This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 15, 2017 - May 21, 2017

DATUK Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid is understood to have left Tradewinds Corp Bhd, where he was chairman, after a little more than two years at the plantation and property development outfit.

While his reasons for leaving are not known, this raises the question of whether he plans to stay on at power generation company Malakoff Corp Bhd, where he has been the group managing director since May last year.

Azhar could not be contacted for comment.

Both Tradewinds and Malakoff are controlled by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary. While Tradewinds is wholly owned by the tycoon after a privatisation exercise in 2013, publicly traded Malakoff is 37.58% controlled by him.

“I am not sure if he will eventually leave Malakoff as well, but he has left Tradewinds … he left a few weeks ago, quite suddenly,” says a source familiar with Syed Mokhtar’s group of companies.

Prior to joining Syed Mokhtar’s group, Azhar was the CEO of Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd and acting CEO of plantation giant Sime Darby Bhd. He was interestingly also at the helm of Pernas International Holdings Bhd, which eventually morphed into the Tradewinds group of companies.

Among the key units under Tradewinds Corp are Tradewinds (M) Bhd and Tradewinds Plantations Bhd.

Azhar is also understood to have been playing a key role in Syed Mokhtar’s plans to take control of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV), so it is not clear if these plans are still intact.

While FGV’s officials have denied any plans by Syed Mokhtar to take over the company, officials from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) confirmed a proposal by the businessman.

“It’s a credible proposal. Other than just plantation assets, it would also involve the sugar business. Syed Mokhtar has a substantial sugar business as well,” the MoF official says.

FGV has a 51% stake in MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd while Koperasi Permodalan Felda Malaysia Bhd has 15.25% equity interest in the sugar refiner. Syed Mokhtar, meanwhile, controls both Central Sugars Refinery Sdn Bhd and Gula Padang Terap Sdn Bhd, held under Tradewinds (M).

In March, FGV president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad denied any plans or arrangements to work with Syed Mokhtar.

However, after the story was published, Syed Mokhtar’s lieutenants clarified that they had indeed put in a plan to the government. And when this was published, FGV officials once again denied the existence of such a plan.

Nevertheless, there is much competition for Syed Mokhtar’s plan and it is not clear if he is one of the front runners even, as there have been many plans mooted.

For Tradewinds, Azhar’s exit could come as a blow as he is seen as a respected corporate personality with good connections.

Some of the key plans Tradewinds has currently include the Belfield residential-cum-retail project with a gross development value (GDV) of

RM3.8 billion; Perdana Quay in Langkawi with a GDV of RM4 billion; Tradewinds Square in Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, with a GDV of RM20 billion; Menara Tun Razak in Jalan Raja Laut, which could have a GDV as high as RM1 billion; and Bukit Bintang Plaza, Kuala Lumpur, which is slated to have a GDV of RM3 billion.

All in, Tradewinds has in excess of 4,000 acres of land across Malaysia, which should be worth billions. However, while it has some very good assets, Tradewinds is not known to be financially strong as its assets do not generate sufficient revenue.

For its financial year ended December 2015, Tradewinds suffered an after-tax loss of RM112.31 million on revenue of RM505.53 million. The company, during the year in review, had close to RM2.9 billion in non-current assets and RM805.51 million in current assets. On the other side of the balance sheet, it had long and short-term debt commitments of RM858.04 million and RM1.47 billion respectively.

Some of Tradewinds’ properties such as Mutiara Beach Resort Hotel, Crowne Plaza Mutiara Kuala Lumpur, Mutiara Burau Bay Beach Resort in Langkawi and office buildings in Kuala Lumpur — Kompleks Antarabangsa and Menara Tun Razak — have ceased operations or been torn down.

In an interview in September 2015, Azhar told The Edge that he was reviewing some of the company’s projects as a result of concerns of a potential office space glut. This glut was anticipated as several large-scale projects, such as Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s KL118 and 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia to name but a few, were in the pipeline.

Azhar was one of the new professional manager-type generals hired by Syed Mokhtar to run his companies. Others who were hired include Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar Syed AR Albar, who is DRB-Hicom Bhd CEO, and Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, who took over as managing director at MMC Corp Bhd.

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