KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 25): Shares in Taliworks Corp Bhd were down 1.69% after the government kicked off talks to take over several major highways in the Klang Valley area.

At 10:11am, the counter fell 1.5 sen to 87.5 sen, with 137,800 shares traded.

The counter is trading slightly below its one-year peak on Feb 21 this year of 91 sen, and above its one-year low on April 6, 2018, of 43.2 sen.

According to Bloomberg, the counter's consensus target price is RM1.06, with analysts posting two buy calls for the stock, one of which was on Dec 12, 2018, and the other on Feb 6 this year.

Taliworks owns and operates the Cheras-Kajang Expressway through its 51%-owned subsidiary Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd, with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) holding the balance in the subsidiary.

It also owns and operates the New North Klang Straits Bypass Expressway (NNKSB) that connects North Port to Bukit Raja, Klang. EPF also holds a 45% economic interest in the highway.

The drop in the group's share price follows reports that the government is in talks with Gamuda Bhd to acquire four major highways in the Klang Valley.

These highways are the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART Tunnel), Leburaya Shah Alam (Kesas), Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat (Sprint) and Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong.

The government had promised in the run-up to the 14th General Election that it would abolish tolls in phases.