Khazanah Nasional (Sovereign Wealth Fund)

Bahasa Malaysia: Khazanah Nasional (Dana Kekayaan Negara) · English: Khazanah Nasional (Sovereign Wealth Fund) · 中文: 国库控股（主权财富基金）

Ride the MRT in Kuala Lumpur, bank with a local lender, or fly through a Malaysian airport, and there is a good chance a single state-owned holding company sits somewhere behind it. Very often, that company is Khazanah Nasional — Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund and the vehicle through which the Government holds and grows many of its commercial assets.

What does “Khazanah Nasional” mean?

Khazanah is the Malay word for “treasury” or “treasure store,” and nasional means “national.” As a term, Khazanah Nasional refers specifically to Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the company set up to act as custodian and active manager of the Malaysian Government’s investments.

It is a sovereign wealth fund — a state-owned entity that invests public assets to build long-term national wealth — but structured as an ordinary company (a Berhad) rather than a ministry or statutory body. That legal form matters: Khazanah files accounts, holds shares, and buys and sells companies the way any commercial investor does.

Who owns Khazanah, and when was it set up?

Khazanah Nasional Berhad was incorporated under the Companies Act 1965 on 3 September 1993 and commenced operations the following year, in 1994, initially as custodian of the Government’s commercial assets and an investor in strategic and high-technology sectors.

Its ownership is unusually concentrated. Except for one share held by the Federal Lands Commissioner, all of Khazanah’s share capital is owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated — a corporate body established under the Minister of Finance (Incorporation) Act 1957 [Act 375]. In plain terms, Khazanah is owned by the Malaysian state through the finance ministry, not by private shareholders and not by individual citizens.

Its mandate is deliberately broad: to grow Malaysia’s long-term wealth — the value of Khazanah’s financial assets — while contributing to economic development outcomes for the nation.

How is Khazanah structured?

Following a 2018 restructuring and mandate refresh, Khazanah pursues its mandate through two distinct funds, each with its own objective:

Fund	What it is	Focus
Commercial Fund	An intergenerational fund seeking long-term risk-adjusted returns	Growing financial assets and diversifying the nation’s revenue, including global investments
Strategic Fund	A developmental fund holding strategic national assets	Long-term, economically beneficial investments, largely channelled through Dana Impak

Dana Impak is the main delivery vehicle of the Strategic Fund. It targets themes such as energy transition, digitalisation, connectivity, transforming local firms and building vibrant communities — the pillars of Khazanah’s longer-term “Advancing Malaysia” strategy.

How is Khazanah different from EPF or PNB?

This is the most common point of confusion. Khazanah is one of Malaysia’s Government-Linked Investment Companies (GLICs), but it works very differently from the two GLICs people mix it up with most:

• It has no members or unit holders. The EPF (KWSP) manages individual retirement accounts funded by payroll contributions; PNB sells unit trust funds such as ASB to the public. Khazanah does neither.
• Its “customer” is the Government. Khazanah’s returns flow to the Federal Government as a dividend, not to individual savers.
• Its capital is the state’s own assets. It began with the Government’s existing commercial stakes and grows through retained investment income, not deposits or subscriptions.

For a fuller comparison of Khazanah against the EPF and PNB, see the dedicated Khazanah entity page.

How big is Khazanah?

Khazanah reports its results annually in The Khazanah Report. The table below summarises the headline figures for its two most recent financial years, drawn from Khazanah’s own results releases:

Indicator	FY2024	FY2025
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% (NAV TWRR)	5.2%
Dividend to Government	RM1 billion	RM2 billion
Cumulative dividend since 2004	RM19.1 billion	RM21.1 billion

The unusually high 24.6% return recorded for 2024 was well above Khazanah’s long-run average; the fund attributed it largely to fair-value gains and portfolio repositioning, and it followed a 5.7% return in 2023. The 5.2% return for 2025 is closer to its long-term norm, and its seven-year rolling annualised return stood at 6.1%. Since 2004, Khazanah reports RM93.1 billion in cumulative shareholder returns.

What does Khazanah do beyond financial returns?

Through Dana Impak, Khazanah channels capital into areas it considers important to Malaysia’s future. Reported 2025 initiatives include:

• Jelawang Capital — a national fund-of-funds whose first five fund managers backed more than 10 start-ups and catalysed over RM30 million in crowded-in capital.
• Transforming firms — support for over 40 mid-tier companies to strengthen operations and productivity.
• Semiconductors and advanced manufacturing — three Malaysian companies enabled through strategic fund partnerships, alongside investments such as Syntiant’s Penang expansion (doubling production capacity and creating around 800 jobs).

These are the kinds of investments that distinguish a sovereign wealth fund with a development mandate from a purely commercial investor.

Why the term matters

When Malaysian business news says a company is “a Khazanah company,” it means the state — through Khazanah — is a significant or controlling shareholder. Khazanah’s decisions to hold, sell or inject capital into large companies ripple through the stock market, employment and government revenue. Understanding what Khazanah is — a state-owned investment company, not a pension fund and not a government department — is the key to reading that coverage correctly.

What’s next

• Read the deeper Khazanah entity page for how it compares with the EPF and PNB.
• Learn what a GLC is and how it differs from a GLIC.
• See where Khazanah’s listed holdings actually trade: Bursa Malaysia.
• For full audited financials and portfolio detail, consult the annual Khazanah Report on Khazanah’s official website.