By Kang Siew Li / The Edge Malaysia
18 Aug 2025, 03:30 pm
This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 11, 2025 - August 17, 2025
UEM Group Bhd chairman Datuk Hisham Hamdan recently joined Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) board of directors as a representative of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, following the airport operator’s privatisation earlier this year, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Hisham, who currently serves as chief investment officer at Khazanah, joins MAHB’s newly reconstituted board along with UEM Group managing director (MD) Datuk Amran Hafiz Affifudin.
Hisham brings over three decades of experience spanning portfolio management, conglomerates and business units while Amran had previously served as Khazanah’s executive director and head of Malaysian investments and was on MAHB’s board from September 2023 to its delisting from Bursa Malaysia.
Shahrizal Mohd Suffian, head of strategic human capital management at Khazanah, also joined the board, marking the sovereign wealth fund’s representation at MAHB with three seats.
These appointments come after Gateway Development Alliance Sdn Bhd (GDA) — a consortium led by Khazanah via UEM Group and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) — completed a RM12.3 billion takeover of MAHB in February, valuing the company at RM11 per share. The consortium also includes the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
Hisham (left) and Amran are expected to help MAHB make swift decisions as a private company. (Photo by UEM Group Bhd)
MAHB’s revamped board now comprises 11 directors, with seven appointed by GDA. The board also features chairman Dr Nungsari Ahmad Radhi and MD Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani, one representative each from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Ministry of Transport, along with two representatives from EPF and two from GIP.
Before its privatisation, the MAHB board also comprised 11 members, including an alternate director.
The provident fund is represented by CEO Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn and its chief investment officer Rohaya Mohammad Yusof, sources say.
GIP is represented by deputy chairman and founding partner Michael McGhee and Philip Marc Iley, a partner and the firm’s global head of transport investments, the sources add.
McGhee, a veteran of the transport sector, led GIP’s £1.5 billion (RM5.7 billion) acquisition of Gatwick Airport in 2009 and the purchase of London City Airport earlier in 2006. Today, GIP operates airports through its investments in Gatwick Airport, London City Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Sydney Airport.
According to GIP’s website, McGhee has been with the international infrastructure investment firm since its inception in 2006 and leads its transport investment teams across airports, ports and freight rail. He is based in London.
Prior to joining GIP, McGhee was MD and global head of transport and logistics in the investment banking division of Credit Suisse from 1998 to 2006. He had previously served as MD and head of transport at BZW, which was once the investment banking division of Barclays Bank plc, between 1990 and 1998.
Iley, also London-based, sits on the boards of several GIP transport portfolio companies, including VTG Rail, Peel Ports Group Ltd and Italo. He had previously been on the boards of Gatwick Airport and Signature Aviation Ltd.
Iley had joined GIP in 2016 from Credit Suisse and Barclays, with two decades of experience in M&A, IPO and privatisation deals across airports, ports, rail and toll roads.
Following its privatisation, Khazanah and EPF collectively hold a 70% stake in MAHB, with ADIA and GIP owning the remaining 30%. The Malaysian government retains a golden share via MoF Inc. MAHB operates 39 airports across Malaysia and the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye.
The restructured board has been meeting since March, aiming to steer MAHB through a transformation under private ownership.
In the past, MAHB had faced criticism for being slow to make decisions. One such decision involved replacing the aerotrains at Terminal 1 of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which have been in service for 27 years. After more than two years of upgrading works valued at RM456 million, the aerotrain service finally resumed operations on July 1.
In an interview with The Edge Malaysia in May, Nungsari attributed such delays to frequent changes in top management and board composition, which disrupted governance and operational momentum. The group has had five CEOs or MDs and four chairmen over the past decade.
Addressing the pace of decisions post-privatisation, Mohd Izani said in a July 18 media briefing: “Yes, I would hope so (decisions will be faster) now that we are a private company. That’s also the reason why we took MAHB private — to enable more effective implementation of our strategic plans.”
Source: https://tinyurl.com/5n7bvzb6