Business

Friday September 4, 2009

Tabung Haji sees good opportunities to own properties in Europe

By ZAZALI MUSA


JOHOR BARU: Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) is now looking at Europe as part of a strategic investment plan to further expand its property portfolio via subsidiary TH Properties Sdn Bhd.

The fund’s chief executive officer Datuk Ismee Ismail said it had explored London and found that the city offered good returns for property buyers.

“After London, we are going to other major European cities and we believe there are good opportunities for us to own properties in Europe,’’ he told reporters after giving out Hari Raya Aidilfitri contributions to single mothers here.

Ismee said LTH was already known among investors and bankers in Europe as an “Islamic economic powerhouse” due to its large fund size.

Datuk Ismee Ismail (left) and Johor Tabung Haji director Mohd Sawal Abong giving out the Hari Raya Aidilfitri contributions to single mothers.

TH Properties has invested about RM2.3bil in properties in Malaysia as well as Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia, according to Ismee.

He added that for the last two years, instead of focusing on properties in Kuala Lumpur, the fund had been going to Georgetown, Johor Baru and Kota Kinabalu as these places also offered good investment opportunities.

“You can’t go wrong when it comes to (buying) property but you must remember the three words – location, location, location,’’ he said.

Separately, Ismee said the number of LTH depositors had increased to 4.7 million while its fund had grown to RM23bil.

In 2006, there were 4.5 million depositors while its fund stood at RM16bil.

He attributed the increase to two main factors – the growing confidence among depositors and a good dividend pay-out compared with other syariah-compliant financial products.

LTH paid a 5% dividend to its depositors last year. It hopes to maintain the rate this year despite the current global economic crisis, according to Ismee.

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