Tajudin defaults on debts, may lose control of key firms
Business tycoon Tajudin Ramli missed a Friday deadline to repay RM130.4 million in bad debts to the state asset manager, an official said today.
"As of this moment there has not been any payment. We will consider all recovery options," a source with the national asset management company, Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional, told AFP .
Tajudin could now be asked to settle the amount in full or "Danaharta could foreclose — either the shares or property pledged by him," said the source, who requested anonymity.
If Danaharta embarks on the foreclosure, Tajudin stands to lose control of Malaysia's second-largest mobile phone operator Technology Resources Industries (TRI) and cash-rich aviation firm Naluri.
Tajudin, a protege of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, pledged 17 percent of TRI, 45 percent in Naluri and 80 percent of Promet (Langkawi) to secure his debts.
State-controlled communications giant Telekom Malaysia is eyeing TRI's shares and had offered Danaharta RM2.40 a share but Tajudin has dismissed the offer, saying the proposal was 10 times too low.
Tajudin defaulted on a rights issue payment earlier this month.
A second default gives Danaharta the right to auction shares he pledged to secure personal loans of RM1.4 billion ringgit.
The source said Danaharta would keep its "lines of communications with Tajudin open," adding that "it is not our desire to gain possession of what has been pledged."
"We are interested in collecting the money," he said.
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