National sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd has clarified that it has not sold any shares in CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.

The sovereign wealth fund issued the clarification following a report in The Edge Financial Daily today which stated that Khazanah had sold a 3.45 percent stake in the banking group, valued at an estimated RM1.7 billion.

Khazanah said the shares were transferred according to securities lending agreements that it had entered into with CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd and JP Morgan Securities PLC respectively, in relation to an exchangeable bond issued recently.

"The exchangeable bond will not have a dilutive effect on CIMB’s earnings per share.

"The issuance of exchangeable bonds is part of Khazanah's regular financing activities. Since 2004, we have issued 10 exchangeable bonds," it said in a statement today.

CIMB stated in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday that Khazanah had disposed of 335,702,654 shares.

An amended filing was made today by the banking group, which now states that the shares have been "transferred".