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KUALA LUMPUR: Two Malaysian government-linked firms - including its sovereign wealth fund - have been urged to address public concerns over their recent loss-making investments in FashionValet, which is the country’s first fashion e-commerce platform. Khazanah Nasional and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) - an investment management firm - came under the spotlight after Malaysia’s finance ministry earlier this week said in a written parliamentary reply that both companies had recorded a loss of RM43.9 million (US$10.

1 million) from the sale of their minority investments in the e-commerce platform. The two sold their collective stakes in FashionValet at the end of 2023 for RM3.1 million.



This marks a significant loss - or about 93.4 per cent - from the initial RM47 million investments made in 2018, local media reported. On Thursday (Oct 31), Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told local media that both Khazanah and PNB should explain the losses because it involves public money.

“Since public money is involved, naturally people are asking questions. We are also starting to see content revealing what may have been going on ..

. in the public interest, I believe they should issue a statement,” Mr Fahmi said. However, Mr Fahmi - who is also the Unity Government spokesman - added that the two firms should be given some time to issue a formal response.

In 2018, Khazanah invested RM27 million while PNB invested RM20 million in FashionValet, owned by renowned fash.

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