Everyone knows whenever there’s a change to the premiership not only political landscape changes but also the stock-market landscape. When Mahathir called it a day in 2003 almost immediately his cronies listed companies were affected. The same goes to Badawi although his departure doesn’t have the same impact due to his short-term in office. And now with Najib Razak as the new Prime Minister naturally his cronies or rather those who are closely linked to him are instantly on investors or punters’ radar. Malaysia politics and business model is rather unique because you will see both scratching each other for survival and prosperity. This is something that foreign investors found rather hard though amuse to accept or understand, not to mention frustration due to escalating in business operating costs.
Dow Jones went crazily above the psychological-level of 8,000-points before profit-taking trimmed the gains and closed at 7,978.08, thanks mostly to G20’s pledge of over $1 trillion to combat global economic crisis. However, the KLCI was marginally down following the release of the external trade data by the statistics department. Malaysia exports for February 2009 fell 15.9% year-on-year, while imports were 27.3% lower. Total trade in February was 21% lower at RM67.2bil, with trade surplus of RM11.97bil. The one-day bull in anticipation of Najib’s big day was over with KLCI didn’t move much despite the overnight jump in Dow Jones. Local KLCI is waiting for Najib’s speech to determine the next direction.
If Badawi’s circle of businessmen included Equine Capital Berhad’s Patrick Lim, ECM Libra Group's Kalimullah Hassan and Scomi Group's Kamaluddin Abdullah (his own son), Najib’s circle of businessmen is many times larger. So who are the people and companies closely linked to the new Prime Minister Najib Razak that could see their fortunes skyrocket?
1) Top on the list is non other than his youngest brother Nazir Razak, CEO of Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Berhad (KLSE: COMMERZ, stock-code 1023) who studied philosophy at Cambridge University. Perhaps the most business-savvy within the family members Nazir was known for his infamous controversial acquisition of Southern Bank from owner Tan Teong Hean. After failed the initial attempt Nazir turned to Chua Ma Yu who architected the downfall of Southern Bank ultimately. With the largest lender Malayan Banking Berhad’s (KLSE: MAYBANK, stock-code 1155) in its bad shape would we see Bumiputra-Commerce acquire Maybank to become the largest bank instead?
2) Johari Razak, the second eldest who read law ...
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