In a written parliamentary reply, the finance ministry said sovereign wealth fund Khazanah (RM27 million) and asset manager PNB (RM20 million) invested a total of RM47 million for minority stakes in FashionValet in 2018.
The ministry said the investment was part of Khazanah’s mandate at the time to foster local technology entrepreneurs and gain exposure in the rapidly growing e-commerce sector.
At the same time, PNB wanted to support fast-growing Bumiputera digital retail companies and help them become regional retail platforms for Malaysian brands.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic and challenging fundraising market conditions severely impacted FashionValet’s business, which required significant new capital to continue operations, it said.
“At the end of last year, a Bumiputera company, NXBT Partners, offered to take over Khazanah’s and PNB’s existing stake in FashionValet and inject the necessary capital into the company,” it said
“Consequently, all shareholders agreed to accept the offer. Khazanah and PNB received RM3.1 million from the sale of the shares.
“The losses incurred from the sale of FashionValet shares were minimal compared to Khazanah and PNB’s overall earnings for the year.”
The ministry said the sale represents a responsible exit by Khazanah and PNB and allows a strategic investor to continue supporting FashionValet, address its funding needs, and redevelop the business in a challenging industry environment.
It was responding to a question from Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong) about the details of Khazanah and PNB’s investment in FashionValet and whether other government-linked companies or government-linked investment companies had also invested in the e-commerce platform.
NXBT Partners is an investment holding company controlled by Afzal Abdul Rahim, the CEO of TIME dotCom Bhd.
The Edge Markets reported that Khazanah holds a 32.34% stake in TIME dotcom as of July 22 this year.–FMT
