KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd will continue growing its overseas investment over time without neglecting domestic investment, said managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar (pic).

He said Khazanah already had offices in Beijing, Mumbai, San Francisco and Istanbul, and is planning to open one in London soon.

“I think the loop of overseas [offices] is complete for now and I don’t think we need more because it covers all the areas that we cover — and then we will start to invest further,” he told a press conference on the sidelines of Invest Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 2015 yesterday.

Azman noted that while strengthening government-linked companies (GLCs), the national investment arm has been increasing its global investing presence which is also done not just through Khazanah but also by its G20 GLCs.

Khazanah’s G20 companies have increased their international presence and now operate in at least 42 countries, drawing 34% of their revenue from abroad with an overseas asset base of 27%.

These 20 companies, which include Affin Holdings Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Boustead Holdings Bhd, contributed RM108.3 billion in dividends and RM63.5 billion in taxes from 2004 to 2014.

Its G20 companies have also seen their market capitalisation grow 3.2 times from RM133.8 billion on May 14, 2004 to RM431.1 billion on April 7 this year.

Meanwhile, Azman noted that Kahzanah had accelerated the restructuring plan for troubled Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS), which could be seen with the earlier-than-expected appointment of its new managing director and chief executive officer Christoph Mueller. He added that the airlines would still maintain the estimated 6,000 job cuts at this juncture.

“At this juncture, in order for MAS to make it work, we have to adhere to the ideal number of 14,000 workers as we rationalise our fleet size and routes,” said Azman.

He added that Mueller has to work out the business details on routes, fleet size and sustainable operational system to turn around MAS within the parameters set in the recovery plan.

However, he noted that it is too early to tell if the five-year restructuring plan for MAS will be successful.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 24, 2015.