By Lee Wei Lian
KUALA LUMPUR : State asset manager Khazanah Nasional Bhd saw the net worth of its portfolio rise by 34 per cent (RM11.1 billion) to RM44 billion in the first half of 2009, as it continues to divest more stakes in the medium term.

Khazanah, which controls a slate of blue chips in the local bourse, saw the total realisable asset value of the portfolio rise to RM85 billion, from RM69.5 billion, during the same period.

“Subject to value, we expect divestments through trade sales and reductions of our stakes in large listed GLCs to continue and accelerate over the medium term,” managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar told investors at a conference here today. “We’re open for business.”

This comes a day after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that government linked companies or GLCs must dispose of non-core and non-competitive assets, and Azman said that this directive also applies to Khazanah.

He later told reporters in a press conference that the process of selling was as important as the sale itself. He said Khazanah was looking at options such as whether to do open or invited biddings, and cited the example of Time Dotcom as a successful example of invited bidding.

“We invited several key industry players to bid for it and it worked out well,” he said.

He added that Khazanah “is here to make money” but strategic sectors that involve the public interest such as the power sector would not be divested.

“We could go down the road of doing a complete sale, but there would need to be a strong regulatory environment first to prevent things like anti-competitive practices.”

Azman declined to reveal which non-core assets the investment corporation is thinking of disposing but said that they have done internal sector studies.

Figures provided by Khazanah show that, in the last five years, it has realised gains of RM3.6 billion by divesting RM12.6 billion worth of assets such as Bintulu Port, PTP Port, RHB Bank, Tradewinds Hotels and Time Dotcom.

Azman also said that it is essential for GLCs in Khazanah’s stable to “unlock value from assets and do capital management” such as undertaking the sale and leaseback of buildings.

He also said that acquisitions “are a possibility” for Khazanah.

Azman delivered the special address this morning at the InvestMalaysia conference where the prime minister yesterday announced broad reforms in the capital markets to boost foreign investments.

Khazanah received some RM10 billion for further capital investments in “shovel-ready” projects from the government under a stimulus package early this year.

Khazanah reported an audited pre-tax profit of RM128 million in 2008. In the five years between 2004 and 2008, it recorded pre-tax profits worth RM5.7 billion and paid RM2.3 billion in dividends and taxes to the government, an increase of 16 per cent and 228 per cent respectively over the preceding nine years, going back to its inception in 1994.

Courtesy : Themalaysianinside