MAS To Disappear From Radar Completely?

Well here is something a little bird just said. 

Folks go over to the Bursa Malaysia website. Air Asia X and MAS shares are moving up. MAS is the most active counter today. Here is a graphic from the Bursa website at 10:21 am :

As at 10:21 am, 24th July 2014 MAS is indeed the most active counter on the Bursa.  

And what do you know, just five spots down at No. 6 most active stock today is Air Asia X (Stock quote AAX). Here are some stats and a graph of AAX share price at 10:37 am :

 

Something is cooking folks. MH17 has just been shot down. Shouldnt MAS share price be going down? Instead MAS shares are going up - the most active counter today. What is going on?

Air Asia X (the long haul version of Air Asia Budget) is not making profits. Surprise !! Their share price is also moving up today. I think after this Blog post, both their share prices may *ump (replace * with either 'b' or 'j'). Do read on.

I think some insider trading is going on. Some people on the inside are taking positions. The Bursa  better be on notice. Check for buy orders coming from overseas, maybe from err..Dubhai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan. You know - all the stans and syaitans. 

The talk is MAS is going to be broken up. MAS Engineering and MAS Kargo will be stripped off. The buyers may still be bumiputera led but Tony Fernandez and Air Asia will be playing a large role.

Lets digress. When the dunggus did the WAU and sold off all of MAS' Grade A assets, they also sold off the iconic MAS Building in Jalan Sultan Ismail. My question is : who bought that building? And for how much? Was it sold by open tender? Or was it sold by 'Can I scratch your back?"

So if MAS Kargo or Mas Engineering are going to be sold, will it be through open tender (to get the best price lah) or will it be through 'I scratch your back'? Just wondering.

Anyway this is called asset stripping. Minus Mas Kargo and Mas Engineering, MAS will only have its flight operations. 

Even that too will see huge changes. Talk is MAS will move out completely from domestic flight services. And Air Asia will take over MAS' domestic routes.  Ini sudah cerita lama.

But here is another cat that can be skinned. This will also give Air Asia a huge volume and thus a huge say over all the airports in Malaysia - so MAHB take note (where they have already gotten rid of no nonsense and non wheeler dealer CEO Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad). If volume dictates priority at the airports, the future of other budget operators like FireFly and Malindo may face turbulence. Please take note.

And MAS' international routes will merge with Air Asia X - the not so profitable or loss making long haul wing of Air Asia. 

Hence both MAS (at No. 1) and Air Asia X (at No. 6) are the most active counters on the Bursa today.

The recent appointment of Nazir Razak to the Board of Khazanah has something to do with all this manouevring. Khazanah will still have a sizeable stake in MAS but the guy who will be calling the shots will likely be Mr Everyone Can Fly.

The question is what will be the shareholding structure behind MAS Kargo and MAS Engineering? Ada Arab lagi ke?  That air route is becoming too familiar.