Puncak AGM turns ugly (6807)

Minority shareholders want money back from subsidiary Syabas
PETALING JAYA: The annual general meeting (AGM) of Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd
turned into a raucous affair as individuals claiming to be minority
shareholders of the company carried placards urging the company to seek
legal action to reclaim monies owned to it.
Speaking to the media after the three-hour long AGM, executive chairman Tan Sri Rozali Ismail said shareholders had asked Puncak Niaga to take legal action against its 70%-owned subsidiary, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), to claim an outstanding debt of RM1.09bil.
“All
this while, we did not take any action as Syabas is majority owned by
Puncak Niaga. But now we will be considering the options that had been
suggested by the shareholders,” he said.
He said the matter
would be brought up in Puncak Niaga's board meeting next week and would
also be discussed with the group's lawyers.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Read my lips: Representative of a group of Puncak Niaga minority shareholders G. Parameswaran speaks to reporters after the AGM. “We
respect the request from the minority shareholders who have been hoping
to get their dividends, and this should be given consideration and we
should take the next course of action,” he added.
Besides still
owing an outstanding RM1.09bil to Puncak Niaga, Syabas also owes monies
to two other water-treatment operators, namely Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd and Konsortium Abass Sdn Bhd.
The
debt was accumulated as a result from the non-revision of water tariff
rates starting from January 2009, which resulted in Syabas suffering
from acute cash-flow problems that affected its ability to make full
payment for water purchases from the three water-treatment operators.
Syabas
was set up to undertake the privatisation of water-supply services in
Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. However, it is now entangled in a
stalemate over the transfer of the state's water assets that has been
ongoing since 2008.
Puncak Niaga and Syabas have been part of a
tussle between the State and Federal Governments, with the State
Government pressing to buy over Syabas in a bid to restructure it,
before allowing it to be federalised under the Water Services Industry
Act 2006.
To recap, Puncak Niaga owns 70% of Syabas while 15% is held by Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd and the remaining 15% by Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd. The Federal Government, through the Minister of Finance Inc, holds one golden share in Syabas.
In
its annual report, Puncak Niaga said the Government's decision to
freeze the Syabas Capital Expenditure programme in July 2008 pending
the restructuring in the water services sector in Selangor, Kuala
Lumpur and Putrajaya had crippled its plans to refurbish, rehabilitate
and enhance water distribution infrastructure.
Rozali said he hoped the deadlock could be resolved as soon as possible by the relevant parties.
“We
don't want to repeat the water crisis that happened in 1998. There is
always a solution for every problem. We need to talk and make sure that
we can achieve a win-win solution. However, this is the difficult part
to achieve,” he said.
He also said the company would be
presenting a few suggestions to the National Water Services Commission
(SPAN) to tackle a water crisis should it happened.
“We should
know how to handle this and help consumers if there is a prolonged
draught. We will be meeting up with SPAN to discuss ways to solve this
issue on a short-term and also a longer-term basis,” he said.
Meanwhile,
G. Parameswaran, who was representing the minority shareholders of
Puncak Niaga, said should the chairman and board of Puncak Niaga choose
to not take any action against Syabas, the minority shareholders would
instead sue Syabas to protect their rights.
“For this, we will
approach the other minority shareholders of Puncak Niaga and garner
their support to requisite the board of Puncak Niaga to convene an EGM
to approve the shareholders' resolution to empower Puncak Niaga to sue
Syabas for the outstanding amount,” he said in a statement yesterday.
For its financial year ended Dec 31, 2011, Puncak Niaga recorded a net loss of RM83.72mil on revenue of RM2.59bil.