KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd is ready to build upon and strengthen its role to invest and deliver sustainable value for Malaysians. 

The sovereign wealth fund said this was in line with the government's Perkukuh Pelaburan Rakyat (Perkukuh) initiative launched by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today.

Khazanah said it was among the contributors to the formulation of Perkukuh, which saw extensive consultation by the government with multiple stakeholders in developing the various recommendations.

This was to ensure the Malaysian economy would come out stronger and better from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Khazanah. 

"We will do so by investing to achieve long-term risk adjusted returns and grow our financial assets. From this position of strength, we can undertake catalytic investments and other activities towards creating impactful economic and social benefits for Malaysia," it said in a statement today.

Khazanah said it would account for sustainability namely environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and ethical considerations for the current and future generations.

Since 2005, Khazanah had invested more than RM14 billion into new growth sectors and geographies.

This included investments into Iskandar Malaysia, leisure and tourism, sustainable development, technology, life sciences, creative industries and agriculture.

With Perkukuh, Khazanah said it would sharpen its focus and enhance clarity of its mandate with greater accountability of its development investing through clear development-specific target outcomes and key performance indicators, in addition to its existing financial targets. 

It added the development target outcomes would be linked to forward-looking national agendas and aspirations.

This includes targets such as improvements to household income, creation of high-value employment and other socioeconomic target outcomes.

Khazanah said it would focus on high impact and commercially viable investments to catalyse new growth areas, build Malaysia's economic competitiveness, and increase national resilience, while driving priority socio-economic outcomes.

Khazanah has committed to increase its development investing over the next five years through its RM6 billion Dana Impak. 

This allocation will be funded through profits and capital returned from Khazanah's commercial investments as it continues with the divestment and portfolio rebalancing strategy commenced in recent years.

Under Perkukuh, Khazanah said it would also further enhance its investment strategies and processes for sustainable and responsible investing, which has become an increasingly significant component of our investment approach over the years. 

Khazanah was the first Malaysian institution to be a signatory to the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment and was a founding member of the Institutional Investors Council Malaysia.

It added that both signatories underline Khazanah's public commitment to being a sustainable and responsible investor.

"Khazanah will build upon our Responsible Investment Policy, which outlines our philosophy on ESG as well as our approach for integrating ESG considerations into the investment decision- making processes. 

"Moving forward, we will look to actively engage more with our investee companies and place emphasis on material ESG issues, to ensure that those issues are appropriately managed."

Khazanah said it would continue to play a key role in contributing to socio-economic and social protections through various corporate responsibility platforms.

These platforms include Yayasan Hasanah (YH), which is an impact-based corporate responsibility foundation that focuses on education, knowledge, community development, environment, and arts and public spaces. 

YH was established in 2015 and funded through a RM3 billion endowment from Khazanah. YH was also the joint secretariat of the government-linked companies (GLC) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) Disaster Response Network, deployinf various relief and reconstruction efforts around the country,

This includes providing Covid-19 pandemic relief to those most in need and affected since 2020.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/2021/08/717488/perkukuh-will-sharpen-khazanahs-role