WAWASAN INDUSTRI BESI YANG ASYIK TIDAK MENJADI

Industri besi memang sakit. Tambah sakit lagi kerana diuruskan oleh orang yang sakit juga. Lihat sahaja Perwaja - semasa semua orang naik dia tidak naik-naik juga. Demi menjaga imej Mahathir ia dibela juga walaupun berbilion rugi sehingga akhirnya beliau sendiri mengaku kalah dan tidak dapat berbuat apa-apa lagi.

Kini penyakit itu sudahpun menular ke semua syarikat besi yang lain di negara ini. Mereka mungkin perlu bercantum - jika tidak mereka akan berkarat dan menjatuhkan lagi imej dan sentuhan Mahathir yang semakin tidak untung itu.

Usahkan dalam negara, di luar negara pun rugi. Halim Saad melalui Hottick Investment telah menyebabkan empat buah bank tempatan rugi berbilion juga kerana memberi pinjaman berdasarkan kolateral saham sahaja dalam NSC. Kini NSC sudah gulung tikar - dan yang teruknya tiada sesiapa pun yang mahu atau berminat untuk membelinya lagi.

Antara Steel (milik Perbadanan Johor) akan diambil alih oleh Amsteel Mills melalui pertukaran aset bernilai $28.5 juta (yang bersamaan 100% pegangan). Amsteel menyatakan ia bertindak demikian setelah dipinta oleh Mahathir.

Antara sudah lama bolos dan merugi. Syarikat NatSteel Singapura ingin membelinya tetapi tidak direstui Mahathir. Menurut pegawai dalam industri itu Amsteel dijangka akan lingkup juga kerana tiada tanda ia mampu menerjah masalah yang mencekiknya. Menurut anggaran terkini Amsteel, Southern Steel, Perwaja and Malayawata -- sedang beroperasi pada kapasiti 2/3 sahaja. Sejak krisis ekonomi 1997-98, sektor pembinaan terjejas teruk sehingga permintaan keluli berkurang.

SANA SINI SEMUA KRONI DAN HUTANG GILA-GILA LAGI

Malayawata kelihatan lebih bernasib baik antara tiga saingannya kerana ia telah diambil alih oleh Ann Joo Resources tahun lepas.

Southern Steel adalah anak syarikat Camerlin Group, yang merupakan salah satu unit Renong - pemiutang terbesar negara.

Amsteel pula dimilikki oleh Kumpulan Lion - pemiutang kedua terbesar negara. Ia baru sahaja mengambil alih Perwaja walaupun syarikat induknya, Lion sedang terjerut dengan hutang lebih RM10 bilion banyaknya,

Lion dianggarkan cuba menyelesaikan masalah hutangnya melalui penyusunan semula Mei nanti tetapi keadaan pasaran saham masakini dan kesakitan bank nampaknya akan menyukarkan hasratnya.

Lion terlibat dalam pelbagai bisnes - termasuk balak dan automotif. Mirzan, anak lelaki Mahathir, mempunyai 15.8% pegangan di dalam kumpulan yang sedang berkarat ini.

Menurut seorang analis, Amsteel sendiri bukannya sedang berdarah - malah ia membayar gaji untuk kumpulan Lion. Masalah sebenar adalah Lion, yang banyak sangat menceburi bidang yang tidak perlu - seperti membuat kasut.

KOMEN

Saya fikir masalah sebenar ialah terlalu banyak mengambil nasihat dan idea yang tidak berguna oleh Mahathir. Perhatikan Mahathir kerap muncul merasmikan itu ini yang berkait dengan besi - malah sanggup hadir walau sekadar satu sesi menanda tangani MOU di Filipina untukmu besi. Mesti ada sebab beliau sukakan besi.... sampai anaknya sendiri berniaga besi dan Halim Saad menceburinya di dalam dan di luar negeri. Inilah satu misteri yang tidak terjawab sampai hari ini. Mungkinkah kerana kukunya besi? Malah titian yang menghubung dua menara Petronas diperbuat daripada besi - tetapi tidak diambilpun dari negara ini........

-TJr Kapal Berita-

Rencana Rujukan:

http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/010415/3/mw0a.html

Sunday April 15, 12:52 PM

Shake-up seen in Malaysian steel industry

By Baranee Krishnaan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's steel industry is headed for a shake-up, with the government seen stepping in to make management changes at debt-hit firms and compelling them to merge, according to industry officials.

The first evidence of consolidation is the recent takeover of state-owned Antara Steel by Amsteel Mills, one of the bigger and more efficient local firms in the business.

Amsteel is to begin production by end of April of billets and angle bars at Antara's mill, located in southern Johor. The firm swapped assets worth $28.5 million with Antara's owner Johor Corp for a 100 percent stake in the mill.

"It was a request from the PM," an Amsteel executive said, referring to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, when asked what prompted the acquisition.

He said Antara was losing money and NatSteel Ltd (Singapore: NATS.SI - news) in Singapore, which neighbours Johor, was keen on buying it. "But the PM didn't want the company to go to foreigners."

Industry officials said Amsteel might perform a similar turn for Perwaja Steel, which has run up losses of more than $760 million and is under investigation for allegedly corrupt deals.

ASIAN CRISIS HURT DEMAND

The Metal Bulletin magazine said in February a study of the domestic steel sector had suggested a restructuring of Antara, Perwaja and another ailing state concern, Gunawan Iron & Steel.

Malaysian steel companies saw good times when the country's construction sector boomed during a decade of spectacular economic growth between the late 1980s and mid 1990s.

But the Asian crisis of 1997-1998 damaged the construction business and, along with it, the demand for steel.

It has yet to recover.

Industry officials said the country's four big producers -- Amsteel, Southern Steel, Perwaja and Malayawata -- were running at around two-thirds of capacity.

Estimates put the four companies' combined billet capacity at about four million tonnes a year, with rolling capacity at some 3.5 million tonnes.

Malayawata is in better financial shape than the other three after a takeover by Ann Joo Resources last year.

Southern is a unit of Camerlin Group , which is part of Renong , Malaysia's biggest debtor. Amsteel is owned by Lion , whose debts are second only to Renong's.

Mahathir courted Amsteel after the recession to take over Perwaja. But Amsteel's parent Lion was mired in debts of more than 10 billion ringgit ($2.6 billion).

Lion is expected by May to resolve a complex restructuring plan, aided by the government, which will help it overhaul 5.9 billion ringgit of borrowings and divest non-core assets.

Its businesses include timber and automotive interests. Mirzan Mahathir, one of the prime minister's sons, has a 15.8 percent stake in the group, according to its 2000 company report.

FEWER, STRONGER FIRMS NEEDED

"This business needs mergers to create fewer and stronger players and also government help in the form of money," said Raj Ganesan, a sales executive at a steel works company.

A senior executive of a local steel firm said the industry's problem was bad decisions, not bad people.

"Amsteel, on its own, isn't bleeding and is helping to pay the Lion Group's salaries," he said. "The problem is with Lion, which went into too many things, including shoe-making."

But a change in attitude seems to be developing.

Steel mill proprietors, who bothered little about operational details during the good times, are on production floors these days, running the show with other menial workers.