KUALA LUMPUR: The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Sultan Iskandar, and tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan have further cemented their business ties with the ruler acquiring a 15% stake in MOL AccessPortal Sdn Bhd for US$120 million (RM396 million).

MOL AccessPortal is a unit of MOL Global Pte Ltd, in which Tan holds a controlling stake of 88%. In fact, this is the second deal that  Sultan Ibrahim has made with the tycoon in less than three months.

In a statement yesterday, MOL Global said it would retain an 85% stake in MOL AccessPortal after the divestment to the sultan.

Sultan Ibrahim in December last year bought a 20% equity interest in Berjaya Times Square Sdn Bhd (BTSSB) from Berjaya Assets Bhd for RM250 million, the price tag was at a 37% discount to the net asset value of the Berjaya Times Square building.

Berjaya Assets explained that the discounted price was due to the stake being a minority interest in an unlisted company. It was also because of the “Sultan’s stature and business acumen”.

The acquisition of Berjaya Asset’s stake came ten days after he sold a parcel of prime land measuring 116 acres (46.94ha) in Johor Baru to China-based Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd for RM4.5 billion, representing RM890 psf.

Besides property, the sultan is also keen on power generation business. In August last year, SIPP Power Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between the sultan and YTL Power International Bhd submitted the lowest bid for an Energy Comission job to build a 2,000MW coal-fired power plant.

YTL Power International holds a 70% equity interest in SIPP while the Sultan holds a 30%. However, its rival for the bid, the government-owned 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), seems to have the upper hand in the contract.

MOL AccessPortal is one of Asia’s largest online payment service providers and operates MOLPoints, an online games and digital goods micropayment platform.

MOL AccessPortal’s proprietary MOLPoints micropayment system is a digital goods and online game payment platform that facilitates the collection of payments for over 1,000 online games from more than 250 content providers.

The sultan, who has been actively involved in various business transactions in the local scene lately, wish to increase his involvement in the technology sector to creat more employment opportunities for the people of Johor, said the press statement.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 20, 2014.