By Syauqi Jamil
SUBANG: Selangor state owned Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) from today onwards will be taking over Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor (Splash) after agreeing to a buyout offer of RM2.55 billion.
Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari who witnessed the handing over of the offer letter ceremony explained that the amount offered was after a discount based on Splash net book.
“The RM2.55 billion payment is after a 28% discount based on Splash’s net book value on June 30, 2018 which stood at RM3.54 billion,” he said today after the ceremony.
The ceremony saw Air Selangor Chief Executive Officer Suhaimi Kamaralzaman handing over the offer letter to Splash Holdings chairman Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah.
Amirudin during his speech said that the offer was agreed upon after about a year of negotiations and is a very reasonable rate based on willing buyer, willing seller principles.
He said Air Selangor will be making an upfront payment of RM1.9 billion where the balance will be paid off in instalments within the next 9 years.
“The takeover will not involve any payment by the state government and will be done in a long-term payment,” he said.
However, Amirudin said the quantum and method of payment would be subject to changes in the next month and a half when the deal is finalised.
Yesterday, Amirudin said that former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his cabinet were the ones who forced the Selangor state government to purchase Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor (Splash) at RM2.7 billion.
He said this was the reason why Najib had mentioned the exact same figure when he supposedly revealed the state government’s plan to take over Splash.
He added, the figure was based on the evaluation made by a valuer appointed by the federal government who estimated the take over cost would be between RM2.7 billion to RM3.5 billion while the the evaluation made by an independent valuer appointed by the state government had estimated the cost to be between RM2.6 billion to RM2.9 billion.
Amirudin however said that the state government will be announcing a payout with a much lower price than the ones that have been set by the previous Barisan Nasional government
On Wednesday, Najib in his Sungai Kandis by-election campaign speech claimed that Selangor will purchase Splash in the next couple of days for RM2.7 billion.