Malaysian companies show added maturity - Brief Article

Business Asia, Oct 25, 1999

Malaysian companies are showing more maturity in their approach to business activities in the wake of Asia's economic crisis and moves by the Mahathir Government to stabilise the financial system, a leading project manager says.

Evan Horsnell, who recently returned to Sydney after a four-year stint as the general manager of CMR Project Management in Kuala Lumpur, said as the Malaysian economy shows signs of an upturn, some companies were making concerted efforts not to repeat past mistakes by investigating restructuring opportunities and "cleaning up" left-over projects.

Horsnell attributed the restructuring and "clean-up" process to the Malaysian Government's moves to revive the economy through strict currency controls and the injection of liquidity into the financial sector.

"In my view, businesses are taking advantage of the government's initiative to stabilise the currency and the injection of liquidity into the financial sector through the restructuring of non-performing-loans," Horsnell said.

"Some Malaysian companies have embarked on the journey to recovery and are utilising professional management consultants like ourselves to assist in this process."

CMR Project Management, CMR's joint venture with HSS Integrated in Malaysia, is currently providing professional management consulting services to assist Chase Perdana Berhad with its property division.

As part of the effort to maximise Chase Perdana's business potential, CMR Project Management is assisting in the close-out of existing projects and assessing alternative management options for their contracting business.

CMR Project Management also recently completed the A$200 million commercial, retail and carpark development, Leisure Commerce Square, in Kuala Lumpur.

CMR was requested by the developer to provide management assistance in 1997 after the project fell into trouble with delays on the substructure contract. Owners were looking at a potential 12 month over-run.

"The challenge was to untangle the mess the project was in, develop workable strategies immediately and control them tightly," Horsnell said.

Under CMR's guidance, team members achieved first and second stage hand-over by the original completion dates of September 1998 and May 1999, all within project budgets.