Khazanah managing director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir also gave an assurance that the consortium does not plan to conduct layoffs of staff after the deal is done.

“GIP won’t be directly appointing staff or secondees to manage MAHB. Instead, the management will be jointly appointed by the consortium as a whole, and we will tap into GIP’s technical expertise when needed.

“Rest assured, the employment rights of MAHB’s existing employees are fully safeguarded, with no plans for layoffs. Staff would benefit from knowledge sharing with global experts,” he said in a Bernama interview.

Khazanah and EPF are planning to take over and privatise MAHB through a consortium named Gateway Development Alliance.

Khazanah will increase its stake in MAHB from 33.2% to 40% and EPF from 7.9% to 30%, giving Malaysian investors a 70% stake in the airport operator.

The remaining 30% will be held by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and GIP, an investment fund said to be a subsidiary of American firm BlackRock, which is one of the world’s largest asset management companies holding shares in several defence industry enterprises.

Perikatan Nasional leaders have called for the sale of MAHB’s shares to GIP to be halted, alleging that BlackRock owns a stake in defence firms that enable Israel to continue its genocide against the Palestinian people.

BlackRock deal not done

However, Amirul said that “to the best of my knowledge”, BlackRock has yet to complete its acquisition of GIP despite expressing interest in doing so to boost its infrastructure fund capabilities.

He added that BlackRock’s interest in GIP reflected the latter’s expertise.

“To the best of my knowledge their deal has yet to be concluded. Regarding the Gateway Development Alliance, we would like to clarify that our direct consortium partners are Adia and GIP, not BlackRock,” he said.