Cash-strapped? MP wants Khazanah to justify sale of Telekom and MGRC shares

PKR's Subang MP Wong Chen expressed hope that Khazanah Nasional Bhd did not sell its substantial shares in two companies under undue pressure by the government to raise funds.

In a text message to Malaysiakini, PKR's Subang MP Wong Chen urged the national sovereign wealth fund to justify the disposal of substantial shares in Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and cash company Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd (MGRC).

"I urge Khazanah to provide better details and justify the recent disposal of substantial shares in two companies, Telekom and MGRC.

"What was Khazanah's average investment cost of the two companies and did Khazanah reap a profit from the sales?" asked Wong (above).

"I hope that Khazanah is not under any undue pressure to raise cash for the government," he said.

The Edge reported that Khazanah via its subsidiaries Syntamatix Sdn Bhd had disposed 11.58 percent or 12 million MGRC shares on May 13. 

As of October 2019, Syntamatix, together with two other Khazanah's subsidiaries Neuramatix Sdn Bhd and Encipta Ltd, controlled 61.24 percent in MGRC. The latest sale of shares saw Khazanah exit the MGRC as the biggest shareholder.

The news portal stated that it is unclear who took up the stake sold by Khazanah.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Khazanah raised RM735.7 million by selling 172.3 million shares in TM.

Khazanah was quoted as saying that the shares were sold at RM4.27 apiece, a 3.6 percent discount to TM's closing price on May 21.

The Edge reported that TM's shares fell 17 sen or 3.84 percent to RM4.26 following the share placement exercise.

This was the largest telecommunications-related placement in Malaysia and the third largest in Asean so far this year.

Malaysia was implementing the RM260 billion Prihatin economic stimulus package to contain the economic fallout due to Covid-19.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz expected the Prihatin package to generate up to 2.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).  - Mkini