Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Khazanah Nasional Bhd is "not in a rush" to sell its 30% stake in Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, under the proposed merger with Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB).

Khazanah's managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said the Malaysian state-owned investment arm's decision was incumbent upon the negotiated value for its Bank Muamalat stake.

"We have a policy that if it's not a core holding, we don't really need to hold (it). We are not in a rush to sell either.

"It has to be at the right price, right configuration and so on," Azman told reporters, on the sidelines of Khazanah's Megatrends Forum 2015.

DRB-Hicom Bhd holds the balance 70% stake in Bank Muamalat.

According to Azman, as Khazanah is only a 30% shareholder in Bank Muamalat, Khazanah is not taking the lead in the merger talks.

Azman's comments followed Bank Negara's approval for MBSB to start talks with DRB-Hicom and Khazanah on the merger.

"We have seen some progress in Bank Muamalat, but really, our partners DRB-Hicom and MBSB, which is owned by the EPF (Employees Provident Fund), are taking the lead. Khazanah will make a decision based on whatever they decide," he said.

At 12:30pm, MBSB shares added one sen or 0.6% to settle at RM1.61, for a market capitalisation of RM4.57 billion. DRB-Hicom rose four sen or 3% to RM1.43, for a market value of RM2.76 billion.

MBSB's merger with Bank Muamalat is expected to create a financial sevices entity with a collective asset size of some RM60 billion.
 
Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd said MBSB and Bank Muamalat's assets were valued at RM41 billion and RM22 billion, respectively.

(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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