Malaysia

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will pay $2.5 billion to the government of Malaysia for its role in the alleged theft of billions of dollars from a government investment fund, bringing the Wall Street bank close to ending one of the worst scandals in its history, The Wall Street Journal reported. Goldman also guaranteed the recovery of $1.4 billion in assets allegedly stolen from the fund, according to the agreement announced separately by the bank and Malaysia’s Finance Ministry on Friday.

The debt burden currently faced by TH Plantations Bhd (THP) cannot be resolved via asset sale but rather a restructuring of its debt, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, The Edge reported. Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat today, Ahmad Marzuk raised the suggestion on grounds that the bulk of THP’s debt goes to parent Lembaga Tabung Haji, and that asset sale will negatively impact THP’s cash flow rather than improve it. “About 75% of the loans by THP came from Tabung Haji.

Southeast Asian low-cost carriers, a key growth engine for planemakers and leasing companies for a decade before the pandemic, are faltering financially as demand plunges, raising questions over whether they can replace and double their fleets, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Auditors for Malaysia's AirAsia Group Bhd and Vietnam's VietJet Aviation JSC are concerned about cashflows and funding, while Indonesia's Lion Air has put the brakes on a planned flotation.

Malaysia’s banks will offer broader loan deferrals that will involve 100 billion ringgit ($23 billion) of funds as the country seeks more ways to soften the pandemic’s impact on its economy, Bloomberg News reported. Banks will offer six-month deferrals for all loans held by individuals and small businesses and let people convert their credit card debt into a three-year term loan, the central bank said in a statement Wednesday.

Icon Offshore Bhd has received the nod from its shareholders to move forward with its debt restructuring and cash call proposal, which will greatly help reduce the debt burden that has eaten into the company's earnings, The Edge reported. Icon's second largest shareholder, Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, which owns an 8.8% stake in the group, indicated at the group's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today to support the cash call to raise up to RM250 million, the bulk of which will be used to reduce the group's debt and gearing.

The mysterious Malaysian financier at the center of an international money laundering scandal that toppled a prime minister and rocked Goldman Sachs has given up his claim to hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury apartments, yachts, jets and artwork that prosecutors say were bought with stolen money, the International New York Times reported.

Offshore support vessel (OSV) operator Icon Offshore Bhd is making a cash call to raise up to RM250 million fresh capital and to restructure RM370.66 million of debt, partly by issue of new shares, The Edge reported. Its single largest shareholder Ekuinas Nasional Bhd, which holds its 42.3% stake through Hallmark Odyssey Sdn Bhd, is committed to subscribe up to RM183 million of the proposed rights issue that is sweetened by free warrants, Icon Offshore said in a statement. The commitment of RM183 million is equivalent to 73.2% of RM250 million intended to be raised.

Five years after its annus horribilis, Malaysia Airlines is still struggling to survive, helped only by government largesse and the national carrier’s political importance, the Financial Times reported. There may be a lifeline in the form of a stake sale, but time is running out as market conditions sour, while moves to divest could leave the ruling coalition exposed to attack from its key rival. In March 2014, flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing mysteriously disappeared over the Indian Ocean, with 239 passengers and crew on board.

The Federal Government has agreed to write off the loan given to the state government for the rural water supply project on 2001 onward, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today. He said the loan was based on the balance that had not been settled on December 31, 2018 with the total amount of RM3.8 billion, which was subject to the state government to finalise the restructuring of water supply by December 31, 2019 at the latest, Malay Mail reported.

Malaysia’s state palm oil plantation agency, the Federal Land Development Authority, is seeking 6 billion ringgit ($1.5 billion) from the government to help turn itself around, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The request will be included in a white paper on the company scheduled to be introduced in parliament on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing a source. If approved, the funds would be paid out in stages, the report said. Felda, as the state-owned company is known, has been struggling to pay down debt amid financial losses and corruption allegations.