KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 ― Khazanah Nasional Bhd has continued to grow and safeguard its assets on behalf of the nation, with the net asset value (NAV) increasing to RM86 billion in 2021 from RM79 billion last year, and recorded a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8 per cent since 2004.

The sovereign wealth fund said it also deployed RM8.7 billion in new investments in 2021, with a significant portion invested in Malaysia (41.7 per cent or RM3.6 billion) and raised RM4.8 billion from monetisation of assets in its portfolio.

However, it said profit from operations fell to RM670 million in 2021 from RM2.9 billion in 2020, mainly due to continuing financial assistance extended to Khazanah’s airlines and tourism companies which were still weathering headwinds from Covid-19 pandemic.

“Profit was also impacted by lower fair value gains and lower dividend income from investee companies on the back of subdued 2020 earnings,” it said in a statement in conjunction with its annual media briefing today.

Khazanah declared a dividend of RM2 billion to the government for 2021.

Meanwhile, Khazanah said its operating expenses (OPEX) were reduced to RM420 million from RM490 million in 2020, while debt increased marginally to RM48 billion from RM43 billion in the previous year.

“The realisable asset value (RAV) over debt ratio remained healthy at 2.8 times,” it said.

In terms of its portfolio performance, Khazanah said its commercial fund achieved NAV time-weighted rate of return (TWRR) of 19.0 per cent in 2021, equating to a three-year rolling return of 7.0 per cent.

It said the positive performance was mainly attributable to the recovery of the listed portfolio in Malaysia after three years of underperformance, monetisation of private equity investments in the United States and Europe, as well as strong performance of its new, still-in-progress public equities developed market deployment programmes.

“The performance is in line with long-term expectations. This has positioned Khazanah to be on track to meet our long-term five-year rolling target of Consumer Price Index of 3.0 per cent,” it said.

On its strategic fund, Khazanah said it recorded a NAV TWRR of -11.4 per cent in 2021, affected by Khazanah’s investments that were sensitive to the pandemic, namely in the aviation and tourism sectors.

“Despite the challenging conditions, Khazanah achieved several significant milestones, including the timely completion of Malaysia Aviation Group’s (MAGB) restructuring exercise, which saw the reduction of RM15 billion in liabilities.

“This restructuring effort enables MAGB to be more financially resilient and readies the airline operations for the anticipated recovery in air travel,” it said, adding that it maintained support for its developmental assets, such as themed attractions resorts and hotels, as well as Iskandar Malaysia through capital injections in 2021.

On Yayasan Hasanah, Khazanah said in 2021, the foundation managed RM554 million and assisted 1.5 million people through Covid-19 relief efforts and various other programmes; Khazanah Research Institute released 30 publications, and Taman Tugu Malaysia's visitorship increased 30 per cent in 2021 despite the park being closed for 19 weeks.

Moving forward, Khazanah said it had set out four strategic imperatives, namely “Advancing Malaysia”, “Building on our Financial Strength”, “Creating a Sustainable Future”, and “Developing a Winning Team” to deliver sustainable value for Malaysians, with new growth sectors to be catalysed via Dana Impak allocation of RM 6billion over the next five years.

Managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said despite a challenging backdrop of movement restrictions and reduced economic activity globally, Khazanah managed to create value, generate strong investment returns, and grow its NAV by RM7 billion last year.

“We also continued our rebalancing efforts towards having a more diversified portfolio and undertook measures to support our investee companies that were most impacted by Covid-19, namely in the aviation and tourism sectors,” he said. ― Bernama