MITSUBISHI Heavy Industries Group (MHI) is actively looking for opportunities in manufacturing, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other large infrastructure projects in Malaysia.
President and chief executive officer Shunichi Miyanaga said while there might not be opportunities in Malaysia for now in the power systems, modern industry and infrastructure, as well as aircraft, defence and space sectors, the group could also work in areas other than transportation.
MHI has a good relationship with Malaysia in the transport segment via its sister company, Mitsubishi Motors Corp, and its long-term partnership with national carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd.
Miyanaga expects the relationship with Malaysia to continue, though MHI has no immediate plans to enlarge its presence.
“As a group, our most familiar market has been Southeast Asia, although the United States is extremely important to us as the companies there have the capabilities to handle our businesses, while the companies in Southeast Asia may not have the expertise,” said Miyanaga at a roundtable briefing with international media from Asean, the United Kingdom and the US, here, yesterday.
However, he stressed that Malaysia continued to play an important part in the group’s overall presence in the Asia Pacific.
“As you know, Japan is facing a declining population and we need to go global to survive.
“Asia Pacific is attractive to us because of the population push, the market size and the massive potential in most areas of our business. Therefore, Malaysia is important to us, given its geographical position and good relationship with the rest of Asia Pacific,” he added.
Asia Pacific is now the second biggest market for MHI outside Japan.
As of last year, its Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Australia operations had yielded US$5.8 billion (RM23.73 billion) in revenue.
MHI’s presence in Malaysia started in the 1990s, when it delivered a large-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) recovery plant for Petronas Fertilizer (Kedah) Sdn Bhd in 1999.
It also marked MHI’s first global delivery of a CO2 recovery plant.
MHI also had orders for a large-scale fertiliser plant construction project in 2011 and for Line 1 of the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit project in 2012.
The group established an office in Kuala Lumpur in June 2013 to cater to opportunities related to power generation plant, urban transportation system and other emerging large-scale social infrastructure improvement projects from Malaysia’s robust economic growth.