Khazanah Nasional

Khazanah Nasional Berhad (doing business as Khazanah Nasional or simply Khazanah) is the sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Malaysia. One of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, it was established to invest surplus revenues for Malaysia. Through its investments and activities, the fund seeks to deliver sustainable economic and societal benefit for the nation. This includes achieving long-term risk-adjusted returns across the portfolio, as well as undertaking investments that catalyse new growth areas, strengthen Malaysia’s economic competitiveness, and contribute to priority socioeconomic outcomes.
Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, it has regional offices in the United States, Turkey, China, United Kingdom and India. Khazanah's portfolio covers a broad spectrum of sectors. Its key focus investment areas include Leisure & Tourism, Banking, Sustainable Development, Healthcare and Consumerism. While it does not receive regular capital infusions, Khazanah relies on its ability to generate returns and tapping capital markets to fund its investments.
Khazanah is a member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF), which maintains and promotes the Santiago Principles on best practices in managing sovereign wealth funds. It is also a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), signatory of the Malaysian Code for Institutional Investors and a member of the Institutional Investor Council Malaysia (IIC), a member of the FCLT Global (Focusing Capital on the Long Term), and signatory of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) Corporate Integrity Pledge.
It is owned by the Malaysian government and administered by the Minister of Finance Incorporated, except for one share held by the Federal Land Commissioner. It is governed by a board of directors comprising representatives from the Government and the corporate sector with diverse professional backgrounds and expertise. In October 2023, the fund has US$35.8 billion in assets under management. Khazanah is one of the two Malaysia's government-linked investment companies (GLICs) that manages money from the government's excess funds, the other being Retirement Fund (Incorporated).
Status
Khazanah is a company incorporated in Malaysia, and operates under the provisions of the Malaysian Companies Act. It is neither a government agency nor a statutory board, rather it is a national institution that served as a trustee that manages government-owned commercial assets and also investing in multiple high-tech and strategic sectors.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, who serves as a Khazanah chairman, have the rights to determine the Khazanah's direction, including to appoint and retaining the members of Khazanah's board of directors and existing managements.
In a 2016 forum, Azman Mokhtar, former Khazanah's Managing Director, said Khazanah had the continuation of a pro-growth and pro-society focus in the 2017 Malaysian Budget, with companies of various sectors under its portfolio remained to be the nation's growth engines. Former Prime Minister and Khazanah chairman, Ismail Sabri Yaakob in the fund's 2021 report, said that Khazanah is in a perfect position to embarked on its Advancing Malaysia initiative. He noted that Khazanah's ability to overcome the specific challenges impacting certain sectors and create sustainable growth for the long term.
History
Khazanah was incorporated under the Malaysian Companies Act 1965 on 3 September 1993 as a public limited company and commenced operations a year later to manage and maximise the return of government assets and equities, thus taking over the functions of the Minister of Finance Incorporated, which administered the fund.
In 2004, Khazanah became a regular issuer in the global capital markets and supporting Malaysia’s aspiration in being the leading hub for Islamic finance through landmark transactions. This include the world’s first exchangeable sukuk and the country's first sustainable and responsible investment sukuk. In May the same year, the Malaysian Government announces a strategic revamp for Khazanah. The revamp saws the fund received a new mandate from the government to be an active shareholder while driving transformation of the Malaysian government-linked companies (GLCs).
In 2005, the fund launches a transformation program and a guideline for the government-owned companies.
In 2018, the Government of Malaysia initiated a corporate restructuring and reorganisation of Khazanah, which involved leadership changes, a refresh of its mandate and objectives, and a review and revaluation of its investments.
In April 2020, Khazanah announced it was contributing RM20 million in total to support the relief efforts in response to the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim announced in February 2023 that Khazanah will spearheaded the formation of the National Heritage Fund to attract all private participations in restoring historical heritage sites.
On March 16, 2023, Khazanah launched a new initiative called the Future Malaysia Program, under its Dana Impak mandate. The initiative was introduced to support the local ecosystem of entrepreneurs, start-ups, venture funds, and corporate venture programmes through its local and international partners.
The fund assigned its inaugural issuer credit rating of A3 and A- from Moody's Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings, in April 2023, respectively.
Investments
Khazanah pursues its overall mandate through its 4 investment structures which consists of Investments portfolio, the Dana Impak portfolio, developmental assets and special situations.
1990s
In 1995, Khazanah acquire 40% of majority stake in Putrajaya Holdings to undertake the development of Putrajaya. In 1996, the fund formed a joint venture with Bank Industri Berhad and Wafer Technology to develop local expertise in wafer fabrication, which is a core area in the Malaysian semiconductor industry.
In September the same year, Khazanah, through its agreement deal with Usaha Tegas, announced it has acquired 15 per cent of Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn. Bhd., the principal owner of Astro satellite television through the subscription of new shares.
Khazanah began issuing a RM1 billion bond where it was the first of a series of bonds aimed at providing a benchmark yield curve.
On December 5, 1997, Khazanah signed a co-operation agreement with British Aerospace for a partnership to develop Malaysia's capability in designing and manufacturing of aerospace products, while enablling Malaysian companies received access to international aerospace work and future aircraft programmes.
In 1999, Khazanah engaged in local bank restructuring by acquiring the equities of several banks, including RHB Bank and Maybank.
2000s
In May 2000, Khazanah invested 30% of stake in telecommunications company, Time dotCom Berhad for investors.
In 2001, Khazanah through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Syarikat Danasaham acquire UEM Group for RM3.8 billion. The acquisition aims to recover UEM and heavily-indebted Renong.
In 2007, Khazanah began its Northern Corridor initiative to spearhead the development of Northern Corridor Economic Region.
Khazanah, together with the Dubai Banking Group and Asia Capital Reinsurance (ACR), has established a joint-venture company, ACR ReTakaful Holdings in May 2008 with a capital base of US$300 million.
2010s
2011 saw the establishment of M+S Pte. Ltd., a joint-venture between Khazanah and Singaporean investment holding arm, Temasek Holdings. The joint investments saw both Khazanah and Temasek undertaking projects in Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore. Khazanah owns 60% of the joint-venture company while Temasek owns the remaining 40%.
In October 2011, Khazanah issues the first Renminbi sukuk, which is the world's first Renminbi offshore sukuk.
In August 2012, Khazanah's wholly-owned subsidiary, Themed Attractions and Resorts invests in Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park for RM115 million.
In July 2013, Khazanah through its insurance arm, Avicennia Capital reached an agreement to acquire 90% stake in the Turkish healthcare insurance company, Acibadem Saglik ve Hayat Sigorta for US$252 million.
In August 2014, Khazanah announced its intention to purchase the remaining ownership of Malaysia Airlines from minority shareholders and delist the airline from Malaysia's stock exchange, thereby renationalising the airline.
The fund through its special purpose vehicle, Bukit Galla Investments, has invested in Chinese mobile lending and credit analytics platform, WeLab in January 2016.
In July 2019, they targeted to expanding its investment exposure in the United States and looking to invest primarily in technology firms utilising data analytics.
2020s
In 2021, Khazanah allocates RM6 billion investments through its Dana Impak. The allocation was made to improving household incomes and achieve other socio-economic outcomes.
Khazanah announced in September 2022 that it would eyeing potential investments in Southeast Asia and India while looking at the right time to execute them.
In April 2023, Khazanah invests USD $40 million in Indian logistics company, Xpressbees.
The fund invests in Malaysian homegrown insurance technology company, PolicyStreet in June 2023, aiming to enhanced protection for the nation's underserved market.
The fund announced that it will be spearheading a green investment platform to attract domestic and overseas investments.
In July 2023, Khazanah partnered with the Singaporean venture capital firm, Antler to help the firm expand its operations in Malaysia while to support the local startup ecosystem.
Sustainability
In its sustainability framework that launched in 10 June 2022, Khazanah have set a target of achieving carbon neutral operations by the end of 2023. Another environmental sustainability target is also to aim for net zero emissions by 2050.
See also
Temasek Holdings – Singaporean sovereign wealth fund.
References
External links
1993 establishments in Malaysia
Government-owned companies of Malaysia
Sovereign wealth funds
Ministry of Finance (Malaysia)
Privately held companies of Malaysia
Malaysian companies established in 1993