PETALING JAYA: Khazanah Nasional Bhd is eyeing potential investments in Southeast Asia and India and is looking at the right time to execute them.
Khazanah managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir stated that there is capital to be allocated for the new investments.
“As far as we’re concerned, when it comes to allocation of capital, we have to balance between where the cycle is, or at least the micro cycles or where we are, versus what we need,” he said at MIDF Conversations webinar with MIDF group managing director Datuk Charon Mokhzani today.
Amirul Feisal explained Khazanah’s strategy is not to entirely use its US$31 billion (RM141.36 billion) fund only in Malaysia as a sound diversification strategy in managing risk.
“If we put all of our eggs in one basket, in a crisis, basically we sink and swim with the country. Whereas if we have a strategic asset allocation plan where we mitigate the risk, we tend to do better.
“Which is what happened. When Malaysia got hit, some of the Western countries got hit, but not China. So in the end, we managed the risks and we actually do well. And there are times when it’s the inverse,” said Amirul Feisal.
Moving forward, Amirul Feisal said Khazanah will operate in a more structured manner in which it has to be resilient as well as still covering its bases.
“If I compare Khazanah with the fund of our neighbours in Singapore, we are quite small. If I compare ourselves with our friends in the Middle East, we are not big. So because of our size, our approach has to be a bit more nimble. And we have to play partner role, but the objective still remains,” he explained.
Khazanah’s mandate as the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia is to grow Malaysia’s long-term wealth to deliver sustainable economic and societal benefit for the nation.
Khazanah was able to do this by achieving long-term risk-adjusted returns across its portfolio, as well as undertaking investments that catalyse new growth areas, strengthen Malaysia’s economic competitiveness, and contribute to priority socioeconomic outcomes.
Meanwhile, Amirul Feisal said Khazanah’s plan for Malaysia Airlines is to make sure that it recovers from the pandemic as best as it could.
“The pandemic helped a bit and why they helped us because it corrected the balance sheet structure. Now it’s making sure that any growth is sustainable going forward.
“With Malaysia Airlines, we have to be very conservative with our capital,” he added.
Within its environmental pillar, Khazanah has set a target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and will be working towards carbon-neutral operations by 2023.
“We will come up with shareholder expectations soon as well. Not just on general shareholder expectations but also our expectations and the topic of ESG (environmental, social and governance),” he said.
