KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Shares in Malaysia’s Measat Global and Tanjong Plc were suspended from trade today amid market talk of privatisation bid by tycoon Ananda Krishnan.

Satellite operator Measat and power and gaming group Tanjong Plc, which are owned by the reclusive billionaire, separately requested for share trade halts on Wednesday pending an announcement of a corporate proposal.

An official from Tanjong Plc declined to comment but said an announcement will be made on Friday. Measat officials were not immediately available for comment.

Dealers and fund managers said it was likely that Krishnan had plans to take both companies private. The possible move comes after he re-listed the Southeast Asian country’s top mobile phone operator Maxis in November 2009.

Maxis now houses just the Malaysian business, leaving the fast-growing Indian and Indonesian operations with unlisted parent Maxis Communications Bhd, controlled by Krishnan.

“This is typical Ananda Krishnan. He will take these firms private and grow the businesses or strip them down. Later on, he may relist them like what happened to Maxis,” said a dealer with a local investment bank.

Krishnan could be looking to split up the gaming and power businesses under Tanjong Plc to better manage his assets, said a manager of a foreign fund based in the Malaysian capital. — Reuters