AmBank a mystery mobile investor

ANZ may be getting out of direct equity investment through its banking business in Australia, but such investments may be a part of managing long-term relationships through its associate in Malaysia.

AmBank, 20 per cent owned by ANZ, has emerged as the owner of a 43 per cent stake in U Mobile, a new telco in Malaysia and operator of the newest third generation mobile phone services in that market.

How AmBank comes to own this stake is a bit of a mystery, though AmBank is a long-term funder of various entities in the Berjaya Group, the Malaysian business conglomerate controlled by Vincent Tan.

AmBank for its part, insists that it has no stake in U Mobile. The bank's spokesman could not supply any more details on its connections to U Mobile.

The prospective buyer of the stake says AmBank is the vendor.

U Television Sdn Bhd (or U TV) is one of the many companies under the control of Berjaya. U TV already owns 67 per cent of U Mobile.

It appears that about two thirds of the U TV stake in U Mobile has ended up under the control of AmBank, or perhaps will end up under the control of AmBank.

A document filed with Bursa Malaysia (the Malaysian Stock Exchange) on Tuesday by Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad shows that AmBank has an agreement to sell MPHB a 43 per cent stake in U Mobile any time before 13 October 2010.

MPHB paid AmBank 3.5 million ringgit for this option. The option covers 158 million shares in U Mobile valued at one ringgit each.

This valuation is 31 per cent less than the net assets per share of U Mobile of 1.44 ringgit as at December 2008, according to the MPHB filing.

There is no information on whether AmBank is making a gain or a loss on the potential sale of MPHB, with no information on when, how or under what terms AmBank came to control the stake in the first place.

Two other Asian telcos with small stakes in U Mobile are also selling out of the firm.