All conditions fulfilled, Selangor water deal to be done by Oct 15

PETALING JAYA: Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd (PNHB) has received confirmation that all conditions precedent in the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for the Selangor water takeover deal have been fulfilled and satisfied.
In a stock exchange filing yesterday, PNHB said it was also given confirmation by Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) that the RM1.55 billion water agreement will be completed by Oct 15, 2015.
With Air Selangor’s endorsement, the eight-year saga on the water assets transfer in Selangor will finally come to an end.
Last month, PNHB executive chairman and managing director Tan Sri Rozali Ismail threatened to terminate the water deal if it was not completed by Oct 15. Rozali, who holds a stake of just over 40% in PNHB, also threatened to sue Air Selangor.
The stop date for the water deal had been extended eight times to enable pending issues related to the water asset transfer between the state government and the federal government to be resolved.
The last extension for the stop date was given on Sept 14 and the due date was Oct 15.
Under the master agreement, Puncak Niaga will hand over its subsidiaries – Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) – to the state government’s Air Selangor in return for RM1.55 billion in cash.
Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd (PNSB) holds five water treatment concessions with the Selangor government while Syabas has the concession to distribute water in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.
Negotiations on the restructuring of the water services had dragged on since February 2008 before the SPA was finally signed between PNHB and Air Selangor on Nov 11, 2014.
However, the SPA was not completed and resulted in a delay in the completion of the entire consolidation of the Selangor water industry by the federal government and the Selangor government.
AmResearch said in a recent report that PNHB intends to pay out RM534 million, or RM1 per share on a fully diluted basis, as cash dividends when the deal is completed.
It said PNHB’s prospects hinge on the utilisation of the RM1 billion proceeds for either oil and gas, or plantation ventures.
PNHB’s share price was up 1.08%, or 3 sen, to RM2.82 yesterday, with 711,000 units traded.