Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): Khazanah Nasional Bhd may sell its stake in Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd only after the latter merged with Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) to form the country's largest full-fledged Islamic bank.

Reiterating that it is not taking the lead in negotiations, Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said the country's strategic investment fund is not particular about the structure of the merger, provided the valuations are fair.

It has been reported that the merger would be effected via a share swap.

There have been various scenarios bandied about on Khazanah's preferred outcome for its 30% stake in Bank Muamalat. Initially, there was speculation that Khazanah was looking to divest its investment before the merger while some believe it will continue to be a shareholder in the enlarged entity with a diluted stake of around 10%.

"(Bank Muamalat) is not part of our core investments. If we remain as a shareholder in the merged entity (of MBSB and Bank Muamalat), we can always sell the stake later," Azman told The Edge Financial Daily after the 12th Khazanah Annual Review.

DRB-Hicom Bhd holds the remaining 70% of Bank Muamalat. MBSB's largest shareholder is the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), with a stake of about 65%.

DRB-Hicom and EPF are negotiating the terms of the merger, and have sought Bank Negara Malaysia's approval to extend the negotiation deadline to Feb 2, 2016, from Dec 30, 2015.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)

 

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