KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 5): Khazanah Nasional Bhd, a key member of the consortium privatising Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (KL:AIRPORT) (MAHB), said Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani will remain as managing director of the airport operator, while it continues to assess potential additions to join the leadership team. 

The sovereign wealth fund’s managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said it intends to “make sure the right people are on the job” to execute the strategies in place to elevate the group to become a world-class operator.

“We already have somebody in the driver’s seat which is Datuk Izani [who took up the post as managing director in August 2024],” Amirul Feisal said, while also pointing to the appointment of MAHB's current chairman Dr Nungsari Ahmad Radhi in May that same year.

Acknowledging that Malaysia has “a lot of good people” within MAHB that could contribute to the group, Amirul Feisal, however, said it is “way too early” for the consortium, Gateway Development Alliance Sdn Bhd (GDA), to reveal the professionals who would lead the company.

“I think it is way, way too early to even look at that question [on the list of professionals that will be on board]. I think we have a lot of good people within [MAHB] itself. We have to look at them, we have to evaluate; we have to look at what we need to do also.

“One thing that we would want to do is this: we do have these objectives in mind… and to make sure we have the right people for the job,” he said, referring to the goals of elevating passenger experience; strengthening regional and international connectivity; and accelerating capital investments, including to expand and optimise airport capacity including in Pulau Pinang, Perak’s capital city Ipoh and Sabah’s capital city Kota Kinabalu.

“Thankfully, even today as a listed company there are no political appointments on the board [of MAHB], so that is something which has changed for more than a year,” he added.

Last month, GDA crossed the shareholding threshold of 94.47%, which turned its takeover offer of MAHB unconditional after eight months since the takeover offer was first proposed.

The consortium in March 2024 offered to acquire MAHB at RM11 per share, which sees it forking out RM12.3 billion for shares not yet held at the point of the offer, and which values the airport operator at RM18.4 billion.

Mohd Izani Ghani, currently the managing director of MAHB, was former Khazanah investments executive director. He was nominated by the Ministry of Finance for the role. He had been a board member of MAHB from 2011 to 2019.

His appointment coincided with the stepping down of Mohamed Rastam Shahrom, then MAHB chief financial officer who also served as acting group CEO from October 2023 to July 2024.

MAHB “needs to play catch up” with regards to capital investments, said Amirul Feisal, having invested just RM1.3 billion in Malaysia’s airport infrastructure over the last five years, compared with Indonesia (RM8 billion) and Thailand (RM7 billion) in the same period.

Post-privatisation, Khazanah will have 40% effective interest in MAHB, up from 33.2%, while the EPF will own 30% (from 7.9%), with the remaining 30% shared between Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

The takeover offer is still open to dissenting MAHB shareholders until Feb 12.

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