Guthrie's Early Plunder Strategy
The initial takeover plan began with the agreement of Tun Dr Mahathir and Tun Ismail Ali who planned to seize Guthrie quietly through the purchase of shares from large companies.
The next important character appears. Tan Sri Khalid, the third individual involved in this plan was tasked with studying and arranging strategies to ensure the attack went smoothly.
He is an investment manager at a Malaysian government agency and used to work at Barings, London which is one of Guthrie's financial advisory companies.
As a result of the research done, Tan Sri Khalid found that the Malaysian government needs RM1 billion to make this operation a success which needs to be carried out quickly.
As a result, the Malaysian government agreed to approve a capital of RM1 billion by obtaining funds from Petronas, Pernas and Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASN).
At the same time in England, Rothschild and Rowe & Pitman also worked together on this operation, where Rothschild had to persuade the M&G Investment company to sell their 17% share of Guthrie.
While the stockbroking company, Rowe & Pitman was tasked with getting Guthrie's shares from small investors.
With an existing 25% share through Pemodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), the government only needs to add another 15% to become the main shareholder in Guthrie.
Due to the good relationship between Guthrie's shareholders and the officials in the government agencies who conspired with this mission, it became a 'prime target' compared to other British companies.
Genting, Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), Kuwait Investment Group (KIG) and OCBC bank are among the companies that own shares in Guthrie.
This mission can only be done by buying shares in Malaysia and abroad all at once before the London Stock Exchange (LSE) opens, and it needs to be done quickly to avoid Guthrie's management being aware of it.
The day the attack took place
September 7, 1981, dawn breaks, the attack begins!
Early that morning, Malaysia began to take steps with all the plans that had been carefully arranged.
All stock purchases are kept secret because if there is too much hype, it will trigger a spike in the stock price and give Guthrie's management a chance to react.
In Malaysia, Tan Sri Khalid had to persuade Genting, Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) and KIG, while Tun Ismail went to Singapore to meet the Chairman of OCBC to convince him to sell Guthrie's shares.
But a problem arose when Tun Ismail's efforts met with failure after his offer was rejected. Tun Ismail then contacted Tan Sri Khalid to deliver the bad news.
However, plans cannot be stopped. They need to continue the mission since Tan Sri Khalid has successfully acquired shares from Genting, BSN, and KIG.
Good news came from London, where Rothschild managed to convince M&G Investment to sell 11% of its 17% stake to Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the brokers under Rowe & Pittman managed to get 5% of the shares from small British investors.
At exactly 4pm Malaysian time and 9am London time, a surprise attack was launched simultaneously as soon as the LSE counter opened.
Finally, in just 4 hours the Malaysian government managed to buy 8 million units of Guthrie's shares, making the ownership interest through PNB increase to 50.41%.
Effects of Dawn Raid on the British and Malaysia
This event has provoked various reactions from all over the world and certainly dealt a great blow to the British for 'losing' to a country that was once their former colony.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher only found out about the incident several days later, while Guthrie Chairman Mark Gent was shocked by the news of the possession over the radio.
Following that, the British government acted quickly by tightening the law to avoid 'bananas bearing fruit twice'.
However, this attack was praised by brokers in London for Malaysia's cunning, while the British media criticized this attack as 'Backdoor Nationalisation'.
After 3 months of the attack, most of Guthrie's shares gradually became the property of Malaysia and at the end of 1981, it officially fell into the hands of the state.
As a result of the Dawn Raid event, it has greatly impacted Malaysia in the long term.
As a result, it has triggered awareness for British companies to start negotiating with Malaysia based on new terms.
Besides Guthrie, 3 British plantation companies operating in Malaysia such as Highlands & Lowlands, Barlows and Harrisons & Crosfield (H&C) were also sold to the government.
In fact, the meeting between Tun Dr Mahathir and Margaret Thatcher in London in 1983 led to several new resolutions, one of which was the British government agreeing to offer education subsidies to Malaysian students studying in the country.
Who would have thought, Malaysia has this 'great' history as a result of the combination of 3 main individuals who fought for the rights and dignity of the country instead of being trampled on by 'colonizers'.
Tun Dr Mahathir, Tun Ismail Ali and Tan Sri Khalid, names that will always be embedded in Malaysian history.
