Malaysia is set to accelerate its already aggressive investment push into UK property in a move that underscores the country’s eagerness to extend its corporate reach beyond Asia.
The country is at the start of an important upswing in its investment into the UK that will turn it into a “major player in the London property market”, according to Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Najib added that the Employees Provident Fund, the largest Malaysian government pension fund by assets, is “flush with cash and needs to take some of the surplus abroad”.
The statement of ambition comes at a time when Malaysia is already outgunning most of its international rivals in terms of investment into UK property. The country spent £1.4bn, almost all of it in London, last year, more than any other Asian state, snapping up City of London offices and the redevelopment site at Battersea power station. Mr Najib is due to preside over a groundbreaking ceremony there today.
“We like London,” said Mr Najib. “We know it well and understand it and you can get a very good yield on London offices.”
The move by its sovereign and pension funds into the London market comes at a time when the Malaysian economy is facing what looks like a perfect economic storm, including the slowdown in the Chinese economy, plunging commodity prices and the looming end of the US’s quantitative easing programme.
Malaysia is a commodity producer that exports to China and has benefited handsomely from the cash that washed through emerging markets as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive bond-buying programme.
However, Mr Najib played down the likely effects of the threats to growth coming from the world economy and insisted Malaysia remained on course to grow at 5 to 6 per cent annually and achieve the government’s target of joining the ranks of the world’s high-income countries by 2020.
The country is at the start of an important upswing in its investment into the UK that will turn it into a “major player in the London property market”, according to Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Najib added that the Employees Provident Fund, the largest Malaysian government pension fund by assets, is “flush with cash and needs to take some of the surplus abroad”.
The statement of ambition comes at a time when Malaysia is already outgunning most of its international rivals in terms of investment into UK property. The country spent £1.4bn, almost all of it in London, last year, more than any other Asian state, snapping up City of London offices and the redevelopment site at Battersea power station. Mr Najib is due to preside over a groundbreaking ceremony there today.
“We like London,” said Mr Najib. “We know it well and understand it and you can get a very good yield on London offices.”
The move by its sovereign and pension funds into the London market comes at a time when the Malaysian economy is facing what looks like a perfect economic storm, including the slowdown in the Chinese economy, plunging commodity prices and the looming end of the US’s quantitative easing programme.
Malaysia is a commodity producer that exports to China and has benefited handsomely from the cash that washed through emerging markets as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive bond-buying programme.
However, Mr Najib played down the likely effects of the threats to growth coming from the world economy and insisted Malaysia remained on course to grow at 5 to 6 per cent annually and achieve the government’s target of joining the ranks of the world’s high-income countries by 2020.