By Chan Quan Min
Malaysia Airlines shares has been suspended from trading on the stock exchange as of this morning pending an important announcement.
The national airline said the trading halt was “requested by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, being our major shareholder” and was made in preparation “for a proposal from Khazanah in relation to a material corporate exercise.”
Loss-making Malaysia Airlines, also known as MAS, is expected to seek a de-listing from Bursa Malaysia before going into a deep restructuring, Reuters reported yesterday.
State investment fund Khazanah may need to pay upwards of RM1.23 billion to buy the 31% of shares in Malaysia Airlines it does not already own, based on yesterday’s closing price of 24 sen per share.
In a packed press conference earlier this year, Khazanah managing director Azman Mokhtar told reporters the fund has ploughed “more than RM5 billion” into MAS over the years for very little, if not no financial gain.
MAS is in dire need for a restructuring after five long years deep in the red or barely breaking even.
This has been recognised by the airline’s management, which had to face a barrage of criticism from shareholders during Malaysian Airline System Bhd’s most recent annual general meeting (AGM) in June.
One concerned shareholder urged the board of directors to “give immediate treatment” to the ailing airline. Several others, all retired employees of the airline, lamented the sad state of the once proud flag carrier.
During the AGM, the airline’s non-executive directors elected to return any fees paid to them for the year 2013 after conceding the board’s performance has been poor.
“Our only option at this point of our business evolution is radical or sweeping change,” Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said.
In the short span of less than five months, the airline has been struck with two deadly air disasters: the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 in one of the most desolate parts of the world and the sudden downing of MH17, widely thought to be due to missile strike.
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