M'sian top fund buys property stocks at 32% discount

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA's top-performing fund is buying the nation's property companies after a slump in shares left valuations at their cheapest level in at least seven years, relative to global peers.

Eastspring Investments Bhd has started "nibbling" on some of the stocks that have been beaten down on the prospect that the real estate industry will eventually recover, said Chen Fan Fai, the Kuala Lumpur-based chief investment officer. He declined to identify the companies that he is buying. The Bursa Malaysia Property Index is valued at 8.9 times 12-month projected earnings, a 32 per cent discount to the Bloomberg World Real Estate Index.