LETTERS: I refer to the recognition by The Asset Magazine for the issuance of RM27.56 billion "sukuk murabahah" by Urusharta Jamaah (UJ) Sdn Bhd, which won the Best Restructuring award at The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards 2020, under the "Best Deals by Country" category.
The Asset Triple A Awards are the pre-eminent global recognition for those who excel in the finance industry.
This is a source of pride to our country and will undoubtedly increase the level of confidence of the public, in particular the Muslim populace, towards Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH), which experienced some trust deficit and erosion of public confidence in its stewardship of pilgrims' funds. UJ, a Finance Ministry-owned company, has been in the spotlight since 2018 when it was established as a special purpose vehicle to take over and manage underperforming assets that were transferred by TH to UJ.
This "rescue plan" of TH was taken not only to protect the value of the assets but also to grow the value of its portfolio.
The assets consist of a mixture of listed equity holdings, 29 properties, including four hotels, and one unlisted asset.
The restructuring and asset sale follows the discovery in 2018 by the independent audit firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, that TH's total liabilities exceeded its total assets, rendering it technically insolvent.
The rest is history. I believe that with the strong financial performance recorded in the first half up to June 30, 2020, TH is on the right track to recovery.
TH recorded an increase in net profit of RM1.25 billion compared with RM849.66 million in the corresponding period in the previous year.
The total assets of TH also exceeded its liabilities by RM1.86 billion up to June 30 this year.
On behalf of the Malaysian Association of Muslim Finance Professionals, I would like to congratulate TH and the Finance Ministry for the achievements and hope that TH will continue to deliver on its mandate.
Ahmad Nizam Samsudin
President, Malaysian Association of Muslim Finance Professionals
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times