Azim Zabidi in talks to rescue Patimas

Prominent businessman, Datuk Seri Abdul Azim Zabidi says he is in talks to rope in a foreign strategic partner to help revive the fortunes of Patimas Computers Bhd, a PN17 company.

The talks were expected to be concluded within the next 10 working days, he told Bernama recently.

The former chairman of Bank Simpanan Nasional, emerged as a shareholder in Patimas late last week.

Abdul Azim purchased 45 million shares of Patimas, or 5.44 per cent of the company's stake via his company Syawaras Sdn Bhd on Jan 11, according to a Bursa Malaysia announcement.

The businessman increased his stake by another 1.21 per cent yesterday.

Speculation in the market is that the well-connected businessmen will tie up with one of China's biggest internet companies to take over Patimas.

Asked to confirm these developments, Abdul Azim declined to comment saying he couldn't disclose names at the moment as they might jeapordise the talks.

Asked why a foreign company would be interested in Patimas, Abdul Azim said, "Lets just say that while Patimas as a company might not excite, its data centre and its ability to manage data storage is very valuable."

Patimas had invested about RM80 million into the data centre.

"Mind you. As early as two years ago, even Google was considering setting up a storage centre in Malaysia."

"The data centre at the technology park is Patimas' biggest asset, as I see it," said Abdul Azim.

For the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2012, Patimas incurred a pre-tax loss of RM8.58 million on the back of a lower revenue of RM6.987 million.

Abdul Azim previously was reported to have been negotiating with several foreign parties on ways to rescue Patimas.