Malaysia, Singapore to jointly venture abroad

Malaysia, Singapore to jointly venture abroad

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia and Singapore are to use their powerful government investment arms to jointly undertake projects in the region, including Indonesia, officials said after a meeting of their finance ministers yesterday.

"This is a very encouraging development and quite a change from the past," Richard Hu, Singapore's Finance Minister, told reporters after meeting his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim.

Hu said joint ventures, especially in Vietnam, China and Indonesia, would take off after Malaysia formally launched a new holding company -- Khazanah Holdings -- to replace the current government investment arm, Minister of Finance Inc.

Singapore's top government investment branch, Temasek Holdings, holds stakes in leading companies in the island republic, linked to Malaysia by a causeway.

Leaders of Malaysia and Singapore, both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have recently sought greater bilateral cooperation for mutual economic benefits.

The other ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Hu said Singapore would help Malaysia set up Khazanah Holdings, which would have a structure similar to Temasek, which is keen to have equity in Malaysian listed and private companies.

Khazanah Holdings was poised to take large stakes in some of Malaysia's biggest companies, worth billions of dollars, Malaysian officials said.