KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has received MMC Corp Bhd's bid to acquire UEM Group Bhd and is presently studying the proposal, said Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar.

"A decision will be made in due course," Azman said at the sidelines of Khazanah's Megatrends Forum 2010 yesterday.

He added that the Khazanah board had some discussion on the matter last week.

"PLUS Expressways Bhd is a strategic asset of the country and belongs to all Malaysians as it is a critical infrastructure provider for the country. Hence, there are various issues that we have to work out with the regulators such as toll rates. PLUS is also listed company," Azman said.

He added that the Government would not simply sell national assets on the basis of "value and financial status of the bidder".

To a question, Azman said any bids for PLUS would be studied fairly quickly. "We know the asset well. So, we can evaluate what someone else wants to do," Azman said.

He also noted that other bids had to be looked at as well "but there is also the status quo option, which the country should also consider because Khazanah is owned by everybody."

Meanwhile, sources said MMC`s offer for UEM Group included an undertaking to keep toll rates at PLUS at current levels until the end of the concession period, without the need for an extension of the said concession period.

MMC also hoped to include the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) as part of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) taking over UEM Group, at a price tag of around RM15.6bil, one of the sources added.

The SPV is said to be led by MMC (40%), with EPF and PNB each holding 30%.

On Monday, MMC confirmed speculation that it did indeed submit a proposal to buy UEM Group. It said that it proposed to lead a consortium for the acquisition but added that to date it had not yet approached the EPF or PNB for this purpose.

A key asset in the UEM Group stable is a 38.5% stake in PLUS. Khazanah, which owns UEM Group, also holds a direct 16.7% stake in the toll road concessionaire.

Listed companies within the UEM Group include Faber Group Bhd, UEM Land Holdings Bhd and Time Engineering Bhd. UEM Group also owns UEM Builders Bhd, Opus Group Bhd and Cement Industries of Malaysia Bhd, companies which it privatised a few years ago.

According to UEM Group, it has more than 40 major operating companies, including eight public companies listed in Malaysia and overseas. Its website listed the group's shareholders' funds at over RM7.9bil while its net assets as at Dec 31, 2009 stood at about RM12.3mil. Total assets stood at RM31.1 bil.

MMC, the flagship of Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, is understood to have submitted its proposal to the Finance Ministry in August.

PLUS had recently also been the target of Asas Serba Sdn Bhd, a privately-held company which is the vehicle of Datuk Syed Md Amin Aljeffri and Ibrahim Bidin, who are former executives of the Renong group.

Asas Serba's proposal, which was submitted to the Government in May, entailed a proposal to pay RM50bil for 25 toll highways. It said that it would end toll rate increases and help the Goverment save RM114bil in compensation payments until 2038.

- TheStar.com