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Corporate Moves

Malaysia’s Khazanah Enlists Retirement Fund CEO

Shahril Ridza Ridzuan will become the sovereign wealth fund’s new managing director on August 20.

By Chris Butera

The CEO of Malaysia’s $193 billion Employees Provident Fund, which handles retirement savings for private-sector citizens, is now the managing director of the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

Shahril Ridza Ridzuan will start his new role heading the wealth fund, the RM157.2 billion ($38.5 billion) Khazanah Nasional, on August 20. The shift follows a change of leadership for the nation, as new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was a critic of the wealth fund.

Khazanah also named Mahathir as its chairman, and added four other directors, which includes Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azman Ali.

These moves come after Azman Mokhtar, the fund’s former managing director, and its entire nine-member board offered their resignations last month—the firm’s largest shake-up since Malaysia’s new government took control in May.

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Mahathir constantly criticized the sovereign wealth fund’s objective focus as well as the “overpayment” of its executives, the Straits Times reports. Mahathir was the fund’s first chairman in 1994. The news publication credits him as Khazanah’s creator.

It is not known if every resignation letter has been accepted, nor if any members will keep their positions.

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Home > News > Risk > World’s Largest Pension Fund Nears $1.5 Trillion
Risk

World’s Largest Pension Fund Nears $1.5 Trillion

Foreign equities drive Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund’s 1.68% returns in its first fiscal quarter.

By Chris Butera

The value of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) rose to ¥158.6 trillion ($1.43 trillion) Friday after posting a 1.68% gain for its first fiscal quarter.

Norihiro Takahashi, president of the world’s largest pension fund said that despite trade turbulence with the US, global and domestic equities were sturdy enough to raise developed market stocks for the period ended June 30.

The fund reaped ¥2.6 trillion in returns, with a full ¥2 trillion coming from foreign equities. The rest of the gains came from domestic equities, foreign bonds, and domestic bonds.

At the end of the quarter, the pension fund’s largest allocation is in domestic bonds, at 27.1%. Domestic and foreign equities take up 25.6% and 25.3%, respectively. Foreign bonds take up 15.3% of the portfolio. The rest is in short-term assets.

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The fund is still underweight in its 35% target for domestic bonds, while domestic and foreign equities, and foreign bonds are slightly overweight vis-a-vis their 25% and 15% targets.

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