KAPB chairman Ilyas Mohamed confirmed this to the media today, saying the deal was signed more than a year ago but details will be finalised by June.

“It was delayed because of Covid-19,” he said, adding that the 51% stake was partly obtained from the finance ministry and from the Mulia Group.

While he could not reveal the amount of money involved in the takeover of the stake, Ilyas said: “It was a fantastic deal.”

Asked how KAPB could afford to raise the money for the takeover, he simply said KAPB raised the funds through its members.

“The building was completed two years ago and is now 30-40% occupied. Because of Covid-19, it’s a little slow.

“Once we get all the important financial centres in, the rest will follow,” he said at a press conference after an event at the TRX skyscraper here today.

The Minister of Finance Inc (MOF Inc), via its wholly-owned unit MKD Signature Sdn Bhd, took over 51% of the shareholding in Mulia Property Development in July 2017.

In 2018, it was reported that the finance ministry and Mulia would jointly develop the skyscraper, which was completed a year later.

Asked about the decision to take over the stake in view of the glut in office space lately, Ilyas said the perception among foreigners would change if Malaysians did not talk bad about the nation’s economic situation.

He also said Putrajaya should start giving more incentives for local businessmen to invest domestically.

“There are a lot of them (local businessmen) who don’t want to invest in Malaysia. Why? (There’s) no direction.

“So the government has to start giving locals the incentive to start. We cannot do all this as businessmen, the government has to do it.”