13/12/2011 (Business Times) - Major (rtd) Anuar Adam, who took control of Wijaya Baru Global last week, says he will not be seeking board representation in the company.

In an exclusive interview with Business Times, Anuar said he wanted a professional management team to run the company. “Wijaya is a good company, a value enhancer,but her potential has been clipped by legacy issues,” said Anuar.

Last week, Anuar bought 32.02 per cent of Wijaya from Datuk Tiong King Sing at 95 sen a share. The purchase is a one sen premium over Wijaya’s last audited book value of 94 sen.

“As a businessman, I believe that the true value of Wijaya has yet to be unlocked. And this is why I want a professional team that understands timber, from the board downwards, to run the show,” said Anuar.

Last week, Wijaya also received approval from its shareholders to buy two companies in Indonesia for US$80 million (RM251.8 million).

The two companies – Wealth Gate Pte Ltd and Suffolk Pte Ltd – have 80,000ha of land in Irianjaya that have been approved for oil palm plantations and related activities.

Wijaya would first be extracting timber from the forested land, valued at US$1,000 (RM3,147) per hectare, before converting the area into oil palm plantations, said Anuar.

Anuar was hesistant when asked if he was fronting for a group of powerful Indonesian businessmen. “All I can say is I do have friends in Indonesia who are in this line of business. How the market wants to perceive it is up to them but I am my own man,” he said.

With this in mind, Anuar said he would suggest to the board that Wijaya exit the money-lending business. “The money-lending business is a very small portion of Wijaya’s portfolio but because of it, most Muslim funds have shied away from owning Wijaya shares as it is not syariah-compliant,” said Anuar.

He added that Wijaya needed to be syariah-compliant as it was banking its future on the country with the world’s biggest Muslim population.

Wijaya intends to start logging operations in Indonesia as early as the first half of next year.