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[Rencana ringkas ini mungkin nampak tidak begitu menyerlah tetapi ada
sesuatu yang ingin disampaikannya. Bukankah Mahathir juga adalah one-man
show sekarang? Sila rujuk juga rencana Fortune: Meet Kuala Lumpur's Mr. Big.
- Editor] For the first time, three companies in Malaysia's top 10 are
owned by the same tycoon By S. Jayasankaran/KUALA LUMPUR Issue cover-dated December 27, 2001 - January 3, 2002
Company Leaders (Chart)
MALAYSIAN MAGNATE T Ananda Krishnan undoubtedly
made the biggest splash on this year's REVIEW 200 list. All
three companies that he controls made the Malaysian top
10--a first for any Malaysian businessman since the
survey began. The three are Malaysia's largest
mobile-phone operator Maxis Communications (No. 6),
satellite and Internet services provider Measat Broadcast
Systems Network (No. 9) and gaming and entertainment
company Tanjong (No. 10). Tanjong is publicly listed, while, like national oil corporation
Petronas (which jumped to No. 3 from No. 5 previously),
both Maxis and Measat aren't. Indeed, Measat is still losing
money, while Maxis began turning a profit in 1999. But the
survey respondents liked both companies' management and
their high-quality products and services. "I'm not
surprised," says Dominic Armstrong, the head of research
for ABN Amro in Singapore. "Krishnan has run his
companies according to international standards and now
they're bearing fruit." Gaming and cruise-ship conglomerate Genting placed first
overall for the eighth year running. The company has an
impressive cash hoard and has diversified out of gaming
into power, plantations, paper and oil and gas. And most of
these divisions are profitable. Public Bank moved up a
notch to the second spot, a testimony to its prudence and
superior asset quality. In a climate of rising bad debt, the
bank held its own at 4.5%, way below the industry average
of 12%. Petronas moved up smartly, thanks to its steady
management and impressive balance sheet. For the six
months to end-September 2001, Malaysia's only Fortune
500 company registered a pre-tax profit of over 13 billion
ringgit ($3.42 billion) on sales of 33.3 billion ringgit.
Maybank, Malaysia's largest bank, dropped two places to
No. 4, perhaps due to lower earnings and rising levels of
bad debt, which reached 8.3% by the end of September
2001. The rest of the top 10 were largely unchanged from
last year, with infrastructure company YTL Corp.,
manufacturing firm Hong Leong Industries and multinational
Sime Darby all making return appearances.
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