15 TAN SRI LEE OI HIAN & DATUK LEE HAU HIAN

Flagship: Batu Kawan Bhd Net worth: RM4.25bil BROTHERS Oi Hian and Hau Hian are perhaps better known for their controlling stake in Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) rather than their flagship entity Batu Kawan Bhd.

Batu Kawan’s biggest investment is in KLK and it is often seen as a cheaper proxy to KLK.

With an equity interest of 46.9%, Batu Kawan is the single largest shareholder in KLK, in which 67-year-old Oi Hian is the chief executive officer. He is also the non-executive chairman of Batu Kawan.

Meanwhile, 65-year-old Hau Hian is the managing director of Batu Kawan. Both of them are the sons of KLK’s late founder, Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng.

In December 2017, KLK announced that it would be acquiring Elementis Specialties Netherlands BV (ESN) in Delden, the Netherlands, for 39mil (RM187.2mil). ESN, which is primarily involved in surfactant manufacturing, is expected to strengthen KLK’s downstream chemical specialties business in Europe.

The takeover is expected to be completed in the first half of this year.

The announcement came as positive news, as KLK has long been looking for potential merger and acquisition opportunities.

In 2016, the plantation giant made news when it failed in its £415.4mil (RM2.3bil) takeover to acquire shares of London-listed plantation firm MP Evans Group PLC. The offer lapsed after KLK failed to get the required 50% acceptance level.

KLK had initially approached MP Evans’ board with an offer price of 640 pence, but later sweetened the offer to 740 pence, a 74% premium to MP Evans’ closing price on Oct 24.

As the demand for downstream products is generally more stable, KLK’s acquisition of ESN should help the former mitigate the volatility of crude palm oil (CPO) prices.

Higher CPO prices throughout last year has led KLK’s plantation segment’s top line to a stronger growth. Overall, the company’s revenue rose by 27.25% y-o-y to RM21bil in that year.

Moving into 2018, it remains to be seen how KLK will perform financially, amid the higher industry palm oil stockpile and lower expected CPO prices.

Apart from its plantation and oleochemicals business, KLK is also involved in property development.

Driven by the strategic location of its vast land bank, KLK has developed many projects over the years such as Desa Coalfields, Sierramas and the 1,000-acre Bandar Seri Coalfields.