The highway concessionaire is also owed about RM2.5 billion from previous compensation as at June 30.
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and UEM Group Bhd (UEM), which have proposed to privatise PLUS for RM23 billion, are also opening discussions with the government to restructure the toll concession agreement.
The deal to privatise PLUS could be completed within 8-12 months.
UEM Group MD Datuk Izzaddin Idris said that compensation has averaged about RM1 billion each year in the past but added that the compensation for the next five years was something that still has to be finalised with the government and could be less than RM5 billion.
“The compensation is a matter of discussion,” he told reporters at a briefing today.
Izzadin also described the offer of RM4.60 to PLUS investors as “fair” as it was a 14.7 per cent premium over the 3-month volume weighted average market price of RM4.01.
He also said that the UEM-EPF joint proposal had absorbed the risk of no toll increases for the next five years and had taken it into consideration.
EPF deputy CEO (Investment) Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said that he expects investment returns from PLUS to be higher than what EPF is getting from Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) but declined to be more specific in terms of numbers.
“It makes sense to achieve overall returns in excess of our current dividend yield,” he said at the same briefing.
He said that EPF took note of the number of bids that have emerged for PLUS in the past few months and took the opportunity to review the outlook for the asset in which it already has a 12.03 per cent stake.
Shahril added that the deal was structured in this manner because it would take a long time to accumulate PLUS shares on the open market and chose to work with UEM because it knows the toll concession business well.
“We’ve not been approached by other parties,” he said. “EPF has to take a conservative view.”
UEM Group and the EPF made a joint-offer to PLUS to acquire all its business undertakings including all assets and liabilities last Friday.
The proposed acquisition, to be satisfied by cash, would be through a co-investment vehicle with UEM holding a 51 per cent stake and EPF the rest.
UEM Group and its parent company, Khazanah Nasional Bhd collectively hold 55.25 per cent of PLUS, of which 15.02 per cent has been pledged against exchangeable trust certificates issued by Khazanah.
In a joint statement to the media, UEM and EPF said that the acquisition of all assets and liabilities of PLUS would lock in an investment with steady long term cash flows.
“EPF members will directly benefit from profits generated from highways,” said Shahril in the statement. “If successful, this will provide stable returns for our 12 million members retirement savings and we believe through the joint ownership by EPF and UEM, PLUS will be able to improve its financial performance further.”
Analysts were mixed on the joint offer with AmResearch saying it was a “fair exit price” for investors while OSK Research said RM4.80 to RM5.00 would be a fairer price.
