This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 25, 2021 - October 31, 2021

AFTER months of speculation about a change at the helm of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), former Media Prima Bhd group managing director (MD) Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood has been named MD of the airport operator. And he has his work cut out for him.

In an abrupt announcement last Friday, MAHB named Iskandar as its MD effective Oct 25, replacing group CEO (GCEO) Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh, who will leave the day before (Oct 24). The appointment makes Iskandar the third person to assume the government-linked company’s (GLC) top post in a span of three years.

Mohd Shukrie, 47, is departing “to pursue other opportunities”, according to the official media release last Friday. He is leaving less than three months before the expiry of his contractual tenure in January.

Mohd Shukrie has been helming MAHB since January last year — before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic — taking over from Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin as acting group CEO before taking charge permanently two months later. He joined the group in May 2019 as chief operating officer.

Still, the sudden management shake-up raised more than a few eyebrows as sources point to differences over Mohd Shukrie’s handling of the redevelopment of the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (Subang Airport) in Subang, Selangor, as the likely reason for his departure.

News portal Free Malaysia Today reported on Oct 15, quoting sources, that “a key stakeholder” wanted Mohd Shukrie out within months. MAHB’s 2020 annual report shows that as at March 31 this year, its largest shareholder was Khazanah Nasional Bhd with a 33.21% stake, followed by the Employees Provident Fund and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) with 14.34% and 5.47% equity interest respectively.

In March, construction and property firm WCT Holdings Bhd gave a proposal involving a 50-year concession — to operate the entire Subang Airport area until 2092, and redevelop Subang Airport into a city airport with scheduled regional jet services at a cost of RM3.7 billion over 10 years — to the finance, transport and energy and natural resources ministries. The plan was to have more commercial or non-aerospace developments at Subang Airport, including a brand-new passenger terminal to handle 7½ million passengers a year, from 1½ million passengers a year now.

However, MAHB’s board and management, including Mohd Shukrie and its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, as well as MAHB unions have come out strongly against WCT’s proposal.

A document sighted by The Edge outlining the position of Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd and MAHB in the development of the area reveals that a potential carving out of Subang Airport from its stable of 39 airports in Malaysia could result in MAHB losing a whopping RM11.9 billion in future revenue.

MAHB had also submitted its own RM1.3 billion plan to redevelop Subang Airport, and is awaiting approval from the government.

According to sources, Iskandar is widely viewed by the government as a safe choice to deal with the MAHB-WCT tussle over the redevelopment of Subang Airport and to see if they can reach a compromise. “It will probably come to a public-private partnership collaboration to move the project forward,” one source tells The Edge.

Iskandar’s appointment also comes at a time when the country is easing Covid-19 travel restrictions, providing some relief to the aviation industry. Like the rest of the travel industry, MAHB has been hit by border closures, travel restrictions and lockdowns.

Thus, one of his immediate tasks will be to steer the group back to profitability. Analysts are projecting that the airport operator will remain in the red for the financial years ending Dec 31, 2021 and 2022 (FY2021 and FY2022) after reporting its first loss in its 22 years as a public listed company in FY2020, with a net loss of RM1.12 billion.

And then there is the long-awaited new operating agreement (OA) that is to be tabled to the Cabinet for approval. The OA would enable MAHB to execute a commercial development plan that is more viable and sustainable moving forward, while increasing the government’s income through a profit-sharing mechanism on the land owned by the government, but developed by MAHB.

MAHB is also spending between RM2 billion and RM3 billion in capital expenditure over the next few years, which involves major refurbishment programmes for the baggage handling systems and aerotrain at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Nevertheless, Iskandar, 55, is no stranger to MAHB, having undertaken the initial public offering and listing of the group on Bursa Malaysia in 1999, and assumed other responsibilities in corporate finance, strategic planning, business development and investor relations.

Iskandar resigned as group MD of Media Prima in May this year, four months before the expiry of his contractual tenure on Sept 30. He joined the media group as group executive director on Oct 1, 2019, and was appointed group MD on April 1, 2020.

He has more than 30 years of experience — from investment banking to the technology sector — working in multinational corporations and GLCs. In 2003, he was appointed by MoF and Khazanah to helm Malaysian Technology Development Corp. In 2005, he was appointed founding CEO of Malaysian Biotechnology Corp Sdn Bhd, one of the government’s key technology initiatives at the time.

Media Prima’s 2020 annual report shows that from April 2017 to January 2019, Iskandar served as group CEO of Granatum Ventures Sdn Bhd, the holding company of Khazanah’s creative and media sector, with a portfolio of operations that include Iskandar Malaysia Studios, content creation and content financing/investment. “He played a key role in turning around the company and bringing international content production companies into Iskandar Malaysia Studios in 2018,” said the annual report.

Iskandar was a member of Lembaga Tabung Haji’s investment panel from 2016 to 2018. He also served as group CEO of Pos Malaysia Bhd from 2013 to 2015 before becoming managing partner and director of local consulting firm Ethos Consulting Sdn Bhd. He currently serves on the board of Theta Edge Bhd.

While it is only fair to give Iskandar time to familiarise himself with MAHB, his challenge is to convince shareholders that he can lead the group through the challenging aviation landscape — without going so far that he alienates the factions of the government that endorsed him.

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