KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): The government will return Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) assets worth RM19.9 billion which were placed under a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd (UJSB), back to the pilgrim fund, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the decision was made as MOF is now satisfied with TH's management and governance, as well as its ongoing financial performance, especially after overcoming previous stumbling blocks.
He added that the return of TH's assets also disproves the claim by certain parties that TH's assets placed under the SPV had already been transferred to non-Muslim ownership, which is entirely untrue.
"After careful consideration, I have stated from the beginning, since assuming this position, that once TH is managed well and is secure, MOF will initiate discussions to return the assets currently held by the SPV to TH.
"This is also to put an end to the slander against the finance minister at the time, claiming that he had already transferred these assets to non-Muslims," said Anwar at TH’s 60th anniversary celebration here on Friday.
In December 2018, MOF via its SPV acquired RM19.9 billion worth of the pilgrim fund's underperforming properties and equities in exchange for RM10 billion in sukuk (fixed income) and RM9.9 billion in Islamic redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS-i) in a move to revive the pilgrim fund.
Of the assets that were acquired, 80% were equities while the remaining 20% comprised properties.
Properties with less than 2% yield and equities that have seen impairment of over 20% were acquired by the SPV at book value.
TH's then-group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Zukri Samat said there were no cash transactions or government guarantees involved in the exercise, as the SPV would issue a seven-year non-tradable sukuk, which would be fully subscribed by TH, along with the RCPS-i, with no maturity or dividend.
UJSB currently owns shares in about 54 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, Bloomberg data showed. Of these, it holds substantial stakes in eight companies.
The SPV owned 66.45% stake in TH’s associate company TH Heavy Engineering Bhd (THHE), which was delisted in September last year after failing to secure an eighth extension to submit a regularisation plan to Bursa Malaysia.
UJSB also owns 25.85% stake in Pelikan International Corp Bhd — which recently proposed to dispose of the company’s stake in German-based stationery producer and distributor Pelikan Group GmbH to Holdham SAS for €136 million (RM695.44 million) cash.
It also owns a 10.23% stake in independent power producer (IPP) Malakoff Corp Bhd, a 8.76% stake in ICT solutions firm Datasonic Group Bhd, as well as oil and gas services group Petra Energy Bhd (8.71%), piling company Pintaras Jaya Bhd (6.84%), infrastructure and asset management firm UEM Edgenta Bhd (5.81%), structural engineering group Eversendai Corp Bhd (5.16%) and construction outfit IJM Corp Bhd (5.05%).