Taliworks eyes highway concession business

Wednesday June 11, 2008
Taliworks eyes highway concession business
By FINTAN NG
The Star

PETALING JAYA: Water resources concessionaire
Taliworks Corp Bhd is eyeing a more meaningful role in the highway concession business following its acquisition of a stake in
Sunway Infrastructure Bhd (SunIn fra), the operator and owner of the 37km Kajang SILK Highway. A source with knowledge of the deal said
Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd acquired a14% stake in
SunInfra, equivalent to 25.48 million shares, at 21 sen a share or RM5.34mil.
Cerah Sama is
55%-owned by Taliworks and
35%-owned by Singapore-based South East Asian Strategic Assets Fund (Seasaf). Filings with Bursa Malaysia showed the stake was acquired on June 2.

According to its website,
Seasaf was launched in March 2006 with a mandate to invest in energy, infrastructure and natural resources sectors in South-East Asia.Its Malaysian investments include
US$8.1mil in International Medical University and
US$29.1mil in Malakoff Corp Bhd. It has also committed to invest a further
US$14.5mil in Metal Reclamation Bhd while it has invested
US$20.4mil in Cerah Sama.

Taliworks currently manages six water treatment plants with a combined design capacity of 1.04 million litres of water per day that serves more than two million people in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi. Through
Cerah Sama subsidiary
Grand Saga Sdn Bhd, it is also the owner and operator of the 11.5km Cheras- Kajang Highway.

The source said through the stake acquisition,
Taliworks hoped to have a more meaningful role in the management of tolled highways in Malaysia and the surrounding region in the years to come.
“Taliworks intends to use
Cerah Sama to build a portfolio of tolled highways in Malaysia and the Asean region and the shareholders have the intention to list Cerah Sama in seven years,” he said.
The acquisition of the SunInfra stake comes on the heels of a failed takeover bid by Infra Bumitek Sdn Bhd, which already owned 65.09 million shares, or 36.16%, of the company that it acquired on Feb 27 for 17 sen per share.
Infra Bumitek had, via a mandatory takeover offer on April 8, offered to acquire the remaining 114.91 million shares, or 63.84%, of SunInfra for 17 sen per share and warrants at 0.01 sen each but shareholders were advised by brokerage PM Securities Sdn Bhd to reject the offer because SunInfra shares had been trading above 17 sen since last October.