Khazanah Nasional: Malaysia's Sovereign Wealth Fund

When you ride the MRT in Kuala Lumpur, buy insurance, or deal with a local bank, chances are a government-owned holding company is somewhere behind the scenes — and often that company is Khazanah Nasional. This is Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund: not merely a shareholder, but an instrument tasked with growing the nation’s long-term wealth.

What exactly is Khazanah Nasional?

Khazanah Nasional Berhad was incorporated under the Companies Act 1965 on 3 September 1993 and began operations a year later. Except for one share held by the Federal Lands Commissioner, its entire share capital is owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated, a body established under the Minister of Finance (Incorporation) Act 1957.

Its mandate is simple but broad: to grow Malaysia’s long-term wealth by increasing the value of its financial assets and contributing to the nation’s economic development outcomes.

How Khazanah invests — the dual-fund structure

Since its restructuring after 2018, Khazanah has pursued its mandate through two separate funds, each with its own objective and investment team:

Fund	Objective	Focus
Commercial Fund	An intergenerational fund generating long-term risk-adjusted returns	Growing financial assets, diversifying the nation’s sources of revenue (including global investments)
Strategic Fund	A developmental fund holding the nation’s strategic assets	Long-term impact investments, channelled through Dana Impak

Dana Impak is the Strategic Fund’s principal vehicle. It targets themes such as the energy transition, digitalisation, connectivity and the transformation of local firms — part of a long-term strategy known as Advancing Malaysia.

How large is its portfolio?

Khazanah holds interests in many of Malaysia’s best-known government-linked companies (GLCs) — among them the banking group CIMB, Telekom Malaysia, Axiata and IHH Healthcare — alongside a growing global investment portfolio. Over the past several years, it has actively reshaped this portfolio through the sale of selected holdings (disciplined monetisation). (Current interest percentages change over time and should be checked against substantial shareholder filings at Bursa Malaysia.)

Its financial performance is reported annually in The Khazanah Report. The table below summarises the key figures for the two most recent financial years:

Indicator	2024	2025
Net Asset Value (NAV)	RM103.6 billion	RM105 billion
Total assets	—	RM156 billion
Profit from operations	RM5.1 billion	RM5.6 billion
Annual return	24.6% (TWRR)	5.2%
Dividend to the Government	RM1 billion	RM2 billion
Cumulative dividends since 2004	RM19.1 billion	RM21.1 billion

Source: Khazanah press releases for financial years 2024 and 2025.

The 24.6% return in 2024 was far higher than its long-term average; according to Khazanah’s press release, it was driven primarily by fair-value gains from global public equities and portfolio restructuring. The 5.2% return in 2025 is closer to its long-term norm; the rolling seven-year annualised return remained at 6.1%. Since 2004, NAV has grown from about RM33 billion to more than RM104 billion, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 5.9%.

What does it do beyond financial returns?

Through Dana Impak, Khazanah channels capital into areas deemed important to Malaysia’s future. Some of the initiatives reported for 2025:

• Jelawang Capital — a national fund-of-funds supporting more than 10 startups through its first five fund managers, catalysing more than RM30 million in additional capital.
• Firm transformation — more than 40 mid-sized companies helped to improve their operations and productivity.
• Semiconductors and advanced manufacturing — three Malaysian companies enabled through strategic fund partnerships.
• Community — RM330 million was deployed in 2025 for capability and community initiatives, bringing the cumulative total to more than RM2.7 billion since 2006; the K-Youth programme trained 9,934 young people in 2025.

Why it matters to understand

Khazanah is not an ordinary government agency, but neither is it a purely private fund. It is one of the nation’s principal Government-Linked Investment Companies (GLICs), and its investment decisions — whether to hold, sell or inject capital into major companies — have a direct impact on the capital markets, employment and Government revenue. Its dividends contribute directly to the national treasury.

What’s next

• Refer to the annual The Khazanah Report on Khazanah’s official website for portfolio details and full audited financial statements.
• To understand current holdings in listed companies (for example CIMB, Telekom Malaysia, Axiata), check the substantial shareholder announcements at Bursa Malaysia, as holding percentages change over time.
• Read more about Bursa Malaysia and the government-linked company ecosystem for broader context.