Johor royal family set to become U Mobile's biggest shareholder

Johor’s royal family is set to become the biggest shareholder in U Mobile.

This is after Singapore’s ST Telemedia - the largest shareholder - sells most of its stake to Mawar Setia Sdn Bhd.

After the exercise, announced yesterday, ST Telemedia’s share in U Mobile will shrink from 48.26 percent to 20 percent, with the balance of 28.25 percent then owned by Mawar Setia.

Mawar Setia is 70 percent owned by tycoon Vincent Tan and 30 percent owned by Tunku Aminah Sultan Ibrahim - the Johor ruler’s daughter.

Tunku Aminah’s effective stake in U Mobile will be 8.5 percent.

Her father, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar - also the current Yang di-Pertuan Agong - owns 22.3 percent of U Mobile.

Combined, father and daughter will own 30.8 percent of the telecommunications company (telco), making them the largest shareholders.

Tan’s control of U Mobile through Mawar Setia is 19.8 percent, and his total stake in the telco through beneficiary ownership of other shareholders such as Berjaya Infrastructure and U Telemedia is estimated to be around 22.2 percent.

His niece Diana Tan owns a 0.28 percent stake in the telco.

This ownership restructuring comes after ST Telemedia agreed to pare down its shareholding in U Mobile in light of the telco being appointed as the operator of Malaysia’s second 5G network.

This was to lower foreign ownership of the telco.

ST Telemedia is a subsidiary of Singapore investment company Temasek.

Vincent previously defended Sultan Ibrahim, calling critics not to make wild allegations about the reigning Agong regarding U Mobile’s appointment as the country’s second 5G network operator.

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