Petronas Takes Control Of Malaysian Twin Towers

Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia's state owned oil company, has said that it bought a 49 percent stake in KLCC Holdings Bhd. from tycoon Ananda Krishnan, giving it full control of the owner of the world's tallest building.

“We exercised our pre-emption rights months ago and since it's a national project, why not?” Hassan Marican, president of Petroliam Nasional, said in an interview. He declined to give the purchase price.

The Edge weekly magazine reported on July 22nd that Petronas, as the oil and gas company is known, bought the stake for 1.2 billion ringgit ($316 million). The purchase gives Petronas ownership of all of the Kuala Lumpur City Center development, which started a decade ago on a 40- hectare site around a former racing track.

KLCC Holdings spent 4 billion ringgit to build the Twin Towers and several other office blocks. The towers alone cost 1.8 billion ringgit.

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&to=http://www.petronas.com.my/internet/corp/corpweb3.nsf' target=_blank>PETRONAS

&to=http://www.klcc.com.my/' target=_blank>KLCC Holdings