KFHMB plans to build Malaysia’s tallest building

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Bhd (KFHMB) is teaming up with a local bank to jointly develop the country’s tallest building that will overtake the Petronas Twin Towers.

Its managing director, Datuk K Salman Younis said it would be “a high-end real estate project that will stand taller than the Petronas Twin Towers”.

Speaking to The Edge Financial Daily, he said the JV with the property arm of a local bank had just been approved yesterday, and work on the project would begin next year

Declining to elaborate further on the project, Salman could only say that further announcements on the project would be made soon.

On KFHMB, he said the Islamic banking group planned to open two or three new branches in the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) and Taman Molek in Johor early next year.

Speaking to reporters after hosting a media tutorial on Islamic banking and finance here yesterday, Salman said KFHMB also planned to open branches in Penang and Kuching within three months and to start its marketing efforts in Sabah early next year.

“KFH already has some customers in Sandakan. We plan to build our presence in Sabah,” he said. KFHMB, the first foreign Islamic bank to be licensed by the Ministry of Finance, currently operates two branches in Kuala Lumpur and one in Shah Alam.

In August, KFHMB announced it would jointly develop a 902.4ha land in the IDR with Mubadala Development Co and Millennium Development International Co for RM4.2 billion. This will involve the building of three clusters, namely a lifestyle and leisure cluster, a cultural cluster and a financial district in the IDR’s first integrated international city.

Last week KFHMB had said it would jointly team up with local real estate investor Prestige Scale Sdn Bhd to fund the RM577 million Glomac Tower project in Kuala Lumpur.

Salman had said both companies would be involved in the on-block purchase of the 36-storey class A commercial office block. The project is to start soon and is expected to be completed within two-and-a-half years.

Meanwhile, it was also reported that the Islamic bank was in discussions with investors from Australia, China, Indonesia, Singapore and the Middle East to jointly develop its 252.5ha land in Bandar Nusajaya, near the Johor State New Administrative Centre project in the IDR.

By The EDGE (By Ellina Badri)