Kenanga Acquires ValueCAP ETF Business

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA�- Media OutReach - 2 February 2021 – Kenanga
Investment Bank Berhad today announced its acquisition of i-VCAP Management Sdn
Bhd (“i-VCAP”) via Kenanga Investors Bhd (“KIB”), its fully owned subsidiary, following
approval by the Securities Commission of Malaysia. i-VCAP is an award-winning,
Shariah-compliant investment management services provider primarily focused on Islamic
exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”).

Datuk Chay Wai Leong, Group Managing Director of Kenanga Investment Bank.

 

“We are
constantly exploring ways to deliver new investment solutions for our clients.
This is a natural step in our strategy to develop products for a wider
audience. The ETFs market is one of the fastest growing segments in asset
management. A number of long-term macro trends, including the increasing use of
passive vehicles and the driving force of digitalisation will lead to a growing
demand for ETF products,” says Datuk Chay Wai Leong, Group Managing Director of
Kenanga Investment Bank. “The acquisition further expands our ability to build better,
more diversified portfolios through our product capabilities across the Group,
and enhances the range of solutions available. This addition strengthens our
competitive edge in addressing client needs, which will further accelerate the
growth of our business.”

 

The deal represents the financial group’s second bolt-on
purchase of an asset management business within the last 14 months, following
the acquisition of Libra Invest Berhad at end 2019. In recent months and years,
the group has been actively participating in joint ventures, acquisition exercises
as well as strategic stakes within synergistic businesses. These are expected
to complement its various business lines with recent results positively reflected
in the group’s strong financial performance in 2020.

 

The
acquisition represents swift progression one year after Kenanga Group’s first
foray into the ETF space where OneETF by Kenanga, Malaysia’s first KLCI-linked
leveraged and inverse ETFs was introduced together with its strategic partner
Yuanta Securities, the largest ETFs provider in Taiwan and a leading ETFs
provider in Asia. The Chief Executive Officer of KIB, Ismitz Matthew De Alwis
says, “i-VCAP’s ETFs business is highly complementary to OneETF by Kenanga as
we foresee that it will broaden our geographical reach, product suite and investment
expertise, enabling us to provide more solutions to help clients achieve their
investment objectives. The exercise adds depth to the company’s ETFs and
Islamic product offerings as well as accessibility to the US market.
Simultaneously, KIB is set to leverage upon this opportunity to further build
on its existing ETFs business with a higher degree of economic scale for a more
diverse range of ETFs by working with its partners, regulators and other service providers to drive the ETFs and Islamic capital market.

 

As the
asset and wealth management arm of Kenanga Investment Bank, Kenanga Investors
provides investment solutions ranging from collective investment schemes,
portfolio management services, ETFs, financial planning and alternative
investments for retail, high net worth, corporate and institutional clients. It
is a repeat recipient of distinguished industry accolades such as Refinitiv
Lipper, Morningstar, FSMOne Recommended Unit Trusts Awards and Asia Asset
Management’s Best of the Best Awards.  

 

For more information about Kenanga Investment
Bank Berhad and Kenanga Investors Berhad, please visit both www.kenanga.com.my
& www.kenangainvestors.com.my.

 

About Kenanga Investors Berhad 199501024358 (353563-P)

We provide investment
solutions ranging from collective investment schemes, portfolio management
services and alternative investments for retail, corporate, institutional and
high net worth clients via a multi-distribution network.

Most recently, the
Hong Kong-based Asia Asset Management’s 2021 Best of the Best Awards awarded
KIB under the following categories, Malaysia – Best Equity Manager, Malaysia
CIO of the Year, Malaysia — Best Islamic Fund (Equity) and Malaysia Best House
for Alternatives.

 

The Kenanga Growth
Fund (“KGF”) won Core Equity — Malaysia while the Kenanga Syariah Growth Fund
(“KSGF”) won Core Equity — Malaysia (Islamic) at the FSMOne Recommended Unit
Trusts Awards 2020/2021. The Kenanga Balanced Fund was recognised under the
Balanced — Malaysia category.

 

At the Refinitiv
Lipper Fund Awards 2020, KIB won the “Best Mixed Asset Award — Malaysia
Pension” and “Best Equity Award — Malaysia Islamic” titles. KSGF was awarded
“Equity Malaysia — Malaysia Islamic” for 10-years while the Kenanga Diversified
Fund was named “Mixed Asset MYR Flexible — Malaysia Pension” for 3-years and
5-years. KSGF was also named “Malaysia Best Equity over 10-years” at the
Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards 2020 for Global Islamic Markets.

 

For the fourth
consecutive year, KIB was affirmed an investment manager rating of IMR-2 by
Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad since first rated in 2017. The IMR rating
reflects the fund management company’s well-established investment processes
and sound risk management practices. For 2020, the average one-year, three-year
and five-year annualised returns for its top 20 largest unit trust funds
outperformed its benchmarks. 

 

About Kenanga Investment
Bank Berhad 197301002193 (15678-H)

 

Established for more
than 45 years, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad is a financial group in Malaysia
with extensive experience in equity broking, investment banking, treasury,
Islamic banking, listed derivatives, investment management, wealth management, structured
lending, and trade financing.

 

The Group has
garnered a host of awards and accolades reflecting its strong market position.
It was awarded under the categories of Best Overall Equities Participating
Organisation by Bursa Malaysia, Best Retail Equities Participating
Organisation, Best Institutional Equities Participating Organisation; along
with Best Trading Participant Equity and Financial Derivatives for 17
consecutive years. The Group was also accorded the title of Best Institutional
Derivatives Trading category by Bursa Malaysia.

 

The Group continues
to be a regular and repeat recipient of distinguished industry accolades, such
as the Lipper, Fundsupermart and Morningstar awards. For its continued efforts
towards community outreach and employee volunteerism, the Group was awarded the
coveted company of the year award for environmental awareness and
sustainability at the Sustainability 
& CSR Malaysia Awards 2020.

 

Today, Kenanga
Investment Bank Berhad is an award-winning leading independent investment bank
in the country with a continuous commitment towards driving collaboration,
innovation, and digitalisation in the marketplace.

 

This Press Release
was issued by Kenanga Group’s Marketing & Communications department.