<article>Several Malaysian government-linked funds have taken up an average of MYR 80 million ($24 million) worth of shares, each, in Malaysian property group <a href="http://www.sunway.com.my" target="_blank">Sunway Bhd </a>from the stake <a href="http://www.gic.com.s" target="_blank">GIC Pte Ltd </a>divested last week, said an industry source.</article>

Several Malaysian government-linked funds have taken up an average of MYR 80 million ($24 million) worth of shares, each, in Malaysian property group <a href="http://www.sunway.com.my" target="_blank">Sunway Bhd </a>from the stake <a href="http://www.gic.com.s" target="_blank">GIC Pte Ltd </a>divested last week, said an industry source.
The five funds picked up a large part of the MYR 482 million ($144 million) share block sold by Singapore&#8217;s GIC, last week, the source informed, without naming them.
“Given the size of GIC’s divestment, the government-linked funds are the best candidates to acquire most of the divested stake,” the source added.
The Malaysian sovereign wealth funds include the pension fund Employees Provident Fund, state investment fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the country’s biggest fund management company Permodalan Nasional Bhd.
Other funds which may have invested are the Retirement Fund Inc (otherwise known as KWAP) or pilgrimage fund Lembaga Tabung Haji.
Another source added that the funds who bought the stake were those already shareholders in Sunway.
The local daily The Star reported that some 30 investors, which included international buyers participated in acquiring GIC’s 8.74% stake or 150.66 million shares, priced at MYR 3.20 to MYR3.30 each.
The Bloomberg company profile showed mixed shareholding patterns in the company, for September-end. Stakeholders in Sunway include, SJP Morgan Chase &amp; Co, EPF, Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Fidelity Management &amp; Research, Amanah 1Malaysia, Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 and Amanah Saham Malaysia.
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC’s exit from the conglomerate was because the final stake it had, was no longer strategic to its investment, the local news said, adding that GIC was looking to exit Sunway as the company had injected its valuable assets into Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust in 2010.
GIC was one of the cornerstone investors for Sunway REIT when it was listed. It no longer holds any stake in the REIT.
With GIC ceasing to be a substantial shareholder in Sunway, research body Insider Asia said investors could refocus on the group’s fundamentals and valuations, which appear attractive. &#8220;Sunway’s shares are trading at a trailing 12-month P/E ratio (price-earnings ratio) of 3.6 times and a price-to-book ratio of 0.98 time. Excluding revaluation gains, normalised P/E is 10.8 times,&#8221; the research house explained.
The Malaysian property sector has an average P/E of 19 times.
Sunway and GIC’s partnership goes back to the late 90’s and isbelieved to have helped establishment of Sunway’s property ventures in the island state.  Sunway&#8217;s Singapore-based independent non-executive director Lim Swe Guan served in the real estate arm of GIC from 1997 to 2011.

GIC’s Sunway exit block bought by govt funds

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GIC’s Sunway exit block bought by govt funds

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