KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): The government is expected to come to a decision on who to sell highway operator PLUS Malaysia Bhd to.

Thus far there are four bidders, Tan Sri Halim Saad and his partner Datuk Wong Gian Kui, Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd which is the vehicle of businessman Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed, Tan Sri Muhammad Ikmal Opat Abdullah of the Widad Business Group Sdn Bhd and brothers Richard and Charles Ong of RRJ Capital.

At present Halim and Wong are the front runners with a bid of some RM7 billion which entails the acquisition of Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s 51% and the Employees Provident Funds 49% in PLUS, with no extension to the existing concession agreement which is slated to end in December 2018. How much of a discount he is offering is unclear but sources say it could be in the region of 25%.

All the bidders are said to have good political connections, and seem to have accumulated the requisite financials to take over the multi billion ringgit asset held by PLUS.

In the mix is a plan by the Ministry of Finance to take over Gamuda and its 43.56% publicly traded unit Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd’s highways---namely, the Shah Alam Expressway (KESAS), Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP), Sprint Expressway (SPRINT) and SMART Tunnel (SMART) for RM6.2 billion, but this flies in the face of the existing plan for the government to hive off PLUS to help pare down high debt levels.

So which route will the government take, sell PLUS or buy Gamuda’s assets, and if the former is selected who will be the victor to bag PLUS?

We look at the four bids and the merits and demerits of each bid and asked the bidders why they feel they deserve to win PLUS.     

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