Mirzan Mahathir’s corporate travails
(FOCUS MALAYSIA0 – MIRZAN Mahathir’s ouster as SBI Offshore Ltd chairman has cast a spotlight on the business dealings of the eldest son of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who in his heyday was seen as a “savvy entrepreneur.”
Mirzan has business dealings across a wide range of industries and sectors, including companies registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Yet he has been under the radar save for sporadic instances that touch on his investments or ventures like that of Singapore Exchange-listed SBI or when his name surfaced in the Panama Papers.
But it seems the tycoon has hit a few snags. Based on the list provided by SBI, most of Mirzan’s Malaysian private vehicles, where he is either a director or director/shareholder, have been swimming in red.
This includes his major investment company Crescent Capital Sdn Bhd which had been struggling to break into the black from financial years 2014 to 2018 posting net losses after tax of RM981,844, RM936,194, RM1.15 mil, RM1.75 mil and RM649,258 respectively.
To be sure, for a businessman of his stature, this is not an exhaustive list of Malaysian holdings, but the SBI disclosure acts as a point of reference.
Mirzan first drew significant attention in 1996 when he turned Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (KPB) from a small and sleepy freight-forwarding concern to a major force in local hauling and shipping.
Now-defunct publication Asiaweek dubbed him, then 37 years old, a “savvy entrepreneur” in its article “Out of Dad’s Shadow: Mirzan Mahathir builds a business empire”.
Two years later, when the Asian financial crisis peaked, Mirzan would be rescued by MISC Bhd, the shipping arm of Petroliam Nasional Bhd. MISC acquired KPB for US$220 mil.
