PAGE 1

English

(Copyright (c) 1994, Dow Jones & Co., Inc.)

KUALA LUMPUR — The chief executive of Malaysia’s huge national investment corporation will leave his post with a hefty golden handshake and the promise of more gains to come.

Permodalan Nasional Bhd. said Thursday that Abdul Khalid Ibrahim will acquire up to 20% of its publicly listed subsidiary, Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd., when he leaves his post as PNB chief executive on July 1 to become Guthrie‘s deputy chairman and chief executive officer. Datuk Khalid will initially buy a 5% stake in Guthrie, or 50 million shares, for 125 million ringgit ($48.1 million), or 2.50 ringgit a share. He will also have a three-year option to buy an additional 15% of Guthrie at a price to be determined.

Guthrie stock closed Thursday at 3.96 ringgit per share, up 24 sen. That means Datuk Khalid will enjoy an immediate windfall, on paper, of about 73 million ringgit. But Datuk Khalid said at a press conference that he intends to hold his Guthrie stake as a long-term investment, and plans to expand the company. “PNB wants Guthrie to be a corporation that could challenge . . . other multinationals in Malaysia and elsewhere,” he said.

Guthrie, one of Malaysia’s biggest plantation concerns, last year made a pretax profit of 101.4 million ringgit on revenue of 1.05 billion ringgit. The company currently is 90% owned by PNB, a government-created investment holding company that manages a portfolio valued at about 20 billion ringgit, the bulk of it in the form of unit trusts owned by more than three million Malaysians.

Datuk Khalid will be replaced at PNB by Mohamed Hilmey Mohamed Taib, a 41-year-old former banker and accountant who is currently PNB’s deputy chief executive.

Datuk Khalid, a 47-year-old former university lecturer and merchant banker, joined PNB in 1978 and helped direct the then-fledgling investment company’s growth into a mammoth stock-holding concern for Malaysia’s “bumiputra,” or indigenous, citizens. He also helped create a unittrust scheme whereby bumiputras, mainly ethnic Malays, can purchase shares in PNB’s underlying stock portfolio and reap hefty dividends. PNB’s after-tax profit rose 17.5% in 1993 to 736.9 million ringgit.

PNB made an international splash in 1981, when it wrested control of Guthrie from the company’s British shareholders through a one-billion-ringgit “dawn raid” on the London Stock Exchange. PNB’s other long-term investments include stakes in Malaysian Mining Corp. Bhd. and UMW Holdings Bhd.

Although Datuk Khalid‘s shift to Guthrie was expected, some Malaysian securities analysts were surprised at the heavily discounted 2.50 ringgit price for Guthrie shares that PNB offered its departing chief. When PNB floated 10% of Guthrie on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in 1989, the company pledged to offer an additional 20% of Guthrie‘s equity to the public. The prospective sale to Datuk Khalid fulfills that promise, but it means PNB is passing up the chance to seek a higher price for Guthrie stock from other bidders or the public.

“It really looks like PNB is paying (Datuk Khalid) off,” says one securities research manager, who believes Guthrie stock would sell readily. “They’re forgoing a higher price on the market by offering such a discount.”

Datuk Khalid says he regards the arrangement “not as a monetary reward, but as an opportunity because the risk is being taken by me.” He adds that he is financing the acquisition largely through bank borrowings secured by the Guthrie shares. “I’ve not taken this much liability in my career,” he says. “None of my family assets could cover this liability.”

The PNB chief adds that the arrangement has the support of PNB chairman Ismail Mohamed Ali, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Dr. Mahathir and Datuk Anwar head Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputra, a government-backed foundation that is PNB’s ultimate holding company.

Datuk Khalid says he decided to leave his PNB post for the challenge of owning and running a large company. “A portfolio manager is very different from an operational manager,” he says, though he declines to outline his plans for Guthrie. The company’s earnings have grown only slowly in recent years and Guthrie has begun seeking ways to expand into fields such as property development.

Mr. Hilmey, who replaces Datuk Khalid at PNB, has spent 13 years with the investment company, serving as assistant general manager of one of PNB’s unit trusts and general manager for finance before becoming deputy chief executive in 1990.

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There are clear contradictions on the story, although it is about the same subject. Maybe Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim “forgotten” what actually happened. He should be reminded what was said and transpired then, before wanting to sue the Deputy Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak for telling the story, as how it happened. Of course, people do their research well, in these sort of campaigns.

Khalid already did a blunder on Wednesday night campaigning in Ladang Tuan Me when he coyly asked the audience to vote for the BN candidate and waved as the crowd cheered. Now this? The inconsistency. Maybe if Khalid keeps getting his facts wrong (even that concerns himself), then most probably he is not right man for Ijok. Or what is it again? BN candidate? 🙂