Tabung Haji to allocate RM2b for overseas real estate investments

Lembaga Tabung Haji (Tabung Haji) will allocate RM2 billion for real estate investments in UK and Australia for the next three years.

Its group managing director/chief executive officer Johan Abdullah, said this investment strategy would ensure Tabung Haji of recurring income in the future.

"We haven't made any final decisions yet. We have identified a building which would be able to provide eight per cent returns yearly," he said.

Tabung Haji would also be focussing on concessional projects for 2017, especially those which involved the government in relation to infrastructure, in order to strengthen the fund's acquisitions in the future.

"We are also in the midst of strengthening our involvement in syariah-compliant hotels, which includes the Tabung Haji's hotel and complex in Sepang which will be completed soon," he said during the announcement on the 2016 income distribution (hibah) for Tabung Haji's depositors in Putrajaya today.

He said the RM400 million Tabung Haji's complex in Sepang, scheduled to be completed early next year, would replace the current complex in Kelana Jaya.

"We are aiming for the complex to be ready for use as a departure point for the haj pilgrims before they leave for their flights.

"The complex will also function as a four-star hotel to members of the public," he said.

Johan said Tabung Haji also planned to redevelop the complex in Kelana Jaya.

"We are currently exploring the complex's development potentials, but not as a hotel because we don't think that the area is suitable," he said.

Earlier, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Jamil Khir Baharom, announced the distribution of RM2.88 billion in bonuses or income distribution (hibah) to Tabung Haji's depositors, which included 4.25 percent yearly bonus and an additional 1.5 percent bonus for those who have not performed their haj for the 2016 financial year.

Last year, Tabung Haji announced a five percent yearly bonus, as well as an additional three percent bonus for depositors who had not performed their haj in 2015 financial year, to the tune of RM3.22 billion.

Jamil Khir said the hibah would be distributed to 9.1 million depositors and the additional haj hibah would be distibuted to 8.5 million depositors who have not performed their haj.

"In calculating the hibah, we had taken into account the 2.5 per cent business zakat contribution for 2016 for Tabung Haji, which amounted to RM60.3 million.

"The Tabung Haji's collective depositors savings fund for 2016, prior to the distribution of hibah, had amounted to RM64.8 billion, an increase of four per cent compared to RM62.5 billion in 2015," he said.

He said Tabung Haji had recorded a decrease in earnings in 2016 because it had received a one-off dividend from the sales of a plantation in Indonesia worth RM874 million and a building in London for RM290 million in 2015.

"The depreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar, the falling palm oil and crude oil prices as well as the slow global economic growth also had an adverse effect on the earnings for other fund managers," he said.

On another note, Jamil Khir said, this year, the subsidy for haj was expected to increase by 25 percent to the tune of RM200 million compared to RM160 million last year.

"This is due to the Saudi Arabia government's decision to reinstate the original quota of 27,900 haj pilgrims, compared to 22,320 previously.

- Bernama