MALAYSIA MUST BE IN THE POSITION TO OFFER A STRONG RANGE OF INVESTABLE ASSET CLASSES

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, as an international Islamic
financial centre, must be in the position to offer a strong range of investable
asset classes for the global investment market.

Second Finance Minister, Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, said investment
vehicles must be structured to attract funds that were now looking for better
returns in Asia compared to Western economies.

Speaking at the 3rd Islamic Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference
2010 here today, he said private equity was an ideal source of financing for
developing economies in transition.

"Private equity is stickier than portfolio funds and is not highly subjected
to market shocks and volatile movements such as porfolio funds," he said.

Ahmad Husni said the Asian economies required between US$20 trillion and
US$30 trillion (US$1=RM3.06) in funding for infrastructure and commercial
enterprises which were above the requirement of an emerging economy in the next
10 years.

He said it was estimated that the total amount of private equity capital
committed but not yet invested as at year-end 2009 totalled more than US$1.0
trillion.

"In the period between 2003-2007, the level of deal activity in the Asia
Pacific region was 8.6 times higher than the period between 1995-1999.

"This compares very favourably to Europe's 2.9 times and North America's 2.7
times," he said, citing Bain & Co's Global Private Equity Report 2010.

Ahmad Husni said this pattern clearly demonstrated the attractiveness of
Asia Pacific as an investment destination for private equity flow.

He said Malaysia must create an awareness of this huge potential for the
growth of Islamic venture capital and private equity industry.

The two-day event is organised by the Malaysian Venture Capital and Private
Equity Association and the Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia.

The conference is themed "Islamic Venture Capital and Private Equity Post
Credit Crunch: Road Map for New Investment Landscape".

-- BERNAMA