EPF has no plans to exit toll highway operator PLUS

KAJANG: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has no plans to dispose of its 49% stake in highway operator PLUS Malaysia Bhd.
EPF CEO Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said the pension fund has also not received any offer or interest from anyone for the purchase of PLUS.
It was reported that corporate tycoon Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamad, via his flagship Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd, is looking to buy up both the 51% share held by UEM Group Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, as well as the 49% held by EPF. Abu Sahid was reported to have met Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar to discuss a possible acquisition from the state-controlled investment arm.
“At this point in time, we’re happy with PLUS. It has been performing well as an investment. From our point of view, PLUS has continued to deliver a fantastic service to its users and there’s a big investment by us and Khazanah as shareholders into the highway expansion in Klang Valley.
There’s no particular reason why we want to think about disposing of it,” Shahril told a press conference after signing a partnership agreement with International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITC-ILO) yesterday.
Earlier, he said the partnership will pave the way for the joint development and implementation of future training activities in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. EPF will be providing learning infrastructure via the EPF Learning Campus (ELC) in Kajang. 
EPF first collaborated with ITC-ILO in August 2016 and ITC-ILO has chosen EPF and Malaysia as the partner in facilitating learning and knowledge in social security and retirement issues for Asean. 
“EPF, through our collaboration with ITC-ILO and other global agencies, has over the last one year provided training for more than 1,000 participants in Malaysia and the region,” said Shahril.
EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said this partnership will allow it to tap into the reservoir of global expertise and is only the first of many more initiatives to come in furthering EPF’s agenda in addressing the needs of an aging society as well as the social security challenges presented by the gig economy. 
It intends to leverage on more of such collaborations in the future while putting Malaysia on the map as the regional centre of excellence for social protection.
The ITC is the training arm of the ILO, a United Nations agency entrusted with promoting social justice, including internationally recognised human rights and labour standards. Among the programmes that will be offered in ELC are labour migration; social dialogue, tripartism and labour law; and social protection. The target audience who would benefit from future programmes range from government ministries, non-governmental organisations, social welfare agencies, research institutions and the academia.
Established in 1964 in Turin, Italy, as an advanced vocational training institute, the ITC-ILO has since matured into providing high-level in-service training and runs more than 450 programmes and projects for 12,500 people from over 190 countries each year.