Not interested – Khazanah’s reply on selling Plus highways

KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the majority shareholder of highway operator Plus Malaysia Bhd, has affirmed that it is not going to sell its strategic asset to any party.

Khazanah managing director Shahril Riza Ridzuan said the group had so far rejected all takeover offers it received from local and foreign private entities for the country’s largest highway operator.

“There are many offers from different parties… but our reply to all of them is very simple – we are not interested in selling,” he said in an interview with TV3 tonight.

Shahril Riza added that those parties made offers to buy Plus at a much lower price than its real value.

Shahril Riza Ridzuan, managing director of Khazanah Holdings Bhd.

“If you want to buy (an asset) from the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) or Khazanah, you should offer a fair market price,” he said.

The interested parties proposed to use the difference between the price paid and the real value as discounted toll to the people.

“If you want to give discounts, it should be from your profits, not from us,” said Shahril Riza.

Khazanah owns 51% of Plus while the remaining is owned by EPF. The highway operator was taken over in 2011 with a transaction value of RM32 billion.

He added that Khazanah as an investment arm of the government must ensure that strategic assets such as Plus are not sold to anyone who might only be interested in making profits without any consideration for the people.

“If Plus makes profits, it goes back to the government through Khazanah, or to Malaysians via EPF. So if you allow private parties to take over Plus, and those parties make a lot of profit, people are not going to be happy,” he added. - FMT