AHB eyes more properties, land

AMANAH Hartanah Bumiputera (AHB) is eyeing more property acquisitions and increasing its land bank, especially in the Klang Valley, to enlarge its current fund size of RM1 billion.

AHB is the country's first syariah-based property unit trust fund and is open only to Bumiputera investors.

Pelaburan Hartanah Malaysia (PHM) chief executive officer Datuk Kamalul Arifin Othman said the fund is scouting for more properties such as offices, retail, industry as well as land banks.

"We are certainly looking at expanding the size of the fund as part of efforts to foster equality in Bumiputera property ownership. We are in talks for a couple of acquisitions," Kamalul told reporters here yesterday after unveiling its first out of two dividend payouts for the year.

He, however, declined to reveal details or specify the fund's target size.

Kamalul said the fund manager will continue to source new assets to be injected into Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera to provide its 60,000 investors with good and consistent income stream.

"We are looking to buy more completed and income-yielding assets, expand our 52.6ha land bank and venture more into property development, especially in healthcare as we believe in the future of the sector," said Kamalul.

Kamalul said next year, PHM plans to include its 8ha parcel of land in Jalan Bangsar into AHB. Another property to be injected into the fund is the Lot G development at KL Sentral, which includes an office tower and shopping complex spanning 900,000 sq ft with a gross development value of RM1.4 billion.

Established in May 2006, PHM is a real estate investment holding company and is a subsidiary of Yayasan Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera and Mayban Investment Management Sdn Bhd under the purview of the Ministry of Finance.

Together with Mayban Investment Management Sdn Bhd, it currently manages AHB with eight properties under its wings with a value of RM1.4 billion and a recurring income of RM10.5 million per annum.

Its properties include Darul Ehsan Medical Specialist Hospital in Shah Alam, Blok D Peremba Square in Saujana Resort, Menara Bumiputera Commerce in Jalan Raja Laut, CP Tower in Petaling Jaya, Wisma Consplant in Subang Jaya, Tesco Setia Alam, Menara Prisma in Putrajaya and Logistics Warehouse in Shah Alam.

Meanwhile, Mayban Investment Management Sdn Bhd managing director and chief executive officer Nor'Azamin Salleh said AHB has declared an interim income distribution of 3.25 sen a unit, which involves a total payment of RM232 million for its 60,000 unitholders for the six-month period ended March 2012.

The income distribution is payable twice a year for periods ending March 31 and September 30 each year. It is tax exempted.

Since its inception in November 2010, this is the third income distribution made by AHB. The fund declared its first income distribution of 2.17 sen a unit for the four-month period ended March 31 2011 and a second income distribution of 3.25 for the six-month period ended September 30 2011.

The first payout for this year will be credited into unitholders' bank accounts today.

By Business Times