Kuala Lumpur: Khazanah Nasional Bhd said 2016 will continue to be challenging for the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund after a “rollercoaster” year which saw its assets decline amid turmoil in financial markets.

The net asset value of Khazanah’s investments fell 1.6 per cent to 109 billion ringgit (Dh91.3 billion, $24.9 billion) at the end of 2015 from 110.7 billion ringgit a year earlier, the company said in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday. The local stock benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index slid 3.9 per cent in 2015.

Khazanah owns stakes in some of Malaysia’s biggest listed companies, whose shares have dropped as global investors pulled 19.5 billion ringgit from the country’s stock market last year. The country’s wealth fund increased investments in 2015 and accelerated plans for billions of ringgit worth of projects as part of government efforts to add stimulus to the economy.

“It was a rollercoaster year for markets and currencies,” Managing Director Azman Mokhtar told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. “We are in this period of volatility and uncertainty but from a position of relative strength.”

Investment portfolio

The ringgit slumped about 19 per cent in 2015 — falling to a 17-year low — amid domestic political turmoil, falling oil prices and a sell-off in emerging-market assets. Khazanah’s portfolio ranges from Malaysian power and commodity producers, to the nation’s largest banks, telecommunication and transportation companies.

The fund said pretax profit fell to 1.2 billion ringgit in 2015 from 3.2 billion ringgit a year earlier. It paid a dividend of 1.05 billion ringgit to the government, up from a previously reported 900 million ringgit in 2014.

Khazanah made 23 investments worth 8.7 billion ringgit in 2015 and gained 2.9 billion ringgit from 10 divestments. It sold a majority of its holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and will continue to make “thematic divestments” to realise gains, Azman said.

Khazanah had about 19 per cent of its portfolio of companies based outside of Malaysia as at the end of 2015. The company invested in an undisclosed stake in global travel search engine Skyscanner for a combined 128 million pounds ($185 million) along with other partners, according to a statement this week.