KUALA LUMPUR (July 12): Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB)'s recently launched airport city, KLIA Aeropolis, has drawn the interest of French aerospace, defense and security company Safran's Global Turbine Asia (GTA), digital industrial company General Electric (GE) Malaysia, and regional private equity firm Area (AREA) Management that has offices in Singapore and Malaysia.
All three have expressed interests to invest in the city separately via a memorandum of understanding (MoU), memorandum of business collaboration (MoBC), and memorandum of business exploration (MoBE) signed with MAHB at the Farnborough International Airshow 2016 (FIA 2016) in the United Kingdom.
In a statement today, MAHB managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said KLIA Aeropolis was poised to capture the growing demands from aerospace industry trends where there has been a significant boom in the national aerospace ecosystem and presence of its players — from only a few players before the year 2000 to over 300 to date, including renowned first-tier players.
"Malaysia Airports currently hosts over 20% of these players within its aerospace ecosystem in Subang and KLIA. In fact, the confidence level has already grown and can be seen through recent negotiations and agreements we have had with our business partners," added Badlisham.
MAHB said the MoU it inked with GTA signified GTA's intention to further invest within Malaysia's aerospace belt, which includes the KLIA Aeropolis, Subang and Melaka.
"It would also be part of GTA's expansion plan in the medium term to invest in its own facility for its MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) and manufacturing activities in the future. With the equity purchase of 10% of SHE (Safran Helicopter Engines) shares in GTA — also announced during FIA 2016 — GTA is an important pillar within the Safran Group of companies," said MAHB.
"Last year, Malaysia's export of aerospace products grew a significant 44.7% to RM4.2 billion. This MoU will open new frontiers for both parties to explore opportunities but it is also a strong statement to the confidence those of us in the industry share," said GTA chairperson and chief executive Datuk Nonee Ashirin Mohd Radzi.
On the MoBC inked between GE and MAHB, GE Malaysia chief operating officer Azli Mohamed said, "We are negotiating the possibility of growing our business within the Subang Technology Park ecosystem."
It said the planned expansion looks at a potential development of a "high-technology multi-modal facility encompassing activities in areas such as energy, power and automation".
"Once finalised, the development will result in significant investments for GE in Malaysia in order to support growth opportunities in the country and the region," he added.
Similar to GE, AREA, which inked a MoBE with MAHB, is keen to develop available plots of land in MAHB's Subang nexus.
AREA executive chairman Stewart Labrooy opined that they are delighted to partner with MAHB as AREA scales up its presence in the country.
Meanwhile, RUAG Aviation Malaysia, a Switzerland-based supplier, support provider and integrator of aircraft systems and components for civil and military use, also inked an agreement with MAHB to secure a 23,000 sq ft space close to the Sultan Abdul Aziz Airport in Subang.
It was previously reported RUAG wanted to convert the former customs building at the airport into an MRO facility.
Badlisham said Malaysia Airports' aerospace belt, which extends beyond KLIA Aeropolis into Subang and Melaka, will help elevate Malaysia to developed-nation status by 2020. MAHB is the world's second largest airport operator by passenger count.