PNB set to name unit for sale

Fund manager has identified five companies

KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) will announce the first of its five noncore companies that will be disposed of any time soon, said president and group chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman.

He said PNB, on its part, had identified the five companies involved and the disposal of these companies would include companies under PNB’s subsidiaries.

“The announcement of the companies will be made in stages. And in the near future, we will first advertise one company for interested parties who are involved in similar activities,” he said after the launch of top-up service for Amanah Saham Nasional units via affinOnline. com.

“We want the disposal to be done in a transparent and planned manner and this process will also involve the agreement from the Government,” he added.

Hamad Kama Piah said an independent committee would be established to discuss and identify the parties that had the potential to acquire stakes in the five companies.

He was confident the sale of the five noncore companies would not affect the overall portfolio of PNB.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced last month that 10 companies, five

Hamad Kama Piah: each under PNB and Khazanah Nasional Bhd, would be disposed of.

Najib, also Finance Minister, said the disposal was to enable these companies to be handed back to bumiputra companies through open tenders. — Bernama