Monday, April 29, 2013

KANGAR: The unit trust value adopted by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) through the Malaysian Unit Trust Week (MSAM) 2013 must be continued and further expanded to increase the understanding and participation of Malaysians, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin.

He said the overwhelming response from the residents in Perlis and nearby states, namely Kedah and Penang, showed that PNB's efforts to educate the public on investment was very encouraging.

"MSAM enables investors to acquire the fundamental education on investment and other benefits including dividends given out by PNB," he told a media conference after officiating at the closing ceremony of MSAM 2013 here.

Apart from PNB, MSAM also obtained cooperation from 12 PNB investment companies including Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Simb Darby Bhd (Sime Darby), UMW Holdings Bhd, Chemical Company of Malaysia Bhd and Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd.

As of Friday night, MSAM recorded more than 240,000 visitors which was almost equal the total population of Perlis.

This figure far exceeded PNB's initial target of 150,000.

Meanwhile, PNB chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said in his speech that the society acknowledged that PNB, besides being a deposit-taking institution, also manages the money as well as gives out profit to investors.

"Currently, PNB has attracted 11.4 million account holders of which 89 per cent are Bumiputera account holders and 11 per cent non-Bumiputera account holders, owning 165.3 billion units worth RM239.6 billion including funds owned by PNB.

"The funds are used to buy equities in over 200 companies including blue chips," he said.

According to him, Sime Darby owns 878,797 hectares of plantation land involving 201 estates in Malaysia, Indonesia and Liberia; Maybank controls 23 per cent of the conventional banking and 26.2 per cent in Islamic banking locally; while Etiqa Takaful together with Takaful Ikhlas control RM2.51 billion or 51.5 per cent of net contributions for takaful services in the country.

These companies including other PNB investment companies are able to channel dividends to PNB to be distributed to investors, and the accumulated amount that had been distributed in the form of dividend and bonus for the last 35 years was RM103.5 billion.

By Bernama