Last updated on August 23, 2025
KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has been steadily increasing its shareholding in YTL Power International Bhd, alongside major shareholder YTL Corp Bhd, in what market watchers see as a clear endorsement of the utility and infrastructure group’s earnings resilience and long-term value potential.
Bursa Malaysia filings show active accumulation in recent months. On Aug 6, EPF purchased 45 million shares, raising its stake to 9.24 per cent, followed by another 2.67 million shares on Aug 7 and 6.49 million on Aug 8, bringing its interest to 9.31 per cent.
In YTL Corp, EPF regained substantial shareholder status on Jan 8 this year with a 5.03 per cent stake after acquiring six million shares at RM2.65, having exited the list in April 2023. As of Aug 12, its holding stood at 8.09 per cent, or 924.96 million shares. YTL Corp’s share price closed flat at RM2.57 today, compared with RM2.65 at the start of the year.
Analysts said EPF’s buying spree reflects institutional appetite to leverage price consolidations and fortify strategic positions in counters with stable cash flows, defensive earnings, and consistent dividends — criteria YTL Power meets with its diverse portfolio in power generation, water and sewerage, and rapidly expanding data centre operations at home and abroad.
The company’s growth prospects are further supported by the global energy transition, rising infrastructure demand in the region, and emerging opportunities in digital infrastructure. Year-to-date, YTL Power has gained 17.76 per cent, from RM3.66 on Jan 2 to RM4.22 on Thursday.
From a technical perspective, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd expects YTL Power to break out of its consolidation pattern, with initial resistance at RM4.47 and RM4.74, and a stop-loss at RM4.04.
Adding to its high-growth appeal, YTL AI Labs — a YTL Power unit — this week launched ILMU, Malaysia’s first fully homegrown large language model trained on local languages, datasets, and culture. Touted as the top Malay LLM, ILMU matches the performance of global peers and forms part of YTL Group’s RM20 billion AI investment drive aimed at building sovereign AI capabilities and accelerating national digitalisation.
EPF’s deepening stake reinforces market sentiment that YTL Power offers a rare combination of dependable yields, defensive earnings, and exposure to transformative growth sectors.
