The RM20 billion fund injection into government investment arm ValueCap Sdn Bhd will come from its three shareholders, namely Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Wahid Omar said the fund would not come from the government per se and would not affect the 2016 budget allocation.

"The fund injection will be done in phases and ValueCap's business model will be similar to its approach during the 2002-2013 period," he told reporters after witnessing the launch of Ilmu Education Group in Kuala Lumpur today.

Abdul Wahid said during the 2002-2013 period, ValueCap invested prudently and was able to create value by propping up undervalued stocks.

He said the company was able to generate an annual average return of 15 per cent and accumulate RM8 billion in profits, higher than the KLCI's returns of 10 per cent over the same period.

"ValueCap has a fully qualified professional team of fund managers and they will look at individual stocks that are well-managed, have good business models, good performances and areundervalued.

"Right now, they are concentrating on environmental social governance stocks," he said.

On the funding ratio of the three shareholders, Abdul Wahid said: "We will arrange for ValueCap Group Chief Executive Officer Sharifatu Laila Syed Ali to address any queries on the company at the right time."

Consolidation exercise part of strategy

On the launch of Ilmu, Ekuiti Nasional Bhd's (Ekuinas) chief executive officer Abdul Rahman Ahmad said the consolidation exercise of its education portfolio was part of its strategy to introduce Ilmu to the market.

"We have built a sizeable business in Ilmu and we are preparing to crystallise its value, which will involve either listing the company in the stock market or selling it to any interested party.

"The launch is the start of this process. Within the next six months to one year, that (listing or selling) is something that we will execute," Abdul Rahman added.

Ilmu is an integrated multi-brand education provider, comprising seven institutions in Malaysia and Sri Lanka, which provides end-to-end learning to over 35,000 students across 21 campuses.

To date, Ilmu has six institutions locally and one in Sri Lanka, namely, Asia Pacific University, Unitar International University, Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College, Cosmopoint College, APIIT Sri Lanka, Tenby Schools, and Asia Pacific Schools.

- Bernama