Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Najadi
AIAK's Chairman & CEO In The News
20 July 2003 - P.Y. Chin
New Straits Times
IN the mid-1970s, a Press conference was held in Kuala Lumpur to launch
what was then known as, and still is but in a different form, the Arab-
Malaysian Development Bank.
In walked a good looking, tall, well tanned and well-dressed gentleman.
As he walked into the room on the eighth floor of Bangunan Dato Zainal, next to Bank Bumiputra in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, reporters wondered what this Middle-Eastern gentleman, with the look of a British banker, was doing at a Press conference to launch a Malaysian bank.
That was the first time Malaysians ever saw in person Hussain Najadi, an Arab from Bahrain, who over the next few years was to play a crucial and significant role in creating Malaysia's banking history. In the years to come, he would leave behind a mark that till today is being remembered and respected by most senior and experienced bankers in Malaysia and the Asian region.
Two weeks ago, this writer met up with Najadi again since that long chat in the late 1970s. Najadi looks different now, more mellowed, more mature, more softspoken, but still as fit and active as ever before; and, yes, less flamboyant.
Born in Bahrain, Najadi was educated in the West, mainly in West Germany and Switzerland, learning about the global oil business and industrial financing in Western Europe and the US.
"My banking businesses started from my education in the 1960s. In the beginning I was just managing funds." A local business magazine described him as the "first indigenous investment banker of the Arab Gulf region". In 1962, he was appointed a financial adviser to the Kuwaiti Minister of Finance and Oil. Soon his reputation spread throughout the Arab Gulf region, and many other Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates sought his advice.
Then came the 1973-74 oil crisis, which saw crude oil price in the Middle East shooting through the roof, from single digit to double digits, and in the words of Najadi, "created a near financial panic in the world". The crisis changed his perception of the Arab Gulf region. In those days, Arab petro-dollars were pouring in by the billions into Western Europe and the US financial markets.
Following the oil crisis, he began urging Arab Gulf states to look to developing Asia for investments and trade. In a series of speeches and writing extensively in Arab publications, he called upon the Arab Gulf states to "open your eyes to the East".
Najadi said his "look East" vision for the Arab Gulf states was a "matter of survival" then. "All this while, the Arabs were looking to the West until they were forced, especially after Sept 11, to look elsewhere." Najadi recalled that soon after Opec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) increased the price of oil, "I was asked by the Finance and Oil Minister of Kuwait (now the Ruler of Kuwait) to lead a Government-cum-private mission to Asian countries, including Malaysia.
"That was what brought me to Malaysia. I had the opportunity to meet up with such Malaysian leaders as the late Tun Abdul Razak, the late Tun Hussein Onn, and even the late Tengku Abdul Rahman, who was then chairman of Perkim.
"After some extensive discussions, we signed a joint venture agreement to set up a bank in Malaysia to handle mainly merchant banking and trade financing activities. In the first quarter of 1975, Arab-Malaysian Development Bank (AMDB) commenced operations from a very modest half-a-floor in the old Bangunan Hong Leong Finance in Jalan Pasar, Kuala Lumpur.
"But soon after we moved to the eighth floor of Bangunan Dato Zainal, next to Bank Bumiputra in Jalan Ampang." AMDB was Najadi's first venture in Malaysia, which he said was like, "putting the money where your mouth is". Indeed, the venture was a culmination of his years of persuading Arabs to invest in Asia.
AMDB, which today is known as AmBank, has since those days grown from strength to strength, making it today one of the top five financial and banking groups in the country.
The bank then grew by leaps and bounds for more than 20 years under the leadership of Tan Sri Azman Hashim, a banker who made it on his own. When Azman bought AMDB, he was then with Malayan Banking.
But even in the early years of the bank, Najadi was already making waves in the local banking industry when he turned the bank into the top merchant banking group in Malaysia with group assets hitting RM1 billion in 1979 — only after four years in operation.
His track record in building AMDB into what it was in those days still stays unbeatable till today.
He had the backing of a solid financial core team of smart managers, many of whom are today well-known in their own little way in the corporate and banking circles.
He introduced numerous corporate financial services into AMDB, the most significant of which was bankers' acceptances, which was the first for Malaysia.
Banking will always be Najadi's forte. He said this when asked whether he would return to banking and corporate finance work if given a second chance: "Once you are a banker and banking is in your blood, like any other profession, you cannot get it out of the system. It is merchant banking and corporate finance work related to Malaysia and the Asian region that I know best." Despite the merchant banking industry today being far more competitive and with far fewer opportunities now than before, Najadi is still not deterred, as, in his words, "every cycle of history brings its crises and also its opportunities. Man is enriched by going through crises".
"Malaysia, Asean and China are dynamic growth areas today. There is still room for developing financial bridges with the Middle East to tap the surplus capital of the Arab Gulf region and the West, which have not yet been exploited to the fullest. For example, regional merchant banking could move into conventional Islamic financial products to spearhead its expansion of financial services in the new growth areas." Najadi had some time to catch up with the Asian economic and banking situation. For eight years of his life, he was banned from leaving his home country, Bahrain, following a loan deal that went sour.
"My earlier banking career brought me back to Bahrain where I founded and became the executive chairman of a major Arab merchant banking group." Following the deal that went sour, he lost control of the bank and had to leave. After eight years he was allowed to leave the country.
"I went back to Switzerland and rebuilt my family-owned company, AIAK (Arab Investments for Asia (Kuwait), under the umbrella of AIAK Finance AG in Zug, Switzerland." Incidentally, AIAK was the main founder of AMDB, holding up to 33 per cent of AMDB's paid-up capital, until the complete stake was sold to Azman.
Today, Najadi still manages his AIAK company, which since January this year has set up its main office in Malaysia. The company is involved mainly in corporate finance work, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, financial products and services, and bringing Arab and West European investments to Asia, including Malaysia and China.
"I am happy with what I am doing now. Everything that I do, I must combine my happiness with the product of my intellectual power. Otherwise, I will call it a day and go fishing." Why fishing? "It is the best of my hobbies, which include boating, sailing and water and snow skiing. My favourite places for fishing are Pangkor, Langkawi and Batu Ferringhi in Penang; going out to sea in a simple fishing boat." "I have been fishing since the 1960s, catching mainly trout. Now and then I go for some deep-sea fishing. "The biggest fish that I caught was a marlin, about 3.5 metres long, offshore Mexico. It took me four hours to reel it in. It was an experience, especially when you take it as a challenge.
Why the interest in the sea? "The sea is a source of relaxation and meditation." Since returning to Malaysia for more than a year now, Najadi has come to like Malaysia so much that he has decided to make this country his home. He still travels a lot to the Middle East and Western Europe, but mainly to bring investors from those regions to Asia, including Malaysia.
Despite his age — he is in his early 60s — it will be a long time before Najadi retires from active work.
As he said: "Retirement means ‘vegetating' for an active mind. A true entrepreneur cannot retire."
20 July 2003 - P.Y. Chin
New Straits Times
IN the mid-1970s, a Press conference was held in Kuala Lumpur to launch
what was then known as, and still is but in a different form, the Arab-
Malaysian Development Bank.
In walked a good looking, tall, well tanned and well-dressed gentleman.
As he walked into the room on the eighth floor of Bangunan Dato Zainal, next to Bank Bumiputra in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, reporters wondered what this Middle-Eastern gentleman, with the look of a British banker, was doing at a Press conference to launch a Malaysian bank.
That was the first time Malaysians ever saw in person Hussain Najadi, an Arab from Bahrain, who over the next few years was to play a crucial and significant role in creating Malaysia's banking history. In the years to come, he would leave behind a mark that till today is being remembered and respected by most senior and experienced bankers in Malaysia and the Asian region.
Two weeks ago, this writer met up with Najadi again since that long chat in the late 1970s. Najadi looks different now, more mellowed, more mature, more softspoken, but still as fit and active as ever before; and, yes, less flamboyant.
Born in Bahrain, Najadi was educated in the West, mainly in West Germany and Switzerland, learning about the global oil business and industrial financing in Western Europe and the US.
"My banking businesses started from my education in the 1960s. In the beginning I was just managing funds." A local business magazine described him as the "first indigenous investment banker of the Arab Gulf region". In 1962, he was appointed a financial adviser to the Kuwaiti Minister of Finance and Oil. Soon his reputation spread throughout the Arab Gulf region, and many other Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates sought his advice.
Then came the 1973-74 oil crisis, which saw crude oil price in the Middle East shooting through the roof, from single digit to double digits, and in the words of Najadi, "created a near financial panic in the world". The crisis changed his perception of the Arab Gulf region. In those days, Arab petro-dollars were pouring in by the billions into Western Europe and the US financial markets.
Following the oil crisis, he began urging Arab Gulf states to look to developing Asia for investments and trade. In a series of speeches and writing extensively in Arab publications, he called upon the Arab Gulf states to "open your eyes to the East".
Najadi said his "look East" vision for the Arab Gulf states was a "matter of survival" then. "All this while, the Arabs were looking to the West until they were forced, especially after Sept 11, to look elsewhere." Najadi recalled that soon after Opec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) increased the price of oil, "I was asked by the Finance and Oil Minister of Kuwait (now the Ruler of Kuwait) to lead a Government-cum-private mission to Asian countries, including Malaysia.
"That was what brought me to Malaysia. I had the opportunity to meet up with such Malaysian leaders as the late Tun Abdul Razak, the late Tun Hussein Onn, and even the late Tengku Abdul Rahman, who was then chairman of Perkim.
"After some extensive discussions, we signed a joint venture agreement to set up a bank in Malaysia to handle mainly merchant banking and trade financing activities. In the first quarter of 1975, Arab-Malaysian Development Bank (AMDB) commenced operations from a very modest half-a-floor in the old Bangunan Hong Leong Finance in Jalan Pasar, Kuala Lumpur.
"But soon after we moved to the eighth floor of Bangunan Dato Zainal, next to Bank Bumiputra in Jalan Ampang." AMDB was Najadi's first venture in Malaysia, which he said was like, "putting the money where your mouth is". Indeed, the venture was a culmination of his years of persuading Arabs to invest in Asia.
AMDB, which today is known as AmBank, has since those days grown from strength to strength, making it today one of the top five financial and banking groups in the country.
The bank then grew by leaps and bounds for more than 20 years under the leadership of Tan Sri Azman Hashim, a banker who made it on his own. When Azman bought AMDB, he was then with Malayan Banking.
But even in the early years of the bank, Najadi was already making waves in the local banking industry when he turned the bank into the top merchant banking group in Malaysia with group assets hitting RM1 billion in 1979 — only after four years in operation.
His track record in building AMDB into what it was in those days still stays unbeatable till today.
He had the backing of a solid financial core team of smart managers, many of whom are today well-known in their own little way in the corporate and banking circles.
He introduced numerous corporate financial services into AMDB, the most significant of which was bankers' acceptances, which was the first for Malaysia.
Banking will always be Najadi's forte. He said this when asked whether he would return to banking and corporate finance work if given a second chance: "Once you are a banker and banking is in your blood, like any other profession, you cannot get it out of the system. It is merchant banking and corporate finance work related to Malaysia and the Asian region that I know best." Despite the merchant banking industry today being far more competitive and with far fewer opportunities now than before, Najadi is still not deterred, as, in his words, "every cycle of history brings its crises and also its opportunities. Man is enriched by going through crises".
"Malaysia, Asean and China are dynamic growth areas today. There is still room for developing financial bridges with the Middle East to tap the surplus capital of the Arab Gulf region and the West, which have not yet been exploited to the fullest. For example, regional merchant banking could move into conventional Islamic financial products to spearhead its expansion of financial services in the new growth areas." Najadi had some time to catch up with the Asian economic and banking situation. For eight years of his life, he was banned from leaving his home country, Bahrain, following a loan deal that went sour.
"My earlier banking career brought me back to Bahrain where I founded and became the executive chairman of a major Arab merchant banking group." Following the deal that went sour, he lost control of the bank and had to leave. After eight years he was allowed to leave the country.
"I went back to Switzerland and rebuilt my family-owned company, AIAK (Arab Investments for Asia (Kuwait), under the umbrella of AIAK Finance AG in Zug, Switzerland." Incidentally, AIAK was the main founder of AMDB, holding up to 33 per cent of AMDB's paid-up capital, until the complete stake was sold to Azman.
Today, Najadi still manages his AIAK company, which since January this year has set up its main office in Malaysia. The company is involved mainly in corporate finance work, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, financial products and services, and bringing Arab and West European investments to Asia, including Malaysia and China.
"I am happy with what I am doing now. Everything that I do, I must combine my happiness with the product of my intellectual power. Otherwise, I will call it a day and go fishing." Why fishing? "It is the best of my hobbies, which include boating, sailing and water and snow skiing. My favourite places for fishing are Pangkor, Langkawi and Batu Ferringhi in Penang; going out to sea in a simple fishing boat." "I have been fishing since the 1960s, catching mainly trout. Now and then I go for some deep-sea fishing. "The biggest fish that I caught was a marlin, about 3.5 metres long, offshore Mexico. It took me four hours to reel it in. It was an experience, especially when you take it as a challenge.
Why the interest in the sea? "The sea is a source of relaxation and meditation." Since returning to Malaysia for more than a year now, Najadi has come to like Malaysia so much that he has decided to make this country his home. He still travels a lot to the Middle East and Western Europe, but mainly to bring investors from those regions to Asia, including Malaysia.
Despite his age — he is in his early 60s — it will be a long time before Najadi retires from active work.
As he said: "Retirement means ‘vegetating' for an active mind. A true entrepreneur cannot retire."
# posted by Michael P. Whelan : 12:06 PM
