PM's Hong Kong visit eye-opener for investors

CREDIT Suisse group is forecasting a more bullish outlook for Malaysia with a gross domestic product of 6 per cent this year compared with Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) estimate of 5.5 per cent.

It also expects more senior investors to come to Malaysia for in-depth research on local listed companies following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's address at the Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong last week.

"They now better appreciate that he is a prime minister who means business, but also respects the fact that he faces a herculean task in reforming Malaysia," said Stephen Hagger, country manager & head of equities for Credit Suisse in Malaysia.

He said that a key takeaway was that the prime minister understood what the market wanted, but has to balance that with socio-political considerations and getting elected.

"PM Najib's visit to Hong Kong served as a timely reminder to many investors not to forget about Malaysia," he said in response to questions sent via e-mail.

Credit Suisse is the number one institutional investor research company globally.

In Hong Kong, Hagger said he met several senior investors keen to come to Malaysia to "kick the tyres" or go the extra mile in doing company research after hearing the prime minister and realising that Malaysia was becoming "under-researched".

Najib last week met top-notch fund managers besides delivering a keynote address on Malaysia's attributes as an investment destination for equity and capital market investments and its ground-breaking economic reforms.

He also met Credit Suisse special adviser, Sir John Major, who moderated the luncheon address where Najib discussed Malaysia's economic transformation efforts to emerge as a high-income economy by 2020 and the soon-to-be unveiled new economic model.

Hagger said those who met the prime minister were surprised on the upside, particularly with regard to his openness and frank answers to questions.

Asked about concerns about investing in Malaysia, he said there were only a few well-capitalised stocks on Bursa Malaysia, while fund managers needed large and liquid stocks, so that they could buy or sell a position in one day.

"Malaysia has few such stocks and is competing for capital and 'air time' with the larger more liquid North Asian markets," he said.

Fund managers are also looking for well-managed companies, he said. 

However, he said the government has achieved considerable success with the government-linked companies' reform programme in scaling down equity in listed entities, particularly at Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the government's investment arm.

This has been followed up by the beginnings of a "selldown" by Khazanah, which should improve the liquidity of those stocks.

He cited how there was clearly a potential conflict of interest in the government owning controlling stakes in both Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airports Holdings, when there was no regulator to ensure "fair play" with other airline operators.

Hagger said Malaysia was struggling to stay relevant as an investment destination for global fund managers primarily due to size and liquidity, but also of course, valuation.

"We notice that the foreign ownership of the Malaysian market has fallen significantly and the number of visits by foreign fund managers has dwindled."

He said the annual Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference was a great forum for companies, governments and investors to meet, whereby there were about 270 companies from around Asia, including 16 companies from Malaysia, meeting some 2,000 fund managers from around the world, including several from Malaysia.

In addition, working with CIMB, "we are proud to have "showcased" the prime minister and several Malaysian companies in New York last year."

"We have also assisted the three regulators - Securities Commission, Bursa Malaysia and BNM - to meet fund managers overseas.

"Unfortunately, some company chief executive officers take investor relations more seriously than others," said Hagger.

Hagger said Malaysia's problems looked very easy to fix "when you are sitting behind a desk in Boston".

The reform of the "30 per cent Bumi listing rule" would have been perceived as a "no brainer" by many foreign fund managers, who probably failed to appreciate that it was an incredibly brave step by the prime minister, he said.

"I believe that is why Prime Minister Najib took such pains to explain that ... he understands what the market wants, but he has to balance that with getting his party re-elected," he said. - Bernama


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