Ekuinas CEO Datuk Syed Yasir Arafat Syed Abd Kadir.
KUALA LUMPUR: Ekuiti Nasional Bhd’s (Ekuinas) portfolio companies posted 7% year-on-year revenue growth for the financial year 2023 (FY23) with cumulative committed direct investment reaching RM4.1bil.
The government-linked private equity company said its gross internal rate of return (GIRR) for Tranche II and IV was 11.5% and 43%, respectively, while Tranche III saw a GIRR of minus 0.6%.
“Notably, Exabytes and Medispec achieved impressive revenue growth of 22.5% and 15.4%, respectively.
“Although the overall earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for portfolio companies contracted by 7%, Orkim recorded Ebitda growth of 8.9% and Ekuinas’s Education Group saw a remarkable 65.3% increase in Ebitda,” it said.
In terms of outsourced funds, Ekuinas said that Tranche I achieved a GIRR of 4.1%, whereas Tranche II recorded a GIRR of minus 3.1% for the year.
“Ekuinas has been focused on exits for all its outsourced funds, closely monitoring their performance and preparing for divestments when valuations are more favourable,” Ekuinas said in a statement yesterday.
Chief executive officer Datuk Syed Yasir Arafat Syed Abd Kadir said 2023 was a trying year due to the impact of geopolitical and macroeconomic factors on local and global economies.
“In navigating the post-pandemic landscape during the year, Ekuinas implemented a three-pronged strategy. Firstly, by deploying the majority of its remaining capital for Tranche IV with a keen emphasis on the healthcare and industrial sectors.
“The second strategy was to allocate at least 50% of the Dana Asas fund by end-2023, and the third was to drive value creation and growth momentum across our portfolio companies amid economic headwinds,” he said.
Syed Arafat noted that Ekuinas announced two new initiatives for 2024, committing RM100mil to a second tranche for Dana Asas dedicated to supporting more mid-market bumiputra companies with high-growth potential.
“We also aim to expand into private credit with the establishment of a RM800mil fund,” he added.
Since its establishment in 2009, Ekuinas’ portfolio has grown to 43 companies via its direct and outsourced funds, with a total of RM5.1bil in capital deployed and a total investment of RM4.5bil.
“The company continues to meet its bumiputra-equity target, achieving 1.6 times capital invested totalling RM6.4bil, with an increase in total shareholders’ value to RM8.1bil, with 2.1 times capital invested.
“Additionally, there has been an increase of 28.1% in bumiputra management and 15.2% in bumiputra employees since Ekuinas’ entry,” said the company.
