Khazanah raises RM735.7 mln from Telekom M’sia share placement

KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd completes placement of 172.3 million shares in Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) at RM4.27 per share, raising gross proceeds of RM735.7 million as part of its on-going overall portfolio restructuring.

The share placement exercise, which was priced at 3.61 per cent discount to the closing market price of RM4.43 on May 21, 2020, is the largest telecommunications- related placement in Malaysia and the

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third largest in Asean so far this year.

“The share placement exercise is part of the ongoing restructuring of Khazanah’s overall portfolio, with the proceeds to be utilised for future new investments and the diversification of Khazanah’s asset allocation,” the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia said in a statement here, yesterday.

“With strong market demand for the Malaysian blue- chip company, the share placement allows Khazanah to increase the free float and attractiveness of TM as an investment.”

It said domestic long- only funds, foreign institutional investors and existing institutional investors participated in the share placement exercise.

“Domestic institutional investors make up a majority of the buyers.”

CIMB and Credit Suisse were joint bookrunners for the share placement exercise. — Bernama

THE Malaysian rubber market reversed its previous gains to end the week lower, tracking the decline in regional rubber futures markets and crude oil prices.

An analyst said the global market sentiment was dampened by reports of China’s plan to impose national security law in Hong Kong, which threatened to further escalate tensions between the United States (US) and China.

Nevertheless, the decline was capped by a weaker ringgit against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the lower oil prices was due to China’s move to omit an economic growth target for 2020, which renewed concerns that the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to depress fuel demand.