By Aidila Razak
Poor market conditions have put the spanner in the government’s plans to get out of 24 government-linked companies by 2012.
According to the Economic Transformation Programme 2012 annual report, the government, however managed to divest out of 15 companies in 2011/2012, out of which only four was divested last year.
In spite of positive developments in the GLIC (government-linked investment company) divestment programme, factors such as companies not reaching their sale trigger price, low valuations and uncertain market conditions have hindered the sale of some of the companies under the plan.
“The government is also aware that these divestments must be completed at prices which are fair to shareholders,” the report launched by the prime minister on Tuesday night reads.
However, Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) which prepared the report notes the government will look into continuing to divest out of the remaining 18 companies on its original list of 33 “once the market has sufficiently recovered”.
Key divestments include the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings, the Finance Ministry’s sale of its 40 percent-owned Kedah Aquaculture and divestment of Time Engineering Bhd by Khazanah Nasional.
Nine companies in four ministries are also said to be ready for divestment by 2016, but the companies were not stipulated in the reports.
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