BlackRock - the world’s largest fund manager valued at US$10.47 trillion in the first quarter of 2024, according to a Bloomberg report - has been accused of ‘profiteering from genocide’ through its stakes in US defence companies, including 7.4% stake in Lockheed Martin, which reportedly supplied Israel with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets in its conflict with Hamas; besides leading missile and missile systems producer MBDA, Hewlett-Packard, Google and Intel as companies “known to be complicit” in the violence in Gaza.
Smack of hypocrisy and a betrayal to the Palestine people when in the recent Defense Services Asia and the concurrent National Security Asia exhibitions - hosted and co-organized by Malaysia’s Defense Ministry and Home Affairs Ministry - were Lockheed Martin, European missile manufacturer MBDA and other arms-dealers who provide and supply armouries to Israel.
“We urge the Malaysian government to take a firm and consistent stand. Do not allow these murderous arm dealers to participate and prevent their war mongering,” the Solidarity for Palestinian coalition spokesperson Tian Chua said; READ USA: Merchant of War Profiteers; Israel’s war debts enrich merchants of death; on the initial destruction of Gaza - elaborated HERE.
In January 2024, the New York-based company agreed to acquire Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a total consideration of US$3 billion plus stock in BlackRock.
BlackRock's buyout of GIP came after the MAHB-BlackRock agreed transaction.
MAHB is the Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad owning and controlling 39 airports in the country besides managing five international airports, like its Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) in Istanbul, Turkey, 17 domestic airports and 17 STOLports (Short Take-Off and Landing).
This episode arises because large government deficits mean that the mobilization of capital through public-private partnerships will be critical for funding important infrastructure. Finally, as capital has become more scarce in a higher interest rate environment, companies are exploring partnership opportunities for their embedded infrastructure assets to improve their returns on invested capital or to raise capital to reinvest in their core businesses.
At stated in various studies, public-private partnerships (PPP) are dicey modes in governance and for economic development; see KS Jomo and Chowdhury ; Chongo S.M.; K-Infra
However, after years of ineffectiveness typical of a government-linked corporation (GLC), it seeks a western financial-monopoly praxis to fix and manage its stable of asset-outfits whereas an industrial policy similar to NSS would be a better enterprise model.
The public sector's GLCs management has declined since 2014 according to World Bank specialist Rajni Bajpai. In fact, there was a huge “big gap” in the performance of our civil servants compared with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
At a time when the emoluments and the retirement charges of the public sector constitute 31.2% of the RM$372.340 million Budget 2023 (which excludes contingency reserves yet-to-be disclosed), there is more than much concern on the performance and productivity of our civil servants definitively, (Storm 2023, public sector in economic development; and World Bank, Malaysia Economic Monitor June 2019: Re-energizing the Public Service).
Tengku Zafrul, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry of Malaysia, once questioned where the line should be drawn on international trade and FDI investments, missed his high-dive where upon reaching at tree-top level the coconut is already dehusked, and GIP may become just a shell in the global vulture capital circuit; on the definition, processes and implications of financialisation capitalism practice upon developing nations, look HERE.
For Khazanah Nasional Bhd Managing Director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir to say that following the deal, Khazanah and EPF will collectively increase their ownership in MAHB to 70% from 41%, while GIP and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will hold 25% and 5% stake, respectively, may still not reassuring given that clienteleship is inbred and embedded within the state of nation politico-economy where rentier compradores within an ethnocratic hegemony could still possibly sell their souls and country not unlike the SRC International case or in the plow of Littoral Combat Ship wakes - all in the perpetuation of politic patronage as part of private finance initiative with all its negative ramifications. More so nowadays during an existential global calamity crises of capitalism.
A related link to the largest Israeli-Palestinian outbreak on the 7th October incident (Niu Xinchun 牛新春) was an event often missed. It is the selling of Israeli shares at bargain prices that were far exceeding the short selling during “numerous other periods of crisis,” Robert J. Jackson, Jr., Joshua Mitts and colleagues wrote in a paper titled “Trading on Terror?” published in SSRN; ‘Our findings suggest that traders informed about the coming attacks profited from these tragic events’; READ Storm October 2023, Trading on Terror.
On reflecting 2020, Bursa Malaysia suspended the short selling under proprietary day trading (PDT) and intraday short selling (IDSS) for 24 companies on a day in March, including Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd. MAHB’s share price closed down 55 sen or 11.9% to RM4.07; it was the major laggard among KLCI components. MAHB’s trading volume stood at 5.01 million shares compared to its 200-day MAHB volume of 2.84 million shares.
This year on 15th of May, Bursa Malaysia Bhd has approved Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s request for a trading suspension pending a material announcement regarding its trading of all the company's securities.
For context, the privatisation of MAHB that recently resurfaced has suggested that MAHB could be privatised by its major owners before a stake sale to the private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) where 30 per cent share in MAHB would then be sold to GIP (an infrastructure investment vehicle that invests in equities and selected debt).
Looking at the bigger and bifurcated picture than mere BDS or other NGOs ungenerous viewpoints is that MMC Corp was also at one time intended to sell its holdings in MMC Ports to GIP; however, the proposal was withdrawn after GIP backed out of its bid due to the parties failing to reach an agreement on a price for the stake.
Had this deal materialised, once again it portents the collusion of national capital with Global North financial capital as Reuters first reported in May last year that Syed Mokhtar, ranked as the 11th richest man in Malaysia by Forbes, was looking at bringing an investor into MMC Port Holdings where the company has seven ports in Malaysia - Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Johor Port, Northport, Penang Port, Tanjung Bruas Port, SPT Services and Andaman Port - in siphoning wealth of nation besides jeopardising national security because all the ports are located along the strategic Straits of Malacca's geopolitical bluewater of conflict; and see The Confluence of Great Powers in South East Asia.
The Ministry of Transport (MOT) commenting on the issue, stated that the ministry has no objections if MMC Corp Bhd plans to divest its 49 per cent stake in MMC Ports Holdings Bhd, even to foreign entities. This expression is very much in alignment with the dominating role of monopoly-capital Infrastructural Platform TNCs which owned, controlled and operated, including our fibre-optic undersea cable routers under marine cabotage, (Storm January 2023).
Therefore, at this juncture of extermination, expulsion and extirpation whereby the Triad of Imperialism, Zionism and Reactionism resurface most predominantly -when the intrusion of Finance Capitalism is characterised by the pursuit of pure profit from the purchase and sale of, or investment in, currencies and financial products such as bonds, stocks, futures and other derivatives like modern cyberscurrencies in such a manner - that these corporate vultures would likely buy stocks when these stock-shares are selling off at bargain prices.
At a time when US is weaponising the world economy, not to be ignored nor avoided also is that a neoimperial entity has thrown not only a challenge to MAHB to take bait and bite, but to be stoned black inevitably.
The week that was with these postings:
1] The Fake China's Threat - a book review by John Walsh
2] Towing the ship Sierra Madre away - Zhao Hongwei (赵宏伟)
3] How do we abolish the present state of things - Progressive International
4] The National Semiconductor Strategy as an industrial policy - STORM
Thanks a heap for revisiting this site to read my postings On Geoeconomics.
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in solidarity,