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From sovereign wealth fund to sovereign catalytic investor

Tong Kooi Ong Published on Fri, Aug 31, 2018 / 8:00 AM GMT+8

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SINGAPORE (Sept 3): Khazanah Nasional was formed in 1993 as a strategic investment fund of the government of Malaysia. Its stated objectives are to “hold-manage select commercial assets of the government, undertake strategic investments on behalf of the nation and play a catalytic role in driving various strategic industries and national initiatives, nurturing their development in pursuit of Malaysia’s long-term economic interests”.

In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, Khazanah took over some of the financially troubled assets deemed to be of national strategic interest. These include the Renong/UEM/PLUS and MAS/TRI/Celcom group of companies.

In 2004, the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) spearheaded the government-linked companies (GLC) transformation programme. The aim was to strengthen governance and transparency, imbue companies with professional management, improve performance and create greater shareholder values.