UEM Group Bhd will continue with its restructuring programme to ultimately focus on its three core areas of construction, property and expressways, its chairman said.
The diversified government-owned company plans to restructure certain businesses internally or sell them to existing management or interested third parties like other government-linked companies (GLCs).
"We will dispose and use the money to develop other core areas," chairman Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali told Business Times in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.
UEM Group is wholly owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, a government investment arm. It has more than 40 operating companies with total assets of about RM29 billion.
The business restructuring started about two years ago, Tajuddin said, and is also in line with the government's demand for GLCs to shed non-core businesses.
"It is about making sure that each operating unit is focused and properly structured in order to be competitive.
"It is about the right people owning the right thing and doing the right thing," he said.
UEM Group's construction arm is UEM Builders Bhd, which was taken private last year, while UEM Land Holdings Bhd is its property flagship developing the Nusajaya township that is part of Iskandar Malaysia, a special economic zone.
PLUS Expressways Bhd is the toll highway business.
"Using that, we should go abroad to get the real contributor to the economy," Tajuddin said.
It plans to streamline existing businesses. This has already started with the transfer of two highways, Elite and Linkedua, to PLUS from UEM Group for RM866 million.
Another toll concession is the Penang Bridge, which sits under UEM Builders; ideally, it should also end up under PLUS.
UEM Group also has interests in the healthcare business through pharmaceutical manufacturer Pharmaniaga Bhd and support services provider Faber Group Bhd.
Tajuddin, stressing there had yet to be a concrete plan, said that, for instance, a bigger healthcare group could be created if the healthcare businesses of UEM Group and Khazanah were combined.
Khazanah owns hospital operator Pantai Holdings Bhd, part of Singapore firm Parkway Holdings Ltd, and part of India's Apollo.
However, Tajuddin said the restructuring will be done carefully.
"We're dealing with livelihoods. There are employees. Doing this should improve their career and opportunities," he said.
By Business Times (by Shahriman Johari)
"We will dispose and use the money to develop other core areas," chairman Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali told Business Times in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.
UEM Group is wholly owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, a government investment arm. It has more than 40 operating companies with total assets of about RM29 billion.
The business restructuring started about two years ago, Tajuddin said, and is also in line with the government's demand for GLCs to shed non-core businesses.
"It is about making sure that each operating unit is focused and properly structured in order to be competitive.
"It is about the right people owning the right thing and doing the right thing," he said.
UEM Group's construction arm is UEM Builders Bhd, which was taken private last year, while UEM Land Holdings Bhd is its property flagship developing the Nusajaya township that is part of Iskandar Malaysia, a special economic zone.
PLUS Expressways Bhd is the toll highway business.
"Using that, we should go abroad to get the real contributor to the economy," Tajuddin said.
It plans to streamline existing businesses. This has already started with the transfer of two highways, Elite and Linkedua, to PLUS from UEM Group for RM866 million.
Another toll concession is the Penang Bridge, which sits under UEM Builders; ideally, it should also end up under PLUS.
UEM Group also has interests in the healthcare business through pharmaceutical manufacturer Pharmaniaga Bhd and support services provider Faber Group Bhd.
Tajuddin, stressing there had yet to be a concrete plan, said that, for instance, a bigger healthcare group could be created if the healthcare businesses of UEM Group and Khazanah were combined.
Khazanah owns hospital operator Pantai Holdings Bhd, part of Singapore firm Parkway Holdings Ltd, and part of India's Apollo.
However, Tajuddin said the restructuring will be done carefully.
"We're dealing with livelihoods. There are employees. Doing this should improve their career and opportunities," he said.
By Business Times (by Shahriman Johari)
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