A name appear on Forbes top 40 richest Malaysian attract my attention. Ranked at no 16 Datuk Vinod Sekhar. In fact he appear on the list last year (2006) as well,ranked 16 also.Describe as founder and majority owner of privately held Petra
Group. I was mistakenly thought he founded oil and Gas group Petra Perdana Group. However, Petra Perdana was found by Terengganu royal YM Tengku Dato' Ibrahim Petra bin Tengku Indra Petra rather than Datuk Vinod Sekhar.Actually, company control by Datuk Vinod Sekhar's company call Petra Group which is privately held.
Surprising that Forbes able to rate a owner of a Malaysia non listed company. It is difficult to rate a owner of a public listed company even in US.
Forbes stated that Forbes Vice Chairman Christopher Forbes is minor shareholder in group. that is how Forbes rate the company. Is it accurate base on such rating?
It is not sure why Company Commision Of Malaysia allow two unrelated company used such a similar name that create so much confusion.
Last year, Joshua Teoh's blog has discussion on Datuk Vinod Sekhar under his blog's comment column.
Excerpt:
newmal said: this is all i know so far - he is 37, and also heads the petra foundation - which is pretty huge, and apparently refuses to allow his name or picture to appear in tatler etc. and is a close friend of Tony Fernandes of air asia and Was told there was a story done on him recently - a friend saw it in sing. Will try get some info from there. According to the article also completely self made, not inherited. To me its just amazing that he has been so low key - and no one knew about him - a non bumi also!
He added: Just read that Vinod Sekhar’s father passed away last week. Also found out that both father and son are/were self made men. the bio is on the Petra website. From what i read on line - he started his company from college and was a millionaire by 21, and a Datuk by 26. then lost everything in the asian financial crisis, but rebuilt everything on his own. He also founded the first multiracial youth society - and here’s something interesting, apparently he wrote the template for the Rakan Muda programme - then walked away when they tried to make political and racial. Also, i believe he gave 40% of the company away to a charitable trust that educates a few thousand people now. He is actually the chairman of the Petra foundation. Thats about it. If someone actually knows him - then can actually ask him about the above. I’m sure some of us would be keen to hear about his true story. It seems fascinating and worth a read.
The Edge recently reported that: In 2001, Datuk Vinod Sekhar undertook a reverse takeover of a company listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London. He injected an Islamic portal into the AIM-listed company, which was renamed Petra Multimedia plc. But it failed to sustain investor interest and was delisted a year later.
Whether he deserved on the list or not is your own judgement
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