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| Datuk Badlisham Ghazali |
ISTANBUL: Paving its path to a long-term strategy of internationalisation, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s recent overseas acquisition of Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISG), does not undermine the importance of domestic airport development, said Managing Director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.
He said MAHB was committed to its agreement with the government that it would run and manage all the 39 airports in Malaysia.
“MAHB is planning to develop and expand local operations, particularly in Kota Bharu and Penang,” he told a press conference here, Sunday.
“However, the acquisition of ISG is part of the group’s long-term strategy in diversifying its revenue streams and raising the growth rate of future earnings,” Badlisham said.
He said this strategy also put emphasis on seeking investment opportunities that would allow MAHB to cross-sell other suite of services such as facilities management, duty-free, hotel management, retail, and information technology, to name a few.
However, Badlisham emphasised that the main priority for the group was Asia due to the region’s escalating passenger growth.
“MAHB is also keeping an eye on potential ventures in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe and Africa, as part of its long-term strategy for internationalisation,” he said.
The internationalisation strategy was in the perspective of airport infrastructure and management demand coupled with passenger volume growth, he added.
“We are answering the country’s call for government-linked companies (GLCs) to become regional champions, which is also aligned to Khazanah Nasional’s goal to develop regional champions.
“Apart from diversification of future earnings, this venture will also spread our risks as it is in a different geographical location and economic region,” he said.
Badlisham added that as a GLC, this investment would not only benefit MAHB but also Malaysia as it would certainly enhance government-to-government relations and has enormous potential to lead to significant economic returns for the country.
On MAHB’s allocation for capital expenditure this year, Badlisham commented that it could be lower than the RM4 billion spent on klia2 last year.
MAHB manages and operates 39 airports in Malaysia—five international, 16 domestic and 18 short take-off and landing ports, and also has operations in India and Turkey.
MAHB is the first Asian company to fully own a European airport following the completion of its acquisition of the remaining 40 per cent stake in ISG from Limak Group for 279 million euros.
Source: Bernama | 12 January 2014
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