|
Today, the Max Myanmar headquarters in downtown Yangon are outfitted with sleek burnished wood. Zaw Zaw welcomes visitors in royal red chairs rimmed with ornate silver. He is surrounded by a coterie of assistants, young men with firm handshakes, bright smiles and perfect English, some of whom left successful careers abroad to join Zaw Zaw. He says he wants to become a global, or at least regional, player. "In Myanmar, we don't have any single brand to compete in the world, or even the region," he says. That quest is forcing him to break many of the old rules. He has courted the political opposition and Western diplomats, both of which were anathema to the former military government. And in a system that long prized secrecy, he agreed to open his books, first to 48 inspectors from the Singapore Stock Exchange, and then to The Associated Press. The revenues of the privately held Max Myanmar Group, as reported to Myanmar's tax authorities, show the direction Zaw Zaw is steering his empire, as well as the extent to which he has benefited from his friends in the former military government. Revenues grew to $240 million in the year ended March 31, 2012, the latest full-year data available, up from $180 million a year earlier. They then jumped to an estimated $293 million in the six months through Sept. 30, thanks to a surge in construction income. The banking license Zaw Zaw got three years ago has given rise to the fastest growing part of Zaw Zaw's empire. He and three other tycoons were summoned to a meeting with the government in June 2010 and given the licenses, he says. "Maybe they trust me," says Zaw Zaw, who had no prior experience in the field. "I really don't know why they gave me the license." Revenues at Ayeyarwady Bank grew to $20.2 million in the year ended March 31, up from $7.5 million the prior year, while net income surged from about $825,000 to $7 million. The Max Myanmar Group's business is shifting away from areas traditionally associated with cronyism. Revenues from his jade mine, which is nearing the end of its productive life, plunged to $1 million in the first half of this fiscal year, after totaling $17 million the prior year. His construction business still accounts for more than 90 percent of group revenue, but it is weaning itself from government projects in favor of private ones such as the Novotel. And he stopped importing cars in 2010. Zaw Zaw says he has long admired opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and began cultivating a relationship with her after her release from house arrest in November 2010. Her rapprochement with him and other crony businessmen has dismayed some of her allies. "My objection is up till now what they are practicing is not good business, but making monopolies," says Win Tin, a journalist who spent 19 years as a political prisoner and helped found the National League for Democracy, the party led by Suu Kyi. "We can't forgive them." But he commends Zaw Zaw for handing back some disputed land for public use and for his high-profile charity projects
-- which totaled $2.3 million from 1993 through 2012, according to a glossy 75-page company brochure. "As far as I know, Zaw Zaw is the best one," he says of the cronies. Despite his outreach and pro-reform rhetoric, Zaw Zaw remains on the U.S. sanctions list, which makes it harder for him to access foreign capital. The U.S. Embassy, in a June 2009 cable released by WikiLeaks, described him as "one of several mid-level cronies actively attempting to curry favor with the regime." The sanctions list does not allow for redemption. It is designed to hold people accountable for past wrongs, regardless of whatever good work they may be doing now, a U.S. State Department official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The Singapore Stock Exchange's top concern in rejecting Zaw Zaw's bid to list Max Energy
-- which now operates 31 gas stations -- was his presence on the U.S. sanctions list and the "lack of clarity" as to why he was placed there, according to a filing by the Singapore-based company that would have been his partner. The exchange also flagged unresolved allegations of human rights violations and tax evasion. Zaw Zaw insists he has done nothing wrong and was placed on the U.S. blacklist based, in part, on inaccurate information. "If somebody did wrong, they should be punished," he says. "But don't create rumors." The Accor Group, for one, is happy to do business with him. Patrick Basset, a senior vice president for the region, said in an email that the hotel group sees its partnership with Zaw Zaw partly as a way "to encourage positive changes." And, as the glowing financial results in his books suggest, the U.S. sanctions may be hurting Zaw Zaw's pride more than his pocketbook.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries
Community |
Perspectives
|
Law & Courts |
Leisure Time
|
Spiritual Life |
Health & Fitness |
Teen Scene
Calendar
|
Letters to the Editor