Creador’s backroom push at CTOS
Lower profits, shrinking offices, and PE pressure.
Farhash Wafa Salvador moved RM1.99 million to acquire a 5.5% stake in IT services firm Key Alliance via an open market transaction yesterday.
The former aide to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has become an active market player since stepping away from politics following his boss’ 2022 general election win.
Before Key Alliance, he made a much larger move: RM184.4 million for a 20% stake in another listed company, MMAG.
Farhash now chairs Key Alliance and MMAG, as well as Apex Equity Holdings, Excel Force MSC, and 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings. These are all listed on Bursa Malaysia.
He remains an enigma. But one worth watching closely.
You’re reading a paid version of The Malaysianist, a newsletter on money and power by writer and journalist Emmanuel Samarathisa.
I run monthly and annual subscriptions. There’s also the atas or founding member tier where you get all the perks of an annual subscription and more, such as an annual or founder’s report and insight into how this little corner of the internet fared throughout the year.
Group subscriptions are on the table, if you’re mulling over purchases for your organisation or for family members.
This is a follow-up to Wednesday’s scoop on CTOS, the Bursa-listed credit reporting firm currently undergoing internal upheaval.
We now have more: fresh Q1 2025 numbers, insider accounts from Friday’s townhall, and a sharper look at what Creador founder Brahmal Vasudevan might be up to.
It started with a company-wide email just before the 4pm town hall. In it, Eric Hamburger Barazza announced he was stepping down as CTOS group chief in September.