KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): Transport Minister Anthony Loke dismissed claims that Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) intends to sell its stake in Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), saying it is merely an assumption by the Opposition.

Loke, during the winding-up debate on the royal address in Dewan Rakyat on Monday, emphasised that there has been no official announcement from Khazanah regarding its intention to sell its stake in MAHB.

"This is just your assumption. There has not even been an announcement that we want to sell to GIP," Loke responded to Wan Ahmad Fayhsal (PN-Machang), who inquired about the rationale behind Khazanah selling its stake to GIP.

While MAHB operates the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Loke clarified that the transport ministry serves only as the regulator and cannot be involved in the equity restructuring of MAHB.

"The structure of equity depends on Khazanah; they will make an announcement if there is any restructuring of equity. I am confident in the professionalism of Khazanah to evaluate who they want to choose as their strategic partner," said Loke.

He also clarified that the Pakatan Harapan-led administration in 2018 did not discuss the sale of Khazanah's stake in MAHB, urging the Opposition not to misconstrue the issue.

The Edge Malaysia weekly, published for the week of Feb 26-March 3, cited sources as saying that Khazanah, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), and GIP were forming a consortium to own and operate MAHB, with an agreement potentially being inked as early as two to three weeks. The Edge also understood that the corporate exercise might involve some form of equity participation on the part of GIP.

Currently, Khazanah holds the largest stake in MAHB with 32.67%, while the EPF has a 7.06% equity interest.

Wan Ahmad Fayhsal claimed last week that GIP is owned by BlackRock which is a shareholder of companies that are involved in supplying arms that harm Palestinians.

Thus, he urged government backbenchers to collectively oppose Khazanah and the EPF's approach to selling their stake in MAHB to GIP.

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