Tabung Haji looks to stable sectors
STRATEGIES: Fund will continue to invest in property, plantation
DESPITE the competitive economic outlook, Tabung Haji will continue to invest in the property and plantation sectors.
Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Johan Abdullah said both sectors were still attractive for investments.
The pilgrims’ fund will also continue to focus on real estate projects in Australia, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
“The stable sectors are plantation and property, locally and abroad. For now, we are focusing on Australia and the UK as we are quite big there, and Saudi Arabia, as we are doing quite well there.
“Our strategies will be subject to economic and market conditions.
“As the economic outlook is very competitive, we have made several adjustments to our investment strategies,” he said after the Iqra’ back-to-school contribution programme to about 553 students from 10 schools yesterday.
Johari said Tabung Haji was committed to compounding recurring income as well as building up its investment pipeline to produce better returns for depositors.
“Our focus is on recurring income, garnering a stable income base for depositors and getting competitive returns for their savings.
“The deposits that we have are invested in companies, equities, fixed income, real estate, plantations and so forth. It is important that the management has to be sound and can react swiftly to market conditions.”
Tabung Haji’s investments are in equities (46 per cent), fixed income (22 per cent), Treasury and other financial instruments (13 per cent). properties (nine per cent) and others (10 per cent).
In May, Tabung Haji said it was looking for a buyer for its office building at 10 Queen Street Place in London, worth about £200 million (RM1.09 billion).
Tabung Haji purchased the Queen Street Place building in 2012 for £165 million, according to a statement from Gatehouse Bank.
Last year, it sold its 151 Buckingham Palace Road building to Gaw Capital Partners.
Real estate investment portfolios in domestic and international markets continue to be Tabung Haji’s core activities.
Last year, Tabung Haji bought the Al-Aqiq Hotel in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
During the year, it completed the refinancing of 3 Collins Square in Melbourne under an Australian dollar-denominated financing, the first fully syariah-compliant financing arrangement of its kind involving a property in Australia.
Tabung Haji’s investments on the local bourse are a mixed bag of defensive and capital-intensive stocks, according to Bloomberg.
Besides its core holdings of BIMB Holdings Bhd, which wholly owns Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd and TH Plantations Bhd, Tabung Haji has also made forays into industries such as the fabrication of offshore oil and gas facilities via TH Heavy Engineering Bhd.
Tabung Haji has a 10.13 per cent stake in Alam Maritim Resources Bhd and 9.88 per cent stake in Petra Energy Holdings Bhd.
The other oil and gas stocks that it has investments of more than eight per cent are Muhibbah Engineering, Uzma Bhd, Icon Offshore Bhd and Tanjung Offshore Bhd.
Tabung Haji has holdings of less than five per cent in Scomi Energy Services Bhd, Wah Seong Corp Bhd and the lesser-known Pantech Group Holdings Bhd.
In July 2014, Tabung Haji and two other government-linked investment companies emerged as cornerstone investors in special-purpose acquisition company Reach Energy Bhd.