Earlier today, prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the toll rates for four highways in the Klang Valley will not be raised for the remainder of the concession period. The hike was supposed to be introduced on January 1, 2022, but has been deferred several times since.
Instead, it has agreed to restructure the concessionaires, namely Kesas Sdn Bhd (Kesas Expressway), Syarikat Mengurus Air Banjir dan Terowong Sdn Bhd (SMART Tunnel), Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat Sdn Bhd (SPRINT Expressway), and Lingkaran Trans Kota Sdn Bhd (Damansara-Puchong Expressway or LDP). The move will save the government at least RM4.3 billion in subsidies.
Now, each of the concessionaire had received conditional letters of offer from Amanat Lebuhraya Rakyat (ALR; a private and “not-for-profit” company mandated to assist the government with the restructuring). ALR is offering to acquire the shares of all four concessionaires, which has a total enterprise value of RM5.48 billion. The offers will remain open for acceptance until 5pm on April 30, 2022.
According to Gamuda, the equity value is derived after adjusting for net debt and current assets/liabilities of the respective companies. “Each of the Kesas offer, SPRINT offer, Litrak offer and Smart offer has been given by ALR on a standalone basis and is mutually exclusive from each other,” the filing said.
In May 2021, The Edge reported that Gamuda was in talks with the government to sell four of its highway concessions to a private highway trust. This was confirmed shortly after, with the sale – based on fair market value – set to go to an independent entity funded entirely by private debt capital markets.
It said in a statement: “We also affirm that the proposal involves keeping the current toll rates unchanged with no further increases, with a short concession extension in order to fully recuse the government from paying any compensation (as is legally required of them as per the current Concession Agreements) for keeping the toll rates as they currently are, for the entire proposal period.”
“In our proposal, the government would have no stake nor interest in the buying entity, and therefore need not spend any of its own monies in the acquisition and further, need not provide any government guarantee.”
In June 2019, under the previous Pakatan Harapan government, the finance ministry had offered RM6.2 billion to acquire the four toll concessions.
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“…with a short concession extension in order to fully recuse the government from paying any compensation..”
Enjoy your “short concession”.
The key point is not the concession extension but the freeze in toll rates. Paying toll is a matter of fact, how else will the highway managements maintain it?
Copy paste: “More highway collection is good for economy, lower national debt, more budget to hire more government servants to collect income tax from you”
Quite simply a GLC to takeover the ownership rights of these highways, similar how Najib used EPF to buyout PLUS, Federal Highway and few others. This helps them to freeze toll hikes throughout the many rounds of reviews.
Demi rakyat.
Now they should start back to abolish bulk subsidy system, but give subsidy direct to rakyat account.
Too much manipulation on current subsidy system.
hi Alan,
One of EPF best investment is in PLUS for yearly dividend payout. Just look at their annual report. So this is not a buyout.
Regardless of any type of company, as long as they have money, they want a piece of highway in klang valley. It’s a cash cow.
EPF profits from PLUS comes more from the volume of usage plus on top the compensation from Gomen in order not to raise toll rates.
In the case of ALR, the deal involves a fix sum paid to take ownership with no hike in rates as long as the concession still stands.