KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): Malaysia aims to list homegrown drone technology firm Aerodyne Group on the US stock exchange in five years’ time, said the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).

Its minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Aerodyne, which received RM20 million investment capital from the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) via the latter’s wholly-owned VentureTECH Sdn Bhd, is now the world’s third-best drone services firm.

“The 20 million investment is not for the air mobility project as had been announced previously, but it is for the development of a drone business under Aerodyne,” Khairy said in the Dewan Rakyat in response to a question by Wong Kah Woh (PH-Ipoh Timur) who wanted to know the project’s return on investment (ROI).

“The investment was in the form of convertible preference shares [with] zero coupon. In terms of ROI, we’re aiming for a listing outside of Malaysia, given the company’s international presence, such as Nasdaq in the US. If this did not materialise, we hope for Aerodyne to repay the investment capital to VentureTECH at the Internal Rate of Return of 12%,” the minister said.

Apart from the listing exercise, Khairy said MOSTI also hopes that Aerodyne will rise to become the best drone services firm in the world.  

Khairy was speaking during the committee level debate on the Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2020, which includes an allocation of RM12.41 million for his ministry.

MIGHT is an independent non-profit technology think tank under the purview of MOSTI, having been removed from the Prime Minister's Department since the Perikatan Nasional took over the country’s administration in March.

Late last year, the Entrepreneur Development Ministry, which spearheaded the air mobility project during the Pakatan Harapan government, denied that the RM20 million capital for Aerodyne was for the development of Malaysia’s first flying car.

This came after Parliament’s Public Account Committee called for an audit on the public funds invested in Aerodyne.