KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan says it will be a “huge moral hazard” to let PLUS Malaysia Bhd be in the hands of the private sector.
He said from Khazanah’s point of view, PLUS is essentially a strategic national asset.
“It is an asset which, particularly, I think will be difficult to imagine in private hands, especially if a lot of the offers coming in are from private entities which just want to acquire the asset at a cheap price and still ask the government to guarantee them.
“I think that is a huge moral hazard in having private entities to hold such a strategic asset with the backing of government guarantees.
“I think basically it is in line with the thought that it is a strategic asset and PLUS’ highways should really remain in ownership of the Malaysian people,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2019 here today.
During an interview recently, Shahril said Khazanah 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, aired on Saturday night.
Khazanah owns 51 per cent of PLUS, while the Employees Provident Fund own 49 per cent, following a takeover exercise in 2011, in a transaction valued at RM32 billion.
Shahril added that as an investment arm of the government, Khazanah must ensure that strategic assets such as PLUS were not sold to parties whose only interest were in making profits, without considering the needs of the people.
“If PLUS is making profits, it goes back to the government through Khazanah, or to Malaysians via the EPF,” he added.