Blackrock entity chosen after agreeing to appoint Malaysian citizen as airport operator chairman, CEO, says Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) was selected to privatise Malaysia Airports (MAHB) after the company agreed to continue appointing a Malaysian as MAHB's chairman and CEO, and to maintain the collective national majority ownership of shares.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim noted that besides GIP, other bidders had disagreed with the strict requirements set by Khazanah Nasional and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

He said that Khazanah and the EPF had set strict conditions that would see the collective Malaysian ownership of MAHB increase to 70 per cent from the current 41 per cent once the restructuring of the airport operator is completed.

Anwar said Khazanah reported that 145 companies had initially applied to participate in the consortium to take over MAHB, but only five were deemed suitable.

“Other interested companies wanted management rights, including the chairman and CEO roles. These terms were not accepted (by Khazanah and EPF), which is why GIP was chosen,” he told the Dewan Rakyat during Minister's Question Time on Tuesday (Jun 25).

This was in response to a supplementary question from Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (PN-Machang) who asked about the rationale behind the decision to choose GIP as part of the consortium in the exercise to privatise MAHB.

Earlier on in reply to a question from Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar) who asked Anwar to explain the decision to sell MAHB’s shares to GIP, the Prime Minister had emphasised that this issue did not arise because the majority ownership of shares remains with domestic players.

“This is different from the outside narrative that suggested a sale, whereas this was not the case. All the while, foreign ownership of MAHB’s shares stood at around 27 per cent and this was what was taken over by GIP and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

“Does it entail any sale of airports? No. MAHB is just the company that manages the airports. The Malaysian government continues to be the owner of the airports," he said.

Anwar also saw the pressing need for the significant RM10 billion (US$2.1 billion) investment resulting from the MAHB privatisation exercise.

This would allow Khazanah and the EPF to invest their funds in other significantly critical sectors.

GIP has been collaborating with the EPF and other Malaysian companies since 2012.

It has several decades worth of experience in managing and operating airports through its investments in Sydney Airport, the London Gatwick Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Signature Aviation, and previously, the London City Airport.

Meanwhile, Blackrock has interests in Bursa Malaysia shares worth RM24.7 billion and RM7.9 billion in Malaysian government and corporate bonds.