Maybank Eyes ASEAN Infrastructure Market Worth US$110 Bln A Year

From Siti Radziah Hamzah SINGAPORE, April 15 (Bernama) -- Maybank aims to tap opportunities in the ASEAN infrastructure market worth US$110 billion (US$1=RM3.89) per year, said its Group Head of Global Banking Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir. He said estimates by the Asian Development Bank indicated that the region needed US$110 billion annually until 2025 in infrastructure spending. Maybank will be focusing on water, power, renewable energy, wastewater, transport, airport and highway infrastructure projects within the region during the period. The fourth largest bank by assets in Southeast Asia is currently working on infrastructure projects worth US$15 billion in ASEAN this year, in different aspects of its capacity. "(This is) in terms of project size and not what Maybank is funding. Our capacity in assisting those projects include as arranger and adviser," he told reporters on the sidelines of Invest Asean 2016 here, Thursday. The financing of these projects is helped by ASEAN's underleveraged position, which provides room for the bank's balance sheets to expand. Asked whether the bank was interested in assisting the Pan-Borneo Highway project in east Malaysian state of Sarawak, Amirul Feisal said: "As one of the largest banks in Malaysia, obviously we will consider looking at it." Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd Chief Executive Officer John Chong said the investment bank expected ASEAN governments to spend US$84 billion for infrastructure projects in 2016. Out of this, some US$24 billion would come from Indonesia, followed by US$20 billion (Vietnam), US$14 billion (Singapore) and US$9 billion from Malaysia, he said. The Philippine government would likely spend US$15 billion as the nation's forthcoming elections would provide a new impetus for spending, he added. Meanwhile, Thailand's spending is set to be small at US$3 billion this year but ramping up to an average of US$9 billion annually till 2020, according to Maybank Investment Bank's research titled "ASEAN Infrastructure: The New Old Thing". "A large part of ASEAN is under-built and with increasing population and urbanisation, the region is feeling the push to spend on infrastructure. "We see a lot of potential in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as parts of Indochina, and some of these projects are already in our pipeline of deals," said Chong. Themed "ASEAN's Next Wave: Building the Infrastructure of Opportunity", the two-day Invest ASEAN 2016 attracted over 1,000 delegates from 12 countries. A total of 48 corporates from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam with total market capitalisation of US$94.5 billion and 307 global funds participated in the event. -- BERNAMA