PUTRAJAYA will only allow PLUS Malaysia Bhd to be taken over by buyers who can guarantee to abolish toll, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said.

He said any other deal would negate the Pakatan Harapan manifesto to stop toll collection.

“Khazanah’s stance is clear. If it sells PLUS, can the buyer guarantee to decrease or abolish toll? Of course not.

“The private sector is profit-oriented and it wants something that can be profitable.

“We are not about profits. Khazanah and EPF want to serve road users,” he said in the  Parliament lobby today.

Earlier today Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said the sovereign wealth fund was “not in the mood” to sell its 51% share in the country’s biggest expressway toll company.

“We are not in the mood to sell the asset, and we actually don’t have any kind of bidding process going on,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Permodalan Nasional Bhd Corporate Summit 2019 in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said he agreed with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that all the offers that have been made so far were unattractive.

“Dr Mahathir has already mentioned that none of the offers is attractive. I’ll leave it at that.”

EPF owns the remaining 49% share in PLUS.

It was reported today that Widad Business Group Sdn Bhd has upped its offer to fully acquire PLUS at a total enterprise value of RM38.34 billion.

Other offers for PLUS have come from businessman Halim Saad, private equity fund RJR Capital and Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd. – Bernama, October 30, 2019.