Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) expects to arrive at a decision “soon” on the second offer of right of first refusal (ROFR) that it received in relation to TAV Havalimanlari Holding AS’ offer to acquire Limak Holding AS’ 40% stake in two airports in Turkey for €285 million (RM1.18 billion), said its managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.

“Our investment overseas has always been a long-term investment, and as such, we will be deliberating this issue soon,” he told reporters after awarding six retail outlets to bumiputera entrepreneurs to operate in klia2 in Sepang, Selangor.

To recap, the Turkey-based airport operator TAV on Sept 16 made MAHB the first ROFR offer to acquire the stakes in Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport Investment Development and Operation Inc (ISG) and LGM Havalimani Letmeleri Ticaret Ve Turizm AS (LGM) from Limak.

Following the lapse of the first ROFR offer on Oct 1, TAV issued the second ROFR offer on Oct 2, which will expire 10 business days after that.

Meanwhile, MAHB hopes the government will increase funding — which also means more staff — for agencies such as the Royal Malaysian Customs and Immigration Department in Budget 2015 to improve its airports’ operational efficiency, particularly in klia2.

On occupancy rates at klia2, MAHB commercial services senior general manager Faizah Khairuddin targets to grow the number of outlets from 138 currently to 175 by year-end.

“Our occupancy rate at this moment stands at some 80% and it is enough to cater to 25 million passengers that we are receiving currently. The number of outlets will increase in tandem with the number of passengers, which we project to grow to 45 million, as our operation matures,” she said.

For the eight-month period to Aug 31, passenger traffic at both KLIA and klia2 increased 6.1% to 32.28 million from 30.42 million in the same period a year ago, while total passenger movements at all MAHB airports rose 7.9% to 54.63 million from 50.63 million previously.

Faizah added that MAHB targets to increase bumiputera outlets in klia2 from 35% currently to 50% by 2018.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 9, 2014.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share