Khazanah, PNB to review and offload 'non-strategic assets' - Pua

Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) are set to review and offload several “non-strategic assets” as part of Putrajaya's cost-cutting measures, according to the finance minister’s political secretary Tony Pua.

“There will be a review (of assets owned by GLCs). Khazanah, being one of our biggest stakeholders in key GLCs, and PNB will be reviewing their stakes.

“And perhaps for non-core holdings and non-strategic assets to the government, those will be assets that will be looked into if we can realise their full value,” he said.

Speaking on a panel at the 'Malaysia: A New Dawn' conference in Kuala Lumpur today, Pua expressed hope that the private sector would help ensure the rationalisation exercise achieved its objectives.

“We will be working with the private sector on how these assets can be corporately (and) disposed of orderly.

“(We hope to do) two things – create greater participation of the private sector in our economy, and raise a lot of money for the government to pare down our debt,” he said.

'This is not a firesale'

Met afterwards, Pua clarified that Khazanah and PNB were free to decide which assets they wanted to liquidate.

“The assets are under them, so they are in charge, they will get their mandate and they will decide on the policy,” he told the press.

The DAP lawmaker added that the Finance Ministry has not stipulated any target or deadline for the exercise, only that Khazanah and PNB will update the ministry when they are “ready.”

Pua stressed, however, that he could not reveal any details of ongoing discussions with the government-linked funds.

“We can’t tell people what we are selling otherwise the price will collapse. We will be shooting ourselves in the foot.

"We don’t want them to go on a firesale; this is not a firesale. This is just realising the value of some of our non-core assets."

Besides Pua, the 'New Malaysia: Forging ahead together' panel also comprised Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Bersatu policy and strategy bureau chairperson Rais Hussin, and former minister Rafizah Aziz.

The panel was moderated by Merdeka Center programme director Ibrahim Suffian. - Mkini