Khazanah MD says MAHB buyout completion a ‘matter of time’

Monday 20 Jan 2025

(Jan 20): It is a “matter of time” before the privatisation of the country's biggest airport operator, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd or MAHB (KL:AIRPORT), is completed after multiple delays, Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said.

The sovereign wealth fund's chief said the deal — which values MAHB at RM18.4 billion and is scheduled to be concluded by its newest deadline of Feb 4 — remains attractive for shareholders. The offer price of RM11 is the highest since MAHB’s initial public offering.

“I don’t see a big issue [with the delays],” Amirul told Bloomberg TV in an interview with Haslinda Amin, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Monday.

Khazanah, MAHB’s biggest shareholder, is teaming up with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and BlackRock Inc’s Global Infrastructure Partners to take MAHB private — an exercise that began in May.

The deal has been delayed partly due to political resistance and valuation concerns. The consortium earlier on Monday lowered the minimum acceptance level to 85% of shareholders from 90% originally. The deal had the backing of 86.51% of investors as of last Friday.

Although the sale condition has now been effectively met, shareholders who accepted the buyout have until Jan 28 to withdraw their approval. The completion deadline was pushed back to Feb 4, from the original Jan 8 date.

The deal is opposed by political groups in Malaysia for its links to BlackRock, which is seen as an Israel-supporting entity in the Muslim-majority country.

Shareholders have also expressed concerns that the buyout offer was undervalued, leading to five independent directors of the company to recommend shareholders reject the offer.

US attractive

Separately, Amirul said the US looks to be an attractive investment destination with Donald Trump set to be inaugurated as the president on Monday. He said low taxes, stable interest rates, low energy prices, and a strong dollar make the country an “interesting market for investments globally”.

Amirul said Malaysia might face challenges with Trump’s presidency due to its reliance on China, Malaysia’s biggest trading partner and potential target of new tariffs imposed by the US.

Khazanah had a combined investment and development asset value of RM131.3 billion as of the end of 2023, according to its website. More than half of its investments are in the Malaysian public market.

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