KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 2): Highways are considered prized assets, yet it is understood that a number of highway concession groups are believed to be up for sale for various reasons. 

In some cases, the parent company of the highway concessionaire is stretched, having incurred huge debts for the infrastructure project. In others cases, the traffic numbers have been underwhelming, resulting in poor toll collections. 

For example, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has come out to say that it is looking at several options for its stake in Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas), while MEX II Sdn Bhd, the concessionaire for the Maju Expressway extension, has been put under receivership after the company defaulted on its RM1.3 billion debt papers in December 2022. Meanwhile, Ekovest Bhd (KL:EKOVEST) is looking to list Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (KL) Sdn Bhd, the operator of the Duta-Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway (DUKE) Phase 1 and 2. 

While these are the assets known to be undergoing corporate exercises which may result in shareholding changes, there may be others as well.    

Corporate executives point to the changing fortunes of highway concessionaires from being an investors’ darling to becoming quite a risky asset to own, owing to the over saturation of highways, especially in the Klang Valley.

Mismanagement, and possibly even corruption, cannot be discounted either as a reason some of the urban highways are facing tough times.

In our cover story this week, we look at whether highway assets are becoming less attractive to investors and why. 

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