Bursa Malaysia Bhd chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar said the stock exchange operator will only move its 'front office', not its entire operation, to the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) to provide visibility and branding for Bursa Malaysia at TRX. (Photo by Zahid Izzani/The Edge)

KUALA LUMPUR (July 30): Bursa Malaysia Bhd (KL:BURSA) will only move its “front office” to the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), not its entire operation, according to its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar.

The front office, Wahid said, includes the stock exchange operator's marketing segment which will provide visibility and branding for Bursa Malaysia at TRX. Beyond that, “bulk of Bursa Malaysia’s operations will remain in the current headquarters,” he said.

“We are actually happy where we are. I think this is actually a good premises that we own and it serves our purpose. But when there is the potential to create TRX as the Kuala Lumpur financial centre, we received the proposition from the owner of the building for us to actually move there,” said Wahid.

Wahid was the chairman of Permodalan Nasional Bhd when the fund manager was constructing the Merdeka 118 — the world’s second tallest building.

Speaking to the media, Wahid said Bursa Malaysia’s presence in the TRX will make the development which is dubbed Malaysia’s International Financial Centre, more meaningful.

“So I think it is actually an interesting proposition,” he added.

Last month, Bursa Malaysia confirmed The Edge Malaysia weekly’s report published for the week of June 17-23, 2024, that it is in final negotiations with the developer of The Exchange 106 at TRX to move its headquarters there.

Bursa Malaysia currently occupies a 16-storey office building in Bukit Kewangan, Kuala Lumpur.

“We are positive on the suggestion, we just have to work out the economics to make sure that it works for us. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that the cost of moving will be minimal. But overall, as a package, it should be beneficial to Bursa Malaysia,” Abdul Wahid added.

According to him, the negotiation is still on-going.

In the bourse filing dated June 18, Bursa Malaysia revealed that it will likely occupy two storeys of The Exchange 106 if the discussion with Mulia Property Development Sdn Bhd materialises.

TRX, which has a gross development value of RM40 billion, was conceptualised as the financial and business hub of the Klang Valley. Completed in 2019, TRX has 2.5 million sq ft of net lettable area (NLA).

The asking rent for TRX is estimated to be between RM10 and RM14 per sq ft, making it the highest in the country for office space, according to Knight Frank Malaysia’s Real Estate Highlights 2H2023 report.