KUALA LUMPUR (April 15): Khazanah Nasional Bhd has completed a placement of 53.8 million shares in Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), raising gross proceeds of RM312 million, as part of its ongoing portfolio rebalancing efforts.

In a statement, the sovereign wealth fund said the placement price of RM5.80 per share represented a 3% discount to the closing market price of RM5.98 on April 14, 2021.

It added the shares were placed out to a pool of domestic long-only institutional investors, as well as multi-strategy institutional investors, with the bulk of investors being domestic long-only funds.

Khazanah said the proceeds from the placement will be utilised for new investments, including investments in new strategic sectors that can help to spur growth and high-skilled job creation.

“With the strong share price recovery and demand for TM shares driven by the digital transformation initiatives under the government’s Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, the placement provides Khazanah with the opportunity to partially monetise its investment in TM, which will further increase the free float and attractiveness of TM shares,” Khazanah said.

Khazanah’s shareholding in TM stands at 20.1% following the completion of the placement.

Credit Suisse and CIMB were joint book runners for the share placement exercise.

TM shares fell 11 sen or 1.8% to close at RM5.87 today, giving a market capitalisation of RM22.22 billion.