Jentayu Danaraksa Sdn Bhd (JD) today expressed its profound regret over events that have transpired since the company's media briefing on Dec 15.

"We sincerely hope we have the opportunity to share, elaborate and explain in greater detail our proposal to Khazanah Nasional Bhd and apologise if we have caused any inconvenience," JD said in a statement today.

On Tuesday, JD said its meeting with Khazanah over the former's proposal to buy Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB) and turn it into a global aircraft leasing firm had been called off.

A day earlier, it told the media that it was supposed to present its RM8.75 billion deal in its bid to rescue debt-ridden Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to the state sovereign fund.

Meanwhile, JD said its intention had never been to undermine Khazanah's restructuring process but rather to augment the 12-point plan.

"Our action thus far indicates we have no hidden agenda.

"We have been transparent and sincere from the outset in our effort to assist Khazanah resolve MAS' problems," it said.

The company said critical to Khazanah's exercise are the slashing of 6,000 jobs and RM6 billion of taxpayers' money to be injected into MAS.

"JD believes its proposal would alleviate this. Our priority is to help MAS turn around, save as many employees as possible and ensure that MAS regains its stature as one of the world's top carriers," it said.

The company said its goals since its inception have been to help prevent job losses at MAS and make Malaysia one of the major beneficiaries of the Asean Open Skies policy starting in 2015.

    

It said it also wants to help rehabilitate MAS via the use of an existing vehicle, PMB, by exploiting the advantages presented from the exclusive use of aircraft leasing against the business model currently employed by MAS.

Khazanah dismayed

Khazanah earlier said it is dismayed with JD's "unprofessionalism" in presenting its proposed complementary plan to rescue ailing Malaysia Airlines (MAS), describing it as "a

very unusual way of conducting business in corporate Malaysia".

 

The sources, familiar with Khazanah's way of doing business, told Bernama that it was for this and other reasons that it decided to postpone to a later date a meeting scheduled on Tuesday between the two parties to discuss the plan.

 

"Khazanah is dealing with many other proposals in private and in a proper way. So, anyone who wants to deal with Khazanah should work in a private and confidential manner.

"If not meetings will get postponed until they learn basic

professionalism.

 

"We can imagine that Khazanah is flabbergasted that a proposal to buy multi-billion assets are posted for discussion in open forums like social media outlets, as it rightly feels any business discussion must maintain a degree of
confidentiality", the sources said.

 

They said Khazanah was a stickler for proper process and transparency, and presenting a business proposal via the media to whip up publicity was simply unacceptable behaviour and went against basic decorum expected from any serious
business deal.

 

"I believe this is one big sticking point on which Khazanah postponed the meeting with Jentayu to a later date," added a source.

 

The sources questioned Jentayu 's motive of making public its proposal a day before the scheduled meeting.

"It then begs the question whether there is public sentiment being played up so that the proposal can't be refused by any government by bringing on public pressure.

 

"If the intention is to rally public support, then this mother of all
restructuring of our national airline will be an effort in futility as it is business as usual then, with third party interference still intact.

 

"This is certainly against the objective of restructuring the national airline to allow MAS to operate as a pure business entity," the sources said.

Proposal uploaded online

 

JD took the unconventional route in presenting its plan as
complimentary to Khazanah's 12-point MAS recovery plan on Monday by holding a press conference, a day before the newly-minted company was expected to present its RM8.75 billion proposal.

 

JD uploaded a brief eight-point plan on its official Facebook, as well as the Facebook page of its managing director Feriz Omar.

 

A visit to Khazanah's website shows that its Code of Business Ethics requires parties interested in acquiring its assets to refrain from disclosing confidential or competitive information to any unauthorised party.

 

"And in the case of Jentayu , presenting its takeover plan to the press doesnot fit with this," a source said.

Khazanah, had on Nov 28, said that it had received no less than 28 business proposals expressing interest in participating in or complementing its five-year plan.

 

"In this regard, we wish to state that as required by Khazanah's operating processes and procedures, only credible proposals are evaluated and assessed, in a process that if they qualify, will be ultimately tabled to the board of directors of Khazanah, of if appropriate, channelled to the management and the board of the operating company (in this case, MAS)," the sources said.

According to an investment banker familiar with Khazanah's divestmentexercise, it is process-driven, citing the previous divestment of Time Dotcom, Pos Malaysia and Proton.

 

Each of the proposals received was analysed from all angles, be it business proposal to ensure sustainability, as well as, financial strength of the acquirer.

 

"There is a step-by-step process in place which Khazanah adheres to without exception. They are quite strict about this.

"And in Jentayu 's case, since it was first made known of its plan to complement Khazanah's some three months back, it

has yet to provide its financial backers and the company has been evasive when asked who are its funders and it wants Khazanah to open its doors to Jentayu 's proposals," the sources said.

Fishing trip

 

They said it appeared that JD was going on a fishing trip, adding that the company was pressing Khazanah to approve its plan so that it became its "ticket" to coax funders to come on board.

 

The company had told the media on Nov 14 that it would announce details of its investors who would provide funds to acquire MAS’ strategic assets in the next 10-14 days  and that it had assembled a small consortium of financiers from
the Asia Pacific.

 

"What they have provided is just mere plans with no financial backings, any financial institutions and/or proposed seller would not even consider their plan, let alone Khazanah," said the investment banker.

 

"It would appear that Jentayu is asking for its proposals to be approved as it will save 6,000 jobs with no explanation of how this will be done. Will these 6,000 workers need reskilling? Is the saving job a strong enough business proposition for consideration?", the banker added.

 

" Jentayu said it will show us the money by end-November. It is now middle of December and they are still keeping mum on details of financiers and investors.

 

"It is puzzling for a company boasting a bid of up to RM8.75 billion to rescue MAS but wants to keep Khazanah guessing," he noted.

 

The sources, meanwhile, said it was difficult to adopt a holistic approach on JD 's plan especially when the company could suddenly abort its proposal to acquire MAS Engineering Sdn Bhd and Firefly Sdn Bhd while coming up with a revamp plan to set up a new airline called Fly JD.

 

"We do not know what next Jentayu will remove or add to its plan. While Khazanah views all credible proposals, we certainly do not want to be going on a merry-go-round in assessing proposals," the source said.

- Bernama