The Edge Malaysia – Prolintas obtains RM2.7b financing to restructure four highway concessions for IPO plans

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 January 2024

Prolintas Managers Sdn Bhd, wholly owned by Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas), has successfully obtained RM2.7 billion worth of financing to restructure four highway concessions it owns, paving the way for the listing of the respective concession companies.

The Prolintas group obtained the Tawarruq Asset Financing from Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd, according to a joint statement from the two entities on Thursday.

Prolintas said the financing is pivotal for the restructuring of the four highway concessions, namely the Ampang–Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH), the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE), Lebuhraya Kemuning–Shah Alam (LKSA), and the Kajang Dispersal Link Expressway (SILK).

"The Prolintas group has embarked on a concession restructuring initiative to ensure the sustainability and affordability of the highways, presenting lower rates to travellers through an extension of the concession period. This restructuring also lays the foundation for the listing exercise involving the concession companies," it said.

The IPO plan involves placing the concessionaire companies of the four highways into a business trust — the first listed highway trust in the country. This was revealed in a draft prospectus that the Prolintas group put up on the Securities Commission Malaysia's website in the fourth quarter of last year.

The Edge reported back in June that the IPO plan — mooted since 2017 — was back on track.

In November, The Edge further reported that the listing was expected to raise up to RM1.5 billion for Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), the ultimate owner of the highways, valuing the proposed highway trust at an estimated RM3.5 billion, which would make it the largest listing in recent years.

Citing sources, the paper wrote that the listing of PNB's highway assets came about following the government's approval for a change in shareholdings of the highways. The need to obtain the approval was what delayed the listing, it wrote. PNB declined to comment on the matter at the time.

In Thursday's statement, Prolintas group chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah said the group is pleased to partner with Bank Pembangunan for the financing initiative, which "aligns with the government's effort to ease the cost of living by reducing our toll rates".

"Bank Pembangunan's financing will help us to continue enabling access to support economic development, restructure our debt to make it more feasible while continuing to offer enhanced urban connectivity and realising our mission to become commuters’ routes of choice,” he said.

Bank Pembangunan group CEO Roni Abdulwahab said the bank's partnership with Prolintas exemplifies its commitment to delivering impact capital for national development, and its counter-cyclical role in bolstering long-term sustainable infrastructure investment.

"Given their integral role in the Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road system, these highways play a crucial part in linking communities to satellite cities and economic hubs in the Klang Valley," he added.