Khazanah not in a hurry to sell Bank Muamalat stake

KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd is not in a hurry to sell its 30% stake in Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, said its managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar.
“It’s been reported that our application to the central bank to begin negotiations has been approved but you should note that we are only a 30% shareholder. The major shareholder is DRB-Hicom Bhd therefore we are not taking the lead (in the negotiations),” he told reporters at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2015 yesterday.
“It’s not a core holding therefore we have a policy if it is not a core holding, we don’t really need to hold. We are not in a rush to sell either. It has to be at the right price and the right configuration and so on,” Azman said.
Last week, Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) announced that it is in talks with the shareholders of Bank Muamalat, Khazanah and DRB-Hicom, for a proposed merger between the two financial groups.
In its filing with Bursa Malaysia, MBSB said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has no objection in principle for them to hold talks.
However, BNM requires that the negotiations be completed within three months from the date of the central bank’s letter.
“We have seen some progress with Bank Muamalat but, really, our partners DRB-Hicom and MBSB, which is owned by the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) will take the lead. Khazanah will decide based on whatever decision they make,” said Azman.
MBSB has a market capitalisation of RM4.3 billion.
Bank Muamalat is one of only two domestic standalone Islamic banks in Malaysia. DRB-Hicom owns a 70% stake in Bank Muamalat. It bought its stake in Bank Muamalat from Al-Bukhary Capital Sdn Bhd for RM1.07 billion in 2008.
Citigroup Global Markets Ltd and AmInvestment Bank Bhd will act as advisers for MBSB in the proposed merger.
Early this year, a proposed mega merger between MBSB, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and RHB Capital Bhd was called off.
The three parties announced that they had ceased discussions due to prevailing economic conditions and failure to arrive at a value-creating transaction for all stakeholders.