Petronas plans group in shipping

Petronas plans group in shipping

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysian national oil company Petroliam
Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) has acquired a 29.3 percent stake in
Malaysia International Shipping Corp Bhd. (MISC) as part of a
plan to create a major shipping group, sources said yesterday.

Petronas bought the stake from the Pension Trust Fund Group,
making it the largest shareholder in MISC, the country's biggest
shipping company.

The plan entails making MISC a shipping giant and involves
Petronas, along with transport operators Konsortium Perkapalan
Bhd. and Diperdana Corp. Bhd., AFX-Asia, an AFP-affiliated
financial news wire, said quoting industry sources.

"They have to come up with a structure which will make sense
as the initial purchase proposal involved more than two billion
ringgit (US$740.7 million)," one of the sources said.

The sources also said Konsortium would eventually acquire part
of the 29.3 percent stake from Petronas, to be covered possibly
through a share swap which would see Petronas eventually holding
a stake in either Konsortium or Diperdana.

Konsortium, the second largest shipping and haulage group
after MISC, had earlier announced its intention to acquire the
29.3 percent stake. The group is headed by Premier Mahathir
Mohamad's son, Mirzan Mahathir.

"At the end of it... Mirzan (Mahathir) is a step closer to
getting MISC. But perhaps not in the form that he had initially
planned," one of the sources said.

No details were given on the acquisition price but the block
of shares is valued at 2.025 billion ringgit based on the closing
price of MISC stock at 6. 90 ringgit on the local bourse Friday.

MISC is involved in the transportation of liquefied natural
gas (LNG), liner, dry bulk and tanker shipping activities as well
as in the land-based haulage logistics business.

Petronas, on the other hand, is a major user of sea-based
transportation services in its shipment of LNG, petroleum and
petroleum-based products.