Viviene Gan

Ekuiti Nasional Berhad, or Ekuinas, is a private equity fund management company established by the Government of Malaysia on 1 September 2009 to promote equitable and sustainable Bumiputera economic participation via the creation of Malaysia’s next generation of leading companies.

Following the Government’s comprehensive rationalization of its investment guidelines under the Foreign Investment Committee (FIC), Ekuinas was introduced as one of the new market-friendly policy instruments to ensure enhanced and equitable Bumiputera equity ownership through private equity (PE).

The PE model which was adopted by Ekuinas is by way of investing in high-growth businesses, aggressively expanding them and profitably exiting once they mature or become market leaders.

The Government had provided Ekuinas with an Initial endowment of RM500 million under the 9th Malaysia Plan and committed an additional RM4.5 billion under the 10th Malaysia plan. This is provided in the form of a grant to be held in trust by Yayasan Ekuiti Nasional (YEN), a specific trust foundation whose mandate is to enhance and grow Bumiputera equity interest. The funds held under YEN are directed into Ekuinas Capital Sdn Bhd (Ekuinas Capital), which serves as the designated fund capital company. Ekuinas functions as the private equity company managing these funds and the operating entity where the management team resides.

Both Ekuinas and Ekuinas Capital are wholly owned subsidiaries of Yayasan Ekuiti Nasional (YEN) and strive to fulfill the mission of promoting equitable, effective and enhanced Bumiputera economic participation by focusing on both financial and social objectives. The financial objective focuses on enhancing institutionalisation of Bumiputera equity, whilst its social objectives are towards enhancing individual Bumiputera participation in the economy.

These objectives are achieved via two methods of investments in which the two have distinct operations:

Direct Investments – where it invests directly in high potential companies; and

Outsourced Programme – where Ekuinas appoints third party private equity managers to manage allocated funds and undertake investments on its behalf.

Ekuinas targets two key groups in its investments; capable and high potentials entrepreneurs as well as professional managers to be part of its portfolio companies.