Pursuits
SE Asian Billionaires Feel Pain of Devaluation With Interest Bills Rising
- Indonesia's Anthoni Salim facing biggest potential cost hike
- Pressure unlikely to let up with Fed rate hikes around corner
This article is for subscribers only.
Two of Southeast Asia’s richest businessmen are experiencing the weight of dollar strength after loading their business empires up with cheap U.S. currency debt.
Anthoni Salim, who controls the First Pacific Co. conglomerate, and T. Ananda Krishnan, a major shareholder of Malaysian mobile phone operator Maxis Bhd., are feeling the pinch as the rupiah and the ringgit slump to the lowest since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. The duo’s companies have among the most foreign-currency debt in their respective countries, with dollar liabilities totaling at least $3.8 billion for Salim and some $2.3 billion for Krishnan, data compiled by Bloomberg show.