KUALA LUMPUR: None of the employees under the four highway concessionaires acquired would be left behind by Amanat Lebuhraya Rakyat Bhd (ALR).
ALR shareholders in a statement today said the company would acquire the concession companies – at an aggregate enterprise value of RM5.48 billion – together with all its existing infrastructure and assets, with the employees being one of the "most important strategic" assets.
ALR's shareholders and directors comprise Tan Sri Azlan Mohd Zainol, Datuk Idrose Mohamed, Datuk Soam Heng Choon, Datuk Dr Nirmala Menon and Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi.
The shareholders also said its proposal aimed to minimise the length of the concession extension required, and would return the highway concessions to the government once all its debts had been fully repaid.
Earlier this week, the not-for-profit private company proposed to acquire the four highways from their shareholders such as Gamuda Bhd, Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd, MMC Corp Bhd and Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor.
The four highway concessionaires are Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat Sdn Bhd (Sprint Expressway) and Syarikat Mengurus Air Banjir dan Terowong Sdn Bhd (Smart Tunnel) concessions, three years and nine months concession extension for Kesas Sdn Bhd (Kesas Expressway), and one year and nine months extension for Lingkaran Trans Kota Sdn Bhd (Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong).
ALR cited two "critical success factors" to facilitate the arrangement, the first being that ALR shareholders would not require any equity return and would not be entitled to receive any dividends.
"As a consequence, there is no need to prolong the concession period once all of ALR's debts have been fully repaid.
"Notably, as the existing vendors of the concession companies are commercial entities in nature, such 'non-profit' orientation is not viable under the current ownership structure. Hence, the proposal is for ALR to acquire the concession companies," the statement said.
It also said without the need to pay dividends to shareholders, the concession companies' cashflow after meeting operational needs could now be fully channelled towards supporting any debt financing obligations.
Given this dedicated cashflow profile, it added, ALR was expecting to receive a strong credit rating, allowing it to tap the capital markets to fund the acquisition, which included repayment of existing debts.
"To aid us in the sukuk issuance, we have appointed a consortium of reputable banks. For the avoidance of doubt, ALR is not seeking the government's financial assistance to guarantee its sukuk."
The shareholders explained that without any restructuring, the government would have to continue paying the burgeoning toll compensation to cover the gap between the toll charge and the entitlement of concession companies, or an increase in toll rates which would result in higher financial burden on highway users.
"The solution to such a situation is clear: the concession companies' toll rate entitlement needs to be set at the levels that highway users are currently paying which immediately eliminates any need for the government to pay compensation; and any risk of future toll hikes to the detriment of highway users.
"In any typical toll restructuring, the concession tenure would need to be extended to compensate for the loss in revenue for the concession companies and for the full repayment to the sukuk holders."
In the statement, the entity also clarified the involvement of its shareholders and directors, stressing that they were independent of both the government and existing shareholders of the concession companies.
It also said that they were not representatives nor nominees of any parties, and did not have any political affiliation, and expressed its commitment to upholding existing high standards of service, with priority on motorist safety.
"Given our personal conviction and belief on the merits of the proposal, where the country and its people would stand to reap the benefits as elaborated above, we have each voluntarily agreed to serve and assume such roles at ALR, which will act as the private sector intermediary to facilitate the transactions."
ALR also said it would ensure continued compliance with the regulations and requirements of the Malaysian Highway Authority and the respective concession agreements, and reiterated that its shareholders and directors were not entitled to receive any dividends or distributions from ALR.
It said once its mandate to return the concessions to the government was achieved, it was required by the government for ALR to dedicate its residual surplus, if any, to the furtherance of the continuing maintenance of highways and/or to the improvement of urban mobility.
"With humility, we hope that our collective track records in the public and private sector would be a testament to our affirmations above and our sincere intentions to facilitate the toll restructuring for the benefit of all stakeholders involved," it added.