Najib (third left) poses with student representatives receiving a replica of the students account promotion after launching the AHB additional fund units yesteroday. Also present is Second Finance Ministerv Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani (fourth left) and Kamalul (left). — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd (PHB) is currently undertaking a mixed development project in Jalan Bangsar with a gross development value (GDV) of RM5 billion.
Group managing director/chief executive officer, Datuk Kamalul Arifin Othman, said the project, to be built on 7.69 hectares, would comprise seven office and residential towers.
The construction of the first tower started in mid-2017 and most likely would be completed in 2021, he said.
“The GDV for the first tower alone amounted to some RM500 million,” he told a press conference after the launching of Amanah Harata Bumiputera (AHB) additional fund units here yesterday.
Kamalul Arifin said PHB aimed to further increase its landbank in Malaysia, currently totalling 404.69 ha, by looking to acquire strategically-located areas for potential development of the fund’s commercial property.
“We will continue to identify and acquire quality assets and develop our own land. We have bought some pieces of strategic land nationwide and it is time for us to develop them,” he said.
On the 500 million additional units of AHB launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak earlier today, Kamalul Arifin said he was confident the fund would be fully taken up within the next five to six months, due to their consistent and competitive returns.
The previous 1.5 billion additional units were fully subscribed in less than a year.
The AHB, introduced in 2010, is the first shariah-compliant unit trust fund that provided Bumiputera investors opportunities to participate in owning prime commercial properties through their AHB unit holdings.
AHB’s initial fund size was one billion units and has been increased three times since – 2012, 2013 and 2016. With the fourth additional units launched today, the total fund size now stands at four billion units.
The addition of these new units resulted from PHB’s recent asset injections – Tower H, an 18-storey office building block in Empire City, Petaling Jaya and Empire Shopping Gallery, a five-storey shopping mall – in a mixed commercial development in Empire Subang. AHB is presently backed by 19 commercial properties made up of a diverse range of asset classes comprising office buildings, specialist hospitals, shopping malls and logistics warehouse. — Bernama