Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd has acquired i-VCAP Management Sdn Bhd via its wholly owned subsidiary Kenanga Investors Bhd (KIB) following approval by the Securities Commission of Malaysia.

i-VCAP is a Shariah-compliant investment management services provider primarily focused on Islamic exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The acquisition follows a year after Kenanga Group’s first foray into the ETF space where OneETF by Kenanga, Malaysia’s KLCI-linked leveraged and inverse ETFs was introduced together with its strategic partner Yuanta Securities, an ETF provider in Asia.

Kenanga said that this deal is the financial group’s second bolt-on purchase of an asset management business within the last 14 months, following the acquisition of Libra Invest Berhad, a fund management arm of ECM Libra Financial Group Bhd, in 2019.

The group has been actively participating in joint ventures, acquisition exercises as well as strategic stakes within synergistic businesses including a small stake acquisition in Merchantrade, a Malaysian digital money services business operator and e-money issuer.

“The ETFs market is one of the fastest growing segments in asset management. A number of long-term macro trends, including the increasing use of passive vehicles and the driving force of digitalisation will lead to a growing demand for ETF products.

 

The acquisition further expands our ability to build better, more diversified portfolios through our product capabilities across the group, and enhances the range of solutions available.”

said Datuk Chay Wai Leong, Group Managing Director of Kenanga Investment Bank.

“i-VCAP’s ETFs business is highly complementary to OneETF by Kenanga as we foresee that it will broaden our geographical reach, product suite and investment expertise, enabling us to provide more solutions to help clients achieve their investment objectives. The exercise adds depth to the company’s ETFs and Islamic product offerings as well as accessibility to the US market.

 

Simultaneously, KIB is set to leverage upon this opportunity to further build on its existing ETFs business with a higher degree of economic scale for a more diverse range of ETFs by working with its partners, regulators and other service providers to drive the ETFs and Islamic capital market.”

said Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, Chief Executive Officer of KIB.