KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has acquired a 40 per cent stake in the newly-launched RM600 million Area Industrial Development Fund (AIDF-1).
EPF is one of the three institutional investors in the fund alongside the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Denmark's Sparinvest Properties Investors (SPI).
"We have invested 40 per cent into this fund. Logistics investing is something that we do a lot right now as it provides the right risk return for us," EPF chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan told reporters during the launch this morning.
"Returns would vary over time but these are also the kind of assets that are good over the long term in terms of cash flow, given that logistics are one of the key sectors for economic growth in Malaysia."
He noted that the Canadian pension fund's participation in AIDF-1 also signifies healthy foreign interest into the Malaysian investment landscape.
AIDF-1 is the first industrial development fund in Malaysia and is managed by AREA Management Sdn Bhd, whose chairman is outgoing Axis REIT Managers Bhd CEO, Datuk Stewart LaBrooy.
Its maiden investment is in the development of an inner-city logistics centre warehousing facility in Ampang, on a land size of 17 acres and built up of 1.6 million sq ft with targeted completion in 2017.