GIP chosen after agreeing to appoint Malaysia citizen as MAHB Chairman, CEO - PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) was selected after the company agreed to continue appointing a Malaysian citizen as Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) and to maintain the collective national majority ownership of shares.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim noted that besides GIP, other bidders had disagreed with the strict requirements set by Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

He said that Khazanah and the EPF had set strict conditions that would see the collective Malaysian ownership of MAHB increase to 70 per cent from the current 41 per cent once the restructuring of the airport operator is completed.

Anwar said Khazanah reported that 145 companies had initially applied to participate in the consortium to take over MAHB, but only five were deemed suitable.

"Other interested companies wanted management rights, including the chairman and CEO roles. These terms were not accepted (by Khazanah and EPF), which is why GIP was chosen," he told the Dewan Rakyat during Prime Minister's Question Time here today.

He said this in reply to a supplementary question from Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (PN-Machang) who asked about the rationale behind the decision to choose GIP as part of the consortium in the exercise to privatise MAHB.