KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 27): After a successful value-enhancing drive across companies with controlling shareholdings by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) in 2017, the asset management fund will now focus on "core companies" under its purview whose stock performance has lagged behind the KLCI year-to-date.

This category involves companies in which PNB has shareholding of over 10% or exposure of above RM1 billion, said PNB group chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad at a press conference on PNB's year-to-date financial performance here today.

"Our focus earlier last year was on our own strategic companies (companies with controlling stake by PNB) so now we are moving towards our core companies.

"We started effectively with the support in the participation of Sapura Energy Bhd transformation exercise, which we believe if executed well will deliver very positive results in the future," said Abdul Rahman.

"We look at the KLCI, some of these stocks performance to-date has been lagging [behind the benchmark]," he said, pointing to companies in the telco sector such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd, and other construction companies which PNB has exposure in.

"Obviously we understand the external challenges that they are facing… so I think our focus now is to engage with them," he said.

The change in focus is also in line with PNB's new direction in the immediate term, which is to realise the objectives of deals and corporate exercises approved and driven by PNB during the time of its previous chairman Tan Sri Wahid Omar, who resigned earlier this year.