Keppel delivers higher asset monetisation as it gears up for next phase of its transformation

FUND manager and operator Keppel has delivered higher asset monetisation in 2024 despite the challenging market, said chief executive officer Loh Chin Hua in a New Year’s message to employees on Wednesday (Jan 1).

Keppel has unlocked US$1.5 billion through its asset monetisation programme, higher than the S$950 million monetised in 2023.

“We have indeed made considerable progress in our ongoing transformation from a diverse industrial conglomerate into one horizontally integrated business; from a balance sheet player to an asset manager funding growth with funds under management (FUM); and from lumpy trading and order book profits to recurring income,” said Loh.

FUM has grown to S$85 billion by mid-2024, up from S$55 billion at the end of 2023. Keppel remains on track to hit the interim FUM target of S$100 billion by the end of 2026 or earlier.

Centralising and digitising operations has helped Keppel achieve its target of S$70 million in recurring annual run-rate cost savings two years ahead of schedule. Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) will take significant roles in the company’s efforts to enhance efficiencies, generate insights and improve investment processes and operations.

“To help accelerate our growth, we are developing the Keppel AI Platform, affectionately called KAI, to promote digital adoption of cloud and AI solutions across our operations and private funds,” said Loh.

Even as the geopolitical landscape becomes increasingly polarised, Keppel is banking on the demand for digital connectivity infrastructure such as data centres and subsea cables to grow. The company’s portfolio consists of 35 data centres across Asia-Pacific and Europe with a total power capacity of 650 megawatt (MW).

There are plans to expand the data centre portfolio by over 500 MW to a total of 1.2 gigawatt, with an additional S$10 billion FUM growth in Keppel’s data centre funds. The recent strategic framework agreement with Amazon Web Services spans globally across data centres, subsea cables and renewable energy. This is a sign that Keppel is seen as more than just a data provider but an ecosystem player providing power, green energy, cooling and connectivity.

“It also opens doors for future partnerships with other global technology leaders to strengthen our ecosystem that aims to provide sustainable infrastructure solutions for AI, for both training and inference workloads, and eventually, quantum computing,” said Loh.

A more challenging environment with geopolitical tensions and conflicts is expected in 2025, but Loh said Keppel will continue to perform well. Tailwinds from energy transition, digitisation and AI, as well as growth from alternative real estate assets should push the company forward.