The Health | august, 2019
08
Health Business
EPF investing
in Australian
healthcare
Malaysia’s Employees Provident
Fund invests in Sydney-
based real estate developer on
healthcare facilities
M
alaysia’s RM824-billion pen-
sion fund Employees Provident
Fund is investing AU100 million
(Australian dollars, RM288 mil-
lion) in an Australian healthcare
real estate fund managed by real
estate developer Dexus.
In a statement, the developer said EPF’s invest-
ment in Healthcare Wholesale Property Fund will
enable it to acquire North Shore Health Hub, Stage
1 of the development at St. Leonards, currently held
in Dexus’ trading portfolio. The health care facility is
due for completion in late 2020.
The plan is to eventually expand the precinct to
include a ‘medi-hotel’, build-to-rent housing and
other amenities that will increase its end value to
RM2.8 billion.
“We are pleased to welcome EPF Malaysia onto
our funds management platform, which enables the
continued growth of HWPF, Australia’s high-quality
health care wholesale property fund,” said Deborah
Coakley, Executive General Manager, Funds Manage-
ment, Dexus.
Launched in 2017, HWPF is Australia’s first insti-
tutional, wholesale, open-ended health care property
fund that allows investors to participate in an asset
class with long-term potential. Its portfolio includes
approximately AU$370 million (RM1.05 billion) of
properties -- on completion value -- and a weighted
average lease expiry of 27.4 years.
EPF’s investment in HWPF comes as the Malay-
sian pension fund announced in February that it will
tap new markets and work with other fund managers
to weather the effects of global uncertainties.
EPF recorded a gross investment income of
RM50.88 billion in 2018, where equity contributed
58 percent. The fund has about RM222.61 billion
worth of investments across 40 countries and 28
currencies, representing about 26.7 percent of EPF’s
total portfolio.
EPF’s last investment in Australia was in 2017,
when it bought a 49 percent stake in OSK Holdings
Bhd’s Australian project Yarra Park City for RM477
million. It was also the first overseas property invest-
ment by the Malaysian pension fund that year.
OSK’s Yarra Park City holds the rights to a five-
acre, mixed-use development Melbourne Square in
Southbank, Melbourne and has a gross development
value of over $2.1 billion (RM8.7 billion). — The
Health
IMU partners with food and nutrition group
International Medical University (IMU) today
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education
Organization Regional Centre for Food and
Nutrition (SEAMEO RECFON) to collaborate in
health and medical research on nutrition and food
safety training in Southeast Asia.
The MoU was signed at the university’s Bukit Jalil
campus by Prof Abdul Aziz Baba, Vice-Chancellor
of IMU and Dr Muchtaruddin Mansyur, MD, Director
of SEAMEO RECFON. Prof Winnie Chee, Professor
in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and
Dean of IMU’s School of Health Sciences and Dr
Mokhammad Farid Maruf, Education and Cultural
Attache, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
in Kuala Lumpur served as witnesses in the MoU
signing. The MoU is effective this year until 2021.
The main aims of the 3-year agreement are for
IMU and SEAMEO RECFON to:
1) strengthen medical and health research and
development;
2) jointly publish and present scientific data;
3) exchange research materials pertaining to
nutrition and food safety; and
4) conduct joint training in the areas of nutrition
and food safety.
The agreement would also accommodate staff,
postgraduate research and student exchanges
through field visits, internships, and attendance to
courses and other learning events. — The Health
(Left to right)
Professor
Winnie Chee,
Dean of School
of Health
Sciences at IMU;
Prof Abdul Aziz
Baba, Vice-
Chancellor of
IMU; and Dr
Muchtaruddin
Mansyur,
Director of
SEAMEO
RECFON.