Tan Sri Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim
Syed Azman Ibrahim's privately held Weststar Aviation is Southeast Asia's largest helicopter service for offshore oil rigs. Private equity firm KKR invested $200 million last October. Company also imports commercial vehicles and luxury cars, and customizes vehicles for the police and armed forces. FED up with traversing the country’s roads to grow his luxury car business, Tan Sri Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim acted on a bit of advice that made him one of the richest people in Malaysia.
He was told to buy a helicopter if he is fatigued by the weariness of travelling by road. Syed Azman, a former military intelligence officer, did just that. In 2003, he paid US$1.5mil to buy a second-hand helicopter for his travels and when he was not using the copter, he leased it out. It was then he realized there was huge demand for helicopter-based aviation services in Malaysia. Five years later he won his first contract to offer offshore aviation services to the oil and gas sector.Today, as the owner of Weststar Aviation Services Sdn Bhd (WAS), he owns 40 helicopters and the company has over RM8bil worth of contracts to shuttle people and goods, predominantly offshore, for the massive oil and gas industry. He is angling for a further RM3bil worth of projects ranging from six months to 10 years. “Now is also the window of opportunity and if we do not move fast enough we will miss it and have to wait ten years before a new set of contracts are given out by the oil and gas companies,’’ he tells StarBizWeek. He is group managing director of the Weststar group of companies in which WAS is a unit.
Though he remains elusive and shuns the media limelight, his name was all over the newspapers in 2005 when the Government named the recipients of the AP (approved permits). He and the late Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin of Naza Group topped the list with the most number of APs. Hence he was dubbed the “AP King’’, a monicker he is trying hard to lose.
In 2009, Syed Azman created a stir in Britain
He was told to buy a helicopter if he is fatigued by the weariness of travelling by road. Syed Azman, a former military intelligence officer, did just that. In 2003, he paid US$1.5mil to buy a second-hand helicopter for his travels and when he was not using the copter, he leased it out. It was then he realized there was huge demand for helicopter-based aviation services in Malaysia. Five years later he won his first contract to offer offshore aviation services to the oil and gas sector.Today, as the owner of Weststar Aviation Services Sdn Bhd (WAS), he owns 40 helicopters and the company has over RM8bil worth of contracts to shuttle people and goods, predominantly offshore, for the massive oil and gas industry. He is angling for a further RM3bil worth of projects ranging from six months to 10 years. “Now is also the window of opportunity and if we do not move fast enough we will miss it and have to wait ten years before a new set of contracts are given out by the oil and gas companies,’’ he tells StarBizWeek. He is group managing director of the Weststar group of companies in which WAS is a unit.
Though he remains elusive and shuns the media limelight, his name was all over the newspapers in 2005 when the Government named the recipients of the AP (approved permits). He and the late Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin of Naza Group topped the list with the most number of APs. Hence he was dubbed the “AP King’’, a monicker he is trying hard to lose.
In 2009, Syed Azman created a stir in Britain