Malaysia increases exposure to real estate and infrastructure

The $179.8 billion Malaysian Employees Provident Fund has increased its allocation to real estate and infrastructure by approximately $1.8 billion and invested an additional $7.7 billion in overseas markets — $783 million of which is invested in global property — according to its annual report.

“To maintain our goal of offering real dividends of 2 percent, the EPF has gradually increased our exposure to higher yielding assets such as equities and real assets, which include property and infrastructure,” the EPF said in the report. “In the current low-interest environment, investments in real estate and infrastructure have acquired a more positive outlook, and being long term, fit well with the EPF’s risk/return profile.”

The EPF’s real estate and infrastructure portfolio performed much better in 2013 than in 2012, producing an income return of 3.25 perc