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What Did FashionValet Do Now? Many Angry Over PNB & Khazanah’s Multi-Million Ringgit Loss

What Did FashionValet Do Now? Many Angry Over PNB & Khazanah’s Multi-Million Ringgit Loss

Khazanah and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) sold off their minor shares in FashionValet, receiving RM3.1 million in return from the RM47 million it invested in 2018.

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Why is Fashion Valet (FV) mentioned everywhere for the past few days? It’s because a large investment in the company gave diminishing returns.

Around March 2018, Khazanah and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) invested a combined RM47 million in FashionValet. Khazanah contributed RM27 million while PNB gave RM20 million to acquire minority stakes.

Fast forward to Tuesday (29 October), Khazanah and PNB have sold off their shares in FashionValet and received a meagre RM3.1 million from the sale.

According to The Edge, FashionValet has been loss-making for the past three consecutive years. Twitter user @Alturkistiano said that FashionValet lost RM127 million since 2022.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said the sale is a “responsible exit” for both investing arms. After all, Khazanah is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with the aim of growing Malaysia’s wealth while PNB is a Malaysian investment management company that was founded in 1978 as part of Malaysia’s New Economic Policy.

MOF added that the losses incurred from the stake sale were minor when compared to Khazanah and PNB’s overall earnings for the year.

This did not sit well with many Malaysians and one of the burning questions was why PNB and Khazanah decided to invest in a fashion company from the get-go.

MOF defended Khazanah’s investment, saying it aligned with the company’s mandate to support local tech entrepreneurs and gain exposure in the growing e-commerce sector.

Malaysians were further enraged when FashionValet founder Vivy Yusof, posted on Instagram with the caption, “Trust in the journey.” Vivy also founded the companies dUCK and LILIT which are considered FashionValet’s house brands.

Screenshot of Vivy Yusof’s Instagram post.

Malaysians criticised Khazanah and PNB for making a bad financial decision for the country and urged the authorities to investigate the investment decision. They wanted to know where the money went.

They also wondered why Khazanah and PNB did not pull the brakes when FashionValet was making huge losses. The issue also made some wonder whether it was an intentional decision to fatten up a crony’s pocket and essentially steal from taxpayers.

Meanwhile, another Twitter user, Emmanuel (@esshimself), pointed out that at least Singapore’s Temasek Holdings held itself accountable when the investment went awry.

When Temasek’s investment in the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange went downhill, the team took a pay cut. However, the Khazanah and PNB teams seem to have received no reprimand whatsoever.


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