This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 2, 2024 - December 8, 2024
IN July 1985, as the Live Aid concerts played simultaneously to packed crowds in Wembley Stadium in London, England, and John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, aiming to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia, word emerged that the financial backer for the organisers, musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, was a Malaysian named Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan or AK as he is popularly known.
With Ananda’s help, the concert raised US$240 million, a huge sum by any standard, for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Luckily for Ananda, who values his privacy, social media had yet to rear its ugly head and he managed to remain low key, below the radar until his passing last week on Nov 28.
In a rare interview, he is reported to have said, “I have heard some people say I have a low profile. Why should somebody be high profile, anyway? I am just doing my job.”
The Edge’s former editor-in-chief Ahmad Azam Mohd Aris (now editor emeritus), and a former writer Norzuhaira Ruhanie had met with Ananda at the end of November 2005 at the Petronas Twin Towers when undertaking research for the book, The Quintessential Man: The Story of Tan Sri Azizan Zainul Abidin, the former chairman of national oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).
Norzuhaira shared that Ananda was charming, and offered them cheesecake he said he had baked earlier in the day. Memorable, she said, was his calling card which only carried his name and an email address, [emailprotected], which reads “takut” the Malay word for fear. It was apt as Ananda, hot-tempered and sharp-tongued, often instilled fear in those who worked for him.
The late Azizan — president and CEO of Petronas from 1988 to 1995 — was acquainted with Ananda, who was a director of Petronas from 1984 to 1986. They became friends during Azizan’s tenure as a senior private secretary to former prime ministers, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In mid-July this year when The Edge wrote that Ananda’s Bumi Armada Bhd (KL:ARMADA) could be taken over by Petronas’ 51% unit MISC Bhd (KL:MISC), there was already talk that Ananda was ill.
Other than Bumi Armada and MISC, there were also rumours of Ananda-controlled Maxis Bhd (KL:MAXIS) being merged with smaller telco outfit U Mobile Sdn Bhd, which was recently awarded the rollout of the second 5G network by the government.
Channel checks revealed that Ananda was having lung issues and may have difficulty travelling, which prompted talk of asset divestment.
Just recently, in November, a plan was announced to merge Bumi Armada with MISC’s offshore business to create an energy services outfit with combined assets worth over RM20 billion.
According to sources, also on the block for a possible sale is Ananda’s Tately NV which is the operator of the Palmerah Production Sharing Contract or PSC for an oil and gas block in South Sumatra Basin, Indonesia.
An international businessman
One of Ananda’s close associates who spoke to The Edge on condition of anonymity says, “He (Ananda) is perhaps the most international businessman in Malaysia … he has assets all over the world.”
He is quick to add: “But he is so low key, what he owns is not publicly known ... what he has done, his philanthropy is also not publicised. If you look at it, what he has achieved is really something extraordinary … for a man who came from a humble upbringing, what he achieved is amazing.”
Among the internationally known assets of Ananda are Worldwide Hotel Investments NV which owns luxury hotels such as the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, in Geneva, Switzerland, and a 2.2ha parcel of land in London — the St John’s Wood Barracks, which was home to the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
In Australia, he has a stake in the merged Vinery Stud and Kia Ora Stud farms which produce thoroughbred horses, as well as Media Innovations Holdings Pty Ltd which is the holding company of Fetch TV.
Other interests include an Indonesian oil exploring entity Tately NV and Philippines-listed Paxys Inc, formerly known as Fil-Hispano Holdings Corp which operates call centres in the Philippines.
There’s also his some 45% stake in Sri Lanka Telecom plc, which has a market capitalisation of US$400 plus million, among others.
His actual wealth is difficult to estimate as he leaves the daily running of his businesses to professionals and trusted lieutenants.
On the local front, Ananda has Lim Ghee Kheong on his flagship holding company Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd, and on the boards of Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd (KL:ASTRO) and Paxys in the Philippines.
Other lieutenants include lawyer Maureen Toh Siew Guat, who is a director at Usaha Tegas and Bumi Armada, and a more recent addition is Rohan Rajan Rajasooria, the group treasurer at Usaha Tegas, who also sits on the boards of Maxis and Bumi Armada.
Chan Chee Beng who was once deemed a key Ananda associate is now on the board of Sri Lanka Telecoms.
Sources familiar with Ananda say another name that has popped up as a trusted lieutenant is Sivam Kandavanam, who is a director of Ananda’s private company, MAI Holdings Sdn Bhd.
Malaysian assets
Locally, Ananda’s publicly traded entities include Maxis, in which he has 75% equity interest in BGSM Equity Holdings Sdn Bhd which in turn owns 62.24% in the telco. At Maxis’ market capitalisation of RM27 billion, Ananda’s stake is worth RM12.6 billion.
In oil and gas stalwart, specifically floating, production, storage and offloading player Bumi Armada, Ananda’s 34.58% holding is worth RM1.15 billion given the company’s market value of RM3.34 billion.
Ananda has a 41.25% stake in Astro, a content and entertainment company valued at RM1.12 billion, meaning his stake is worth RM462 million.
Other assets include Measat Global Bhd, which was privatised and removed from Bursa Malaysia in September 2010, in a deal which valued the company at RM1.64 billion.
Lesser known assets include Pexco Exploration which is known to have had exploration assets in Sarawak some years back.
While Ananda may have been low-key, his deals sparked a lot of interest with his treatment of minorities often coming under fire.
Some of Ananda’s deals
His myriad assets overseas did not come without problems, as underscored by the huge legal issues he faced in India and Indonesia.
In early August 2016, the Indian Central Bureau of Investigations applied for warrants of arrest against Ananda, his associate then, Augustus Ralph Marshall, and a number of others over money laundering allegations involving Indian telco Aircel over a 2G spectrum allocation scandal. Maxis then owned 74% of Aircel.
Initially, India’s former Telecoms minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi were also implicated in the case but were later cleared. Suffice to say, Malaysian police did not act on India’s requests for his arrest.
Ananda’s issues in Indonesia meanwhile hinged on a dispute with the Lippo Group helmed by James Riady, and involved a failed joint venture between the two to undertake a satellite TV business in Indonesia.
Locally, his sale of power assets held under Tanjong plc came under the spotlight for a number of reasons.
In 2010 Ananda privatised Tanjong at RM21.80 per share to buy over the 53% he didn’t own in the number forecast operator and independent power producer with 13 power generation plants in Malaysia, the Middle East and North Africa. He forked out RM4.7 billion, which valued Tanjung at RM8.8 billion.
About a year later, Ananda hived off Tan jong’s number forecast operations held under Pan Malaysian Pools Sdn Bhd to a consortium led by the family of Tan Sri David Cheng, for RM2.1 billion. Other consortium members included Tan Sri William Cheng of Lion group, Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan of Hong Leong group and Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay of Genting group.
In March 2012, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) acquired Tanjong Energy Holdings for RM8.5 billion with Ananda purportedly making RM1.8 billion in less than two years from asset stripping Tanjong.
The RM8.5 billion acquisition price tag back then, worked out to some 16.5 times FY2012 earnings. The generous valuation was odd as three of the local power plants which accounted for 40% of Tanjong’s power generating capacity only had a few years to their concession ending.
For instance, the 440mw Teluk Gong power plant’s concession was to expire in 2016, Pahlawan Power’s 330mw plant in 2020 and Panglima Power’s 720mw plant in 2023. To add to the murkiness of the whole deal, Ananda is reported to have loaned 1MDB as much as RM2 billion to settle a debt with local banks.
In 2002, Ananda floated Maxis Communications Bhd but privatised it five years later, forking out RM16 billion or US$4.6 billion for the 40% he didn’t own. Shortly after the privatisation he hived off a 25% stake in Maxis Communications to Saudi Telecom Co for US$3 billion or RM9.57 billion.
Then in 2009 he relisted Maxis’ Malaysian operations — deemed mature — in one of Southeast Asia’s biggest-ever initial public offerings (IPOs) then, raising RM11.2 billion.
A similar stunt was repeated with Astro or Astro All Asia Networks plc, which was privatised in June 2010 and its mature Malaysian operations sold in an IPO in October 2012.
But to many, Ananda may be best known for the turf club deal where he burnished his credentials.
In 1989, he stumped out RM110 million for a 100-acre parcel of land — the site of the former Selangor Turf Club — and an additional premium of RM320 million to Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur to convert the status of the land to build KLCC, under privately held Sri Kuda Sdn Bhd.
Ananda managed to rope in Petronas in the gargantuan development and hived off a 51% stake in the company to the national oil company for RM681 million in the 1990s.
Sri Kuda morphed into KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd, and Ananda sold his 49% stake in KLCC Holdings to Petronas in 2002 for a tidy profit. While the figure remains undisclosed, estimates have pegged it at RM1.2 billion.
Private life
Although many have baulked at his deals, it is no secret that the tycoon was charitable, dishing out millions for the advancement of education and sports.
University scholarships were awarded under such banners as Harapan Nusantara, Yu Cai Education Foundation and Yayasan Daya Diri, among others.
Ananda himself was not born into wealth as his father was a civil servant and mother a homemaker.
Born on April fool’s day 1938, in unfashionable Brickfields, he was the oldest of three sons of Jafna Tamil descent. While one brother, Gopala Krishnan of Jemima Studios fame has died, another brother Maya Krishnan is understood to be still involved in Ananda’s businesses.
Ananda attended Vivekananda Tamil School in Brickfields and later Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur, before heading under the Colombo Plan to the University of Melbourne, Australia, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science. In 1964, he obtained an MBA at Harvard Business School.
His only son, Ajahn Siripanyo from his marriage to Thai royal Momwajarongse Suprinda Chakraban, is a monk in Thailand and not interested in Ananda’s business empire. After his first marriage ended, Ananda is understood to have married a French national but little is known about his wife or family.
According to sources familiar with Ananda, he had placed all his assets in trust prior to his death.
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