KUALA LUMPUR (May 7): Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd (UJSB) - a special purpose vehicle established under the Ministry of Finance to rehabilitate, restructure and monetise underperforming assets transferred to it from Lembaga Tabung Haji - has emerged as a substantial shareholder in Prolintas Infra Business Trust.

UJSB on May 2 acquired 300,000 units in Prolintas Infra, a Main-Market listed trust that owns four highways in Klang Valley.

This purchase lifted UJSB’s shareholding in Prolintas to 55.04 million shares, or 5.003%, making UJSB the third largest shareholder in Prolintas Infra, behind Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (PLKH) with its 51.02% stake, and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) with its 6.18% stake.

PLKH is wholly-owned by state-controlled asset management company Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), which carved out four of its six highway concessions and injected them into the business trust for listing. This way, the business trust’s dividend payout would not be constrained by accounting profit or loss, it had said.

Prolintas Intra, which made its market debut in March as the first business trust on Bursa Malaysia at an initial public offering price of 95 sen, closed flat on its maiden trading day. The counter closed unchanged at 97 sen on Tuesday, two sen or 2.1% higher than its IPO price, valuing the group at RM1.07 billion.

Its four highways include the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Lebuhraya Kemuning-Shah Alam and Sistem Lingkaran Lebuhraya Kajang. They have an average remaining concession period of about 32 years.

The four highways collectively recorded a wider net loss of RM256.95 million on cumulative revenue of RM228.57 million for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2023, due to impairment and amortisation of highway development expenditures.

A year earlier, the four highways posted a collective net loss of RM9.6 million on the back of RM285.32 million revenue.  

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/node/710682