Kota Kinabalu: Race should not have come into play in Sunway Group’s proposed RM11 billion takeover of IJM Corporation, Datuk Seri Idris Jala said in a podcast days before the deal collapsed.
The former minister and co-chairman of Sunway Group, shared his views in a discussion with his son, Leon, where he outlined the thinking behind the proposed acquisition.
Idris, who formerly headed MAS, addressed claims the deal was being framed along racial lines, including narratives that a “Chinese company” was acquiring a firm with significant Bumiputera-linked shareholding. Government-linked companies collectively held 43.8 per cent of IJM shares.
“That is a completely ridiculous way of arguing. People should not look at skin. They must look at the business as a commercial deal,” he said.
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