KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is buying a 40 per cent stake in Duta–Ulu Klang Expressway (Duke) concessionaire from Ekovest Bhd for RM1.13 billion.
The country’s largest pension fund yesterday signed a deal to buy the stake in Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (KL) Sdn Bhd (Kesturi) from Ekovest’s wholly-owned Nuzen Corp Sdn Bhd.
The definitive sale and purchase agreement would be sealed in 30 days, said Ekovest in a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
When the sale is completed, the EPF will pay RM921 million cash as part payment to Nuzen and RM60 million for the Duke Phase 2.
The EPF will also pay RM149 million cash to Nuzen subject to the achievement of pre-agreed targeted returns in the event of certain exit scenarios.
It was acquiring two million shares of RM1 each and 18 million redeemable preference shares of RM1 each held in Kesturi, said Ekovest.
A total of 1.44 million new RM1 shares will be issued by Kesturi at RM100 each upon completion of a proposed capitalisation exercise to be undertaken by Kesturi.
The capitalisation exercise relates to the outstanding 3,601 series B redeemable preference shares in the capital of Kesturi which is now held by Ekovest Construction Sdn Bhd.
Ekovest had bought a 70 per cent stake in Kesturi in 2012 in a RM325 million share-swap deal.
In 2014, Ekovest bought the remaining 30 per cent interest in the Duke concessionaire from Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd for RM230 million.
The 18km Duke has been operating since April 2009 while Kesturi’s original 34-year toll concession is scheduled to end in August 2039.
However, Kesturi signed a supplemental concession agreement with the government in December 2012 to implement Phase 2 of Duke, which will add two links spanning a total of 16km at a cost of RM1.12 billion, based on the figures provided on the Duke portal.
The links, the Sri Damansara Link and Tun Razak Link, are expected to be completed by year-end and have a toll concession that runs until 2059 which may be further extended by 10 years subject to terms and conditions.
There is another extension previously called Duke Phase 3, but this 32.1km project, reportedly to be completed by 2020 at an estimated cost of RM3.9 billion, has been renamed the Setiawangsa-Pantai Expressway.
The expressway comes with a 53½-year concession, but the project was said to be undertaken by a special purpose vehicle under Nuzen rather than by Kesturi.
Ekovest shares, which were suspended from trading yesterday pending the release of the announcement, have risen more than 15.2 per cent so far this month and was last traded at a five-year high of RM1.97.