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How much do Bolehland tycoons owe their friendly bankers?

An interesting list of Bolehland companies with net gearing levels of more than 100 per cent suggests that what its banks have is not financial stability. Many of Bolehland's brightest and best control these companies, and what they owe the banks is mindboggling. (But then mindboggling is a Bolehland trait: we mindboggled when Bolehland went big on dreams, so it is natural we mindboggle when that dream laddles up with real-time mega debts.) The list is marked "Appendix 3: Companies with net gearing level > 100%". It is part of a larger document, and so it is only a partial list of what Bolehland's brightest and best owe our banks, and, of course, it does not include the debts they incurred overseas with an abandon that could well have the IMF breathing down our necks.

According to this list, Tan Sri Halim Sa'ad controls six companies with a total debt of RM16,671.9 million; Tan Sri Tajuddin Ali two with RM959.2 million, while one Mahathir sibling controlled two companies with debts of RM1,760.6 million and another one with RM545.5 million. Tan Sri Vincent Tan controls two companies with total debts of RM6,505.5 while Dato' (Duta) Yap Yong Seong two owing RM2,143.2 million. Malaysia's Onassis-in-waiting, Dato' Amin Shah, has two companies owing RM509.1 million. Tan Sri Dato' Dr Ting Pek Khing controls Wembley and its debt of RM374.8 million. Dato' Joseph Chong controls Wing Teik, with its debts of RM845.1 million. Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan controls Hume Industries with its debts of RM1,631.1 million. Khazanah Nasional, which controls Tenage Nasional with its debts of RM17,389.2 million, is not only Bolehland company controlling other companies. DRB with Bolton controls two companies which have debts of RM4,144.9 million, while Kumpulan Darul Ehsan controls SAP Holdings with its debt of RM403.1 million and MRCB of Malakoff which owes RM3,159.7 million.

As I mentioned, this is only a partial list of companies with net gearing of more than 100 %. The net gearing ratios of these and other companies not listed varies from 66% to 454%, with the gross gearing levels much higher. Invariably, many of these companies have fallen foul of the rules, as indeed their controlling shareholders have. Much of these loans would have been locally negotiated in which banking rules would have been persistently defied. It is not therefore surprising that a business man, asked to repay his loan, took out a pistol to threaten the banker, as the Far Eastern Economic Review reported recently. What would have been surprising would to have the business man who threatened the banker arrested and charged in court. As this list shows -- as would every list of non-performing loans of Bolehland's banks and finance companies -- in Bolehland, what is allowed Zeus is disallowed the cow.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my