...in Malaysia, is intent on the sales of his investment in MEASAT Global Bhd. The Straits Times of Singapore is reporting that this plans came into being after he sold his power generation assets for around $3 billion. The Economic Times reported that talks about the MEASAT sale started in late 2011, and could involve Saudi satellite firm Arabsat taking a strategic—or even majority stake—in the Malaysian satellite firm, the paper cited a banking source as saying.
Krishnan recently put his entire power portfolio up for sale, with Standard Chartered hired to manage the transaction of about a dozen power plants. It was not immediately clear why Krishnan was putting up the assets for sale. Krishnan maintains a low profile and little is known about his private life. He has launched a number of corporate deals in recent years, relisting part of his Maxis Bhd telecommunications services provider in what was Southeast Asia's biggest initial public offering in 2009. Last year, his team relisted Malaysian oil and gas services provider Bumi Armada Bhd. He has also privatised Malaysian pay-TV monopoly Astro All Asia Networks Plc after a money-losing expansion into Indonesia and India that weighed heavily on the company's finances.
The power plant assets sale has so far attracted 12 bids, Malaysia's Star newspaper reported on Saturday, with Saudi Water & Electricity Co. submitting the top bid of 10.85 billion Malaysian ringgit ($3.60 billion). The Straits Times, however, said control of MEASAT by Arabsat could be difficult, as Malaysia has a 40 percent cap on foreign ownership of strategic domestic assets. Officials from MEASAT and Usaha Tegas, the parent company of MEASAT, said they had no knowledge of the deal. A banking source with knowledge of the deal, however, told Reuters that the plan to sell the satellite asset is at an "early stage". MEASAT company information link.