UEM Sunrise: No impact from Khazanah board changes

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Sunrise Bhd has reassured that the recent changes in Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s board of directors will not have any impact on the direction and structure of the company. Managing director and chief executive officer Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib said in fact, there was a very clear and strict corporate governance in place in the company as the management would only report to UEM Sunrise’s board.

“We only report to our board, whereas Khazanah, as the national sovereign wealth fund for Malaysian government, is a different entity which invests in companies like us under UEM Group,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the special media briefing on UEM Sunrise’s 50th Celebration yesterday.

By the same reasoning, Anwar Syahrin expects no changes at UEM Sunrise’s management after the appointment of a new board of directors at Khazanah.

Meanwhile, he revealed that there was no engagement between UEM Sunrise and the new Khazanah board thus far.

“No, we have not talked to them (Khazanah’s board of directors) yet... that is (at) very high level,” he said.

UEM Sunrise is the flagship company for township and property development businesses of UEM Group Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of Khazanah.

Khazanah’s board of directors resigned en bloc recently and on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced the appointment of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Khazanah chairman and named Economics Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali as director.

The other directors appointed are Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican, Dr Sukhdave Singh and Goh Ching Yin.

Moving forward, Anwar Syahrin said the company would continue to come up with more exciting products and run the business responsibly for its shareholders.

Asked whether the reintroduction of Sales and Services Tax (SST) in September would affect the company’s sales and property prices, he did not answer directly but said the company was ready for the return of the tax regime.

“We have been operating in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) environment previously, so we are ready for SST return.

“But the property market is all about the right product with right pricing and location,” he said.

He also said the company was waiting for a clearer direction from the government involving issues like the threshold of affordable housing, lending issues, compliance cost, as well as the new housing policy which was expected to be announced next month.

“These issues are also consistent with our previous budget wish list, and are what we hope for under the upcoming budget (to be tabled on Nov 2, 2018),” he added. — Bernama