Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 17): Khazanah Nasional Berhad has officially opened the office of its wholly-owned subsidiary Khazanah Europe Investment Limited (KEIL) in London.

Prime Minister and Khazanah chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak officiated the ceremony, which was attended by more than 150 leaders in business, government and academia, including Sajid Javid, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Sadiq Khan, newly-elected Mayor of London.

The new office completes Khazanah's planned network of overseas offices, and is the fifth regional office after Beijing, Mumbai, San Francisco and Istanbul.

KEIL will provide support and advice on investments in Europe which are of strategic interest to Khazanah, enabling it to better evaluate opportunities in technology-enabled sectors in Europe. Besides that, it will complement the acceleration of Malaysia's innovation agenda and can act as a bridge to strengthen current and future collaborations between Malaysia and European countries.

Speaking at the ceremony, Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said government investment firm views Europe as an important market, as it has proven to be a significant hub for technology firms, as well as start-up and entrepreneurial ventures. It is also home to many top-ranked universities, which host state-of-the-art research facilities.

He also stressed the importance of innovation, saying it was a key driver for economic growth.

"As Malaysia continues to move towards a high-value, knowledge-based economy with a strong focus on the services and manufacturing sectors, innovation will play a crucial role to raise the overall efficiency and thus productivity of the nation," he said.

Since KEIL's inception, it has invested in Skyscanner Holdings Limited, Blippar.com Limited and Atomico. Khazanah's assets worldwide stand at 55.1% in Malaysia and 44.9% foreign, as at Dec 31, 2015.

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