Anuar ready to unlock Wijaya’s true potential

by **hlk** Mon 12 Dec 2011, 08:13

MAJOR (rtd) Anuar Adam, who took control of Wijaya Baru
Global last week, says he will not be seeking board representation in
the company.

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In an exclusive interview with Business Times, Anuar said he wanted a professional management team to run the company.
“Wijaya is a good company, a value enhancer,but her potential has been clipped by legacy issues,” said Anuar.

Last
week, Anuar bought 32.02 per cent of Wijaya from Datuk Tiong King Sing
at 95 sen a share. The purchase is a one sen premium over Wijaya’s last
audited book value of 94 sen.

“As a businessman, I believe that
the true value of Wijaya has yet to be unlocked. And this is why I want a
professional team that understands timber, from the board downwards, to
run the show,” said Anuar.

Last week, Wijaya also received approval from its shareholders to buy
two companies in Indonesia for US$80 million (RM251.8 million).

The
two companies – Wealth Gate Pte Ltd and Suffolk Pte Ltd – have 80,000ha
of land in Irianjaya that have been approved for oil palm plantations
and related activities.

Wijaya would first be extracting timber from the forested land, valued at US$1,000 (RM3,147) per hectare, before converting the
area into oil palm plantations, said Anuar.

Anuar
was hesistant when asked if he was fronting for a group of powerful
Indonesian businessmen. “All I can say is I do have friends in Indonesia
who are in this line of business. How
the market wants to perceive it is up to them but I am my own man,” he said.

With
this in mind, Anuar said he would suggest to the board that Wijaya exit
the money-lending business. “The money-lending business is a very small
portion of Wijaya’s portfolio but
because of it, most Muslim funds have shied away from owning Wijaya shares as it is not syariah-compliant,” said Anuar.

He added that Wijaya needed to be syariah-compliant as it was banking its future on the country with the world’s biggest Muslim
population.

Wijaya intends to start logging operations in Indonesia as early as the first half of next year.