Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) denied speculation it has invested RM640 million in the Detroit property market in the United States.In a statement yesterday, LTH said as of to date, it has not made any investment commitments in Detroit or any other city in the US.

“Lembaga Tabung Haji expressed regret over the recent speculative remarks on LTH’s investment in the US.

“[There are] no transactions or payments made for any kind of investment in the US. Therefore, the public should not rely on any unofficial source which is merely speculative in nature and may not reflect the truth,” according to the pilgrim fund.

LTH was commenting on recent reports that it plans to invest as much as RM640 million in Detroit, which was described as a fallen city that caused its real estate market to depreciate in value. It was also reported that the high-rise buildings in Detroit have been left vacant in the past 10 years, while the city’s population decreased from two million to 700,000 residents.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had expressed his concern that the government-linked investment company’s move to invest overseas or buying properties beyond Malaysian shores could result in capital outflow.

LTH has highlighted that it has thus far invested in Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Australia and Asian countries for diversification purposes. The fund went on to say that it will continue to explore similar opportunities in new countries as guided by its Strategic Asset Allocation framework, encouraged by favourable returns from these overseas investments.

“The overseas investment activity,like its domestic counterpart, is subjected to a rigorous internal investment process. LTH is very mindful in all its activities to uphold the interest of the ummah (community or nation) and its valued depositors,” said LTH.

LTH has 120 branches across the country and a branch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 23, 2014.

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