Grand Saga is an associate company of KPSB

Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has now only discovered that the Selangor State government indeed is a shareholder in Grand Saga, the highway concessionaire involved in the dispute at Bandar Mahkota Cheras. Selangor owned State corporation Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd owns 20% of Taliworks Corp Bhd who holds a 55% stake in Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd that wholly owns Grand Saga Sdn Bhd. As such, Taliworks Corp has the majority control over Grand Saga and KPSB is a substantial shareholder of Taliworks.

The question now is who owns the balance of the 80% of Taliworks Corp?

As reported in The Edge Daily on 17th July 2007, before the acquisition of a controlling stake in Grand Saga by Taliworks, Peak Synergy Sdn Bhd owns 44.45% of Grand Saga, Europlex Consortium Sdn Bhd (33.33%) and Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd (22.22%). Datuk Lim Ah Bak, Ahmad Ishak Haron and Minhat Mion were listed as substantial shareholders of the three holding companies.

The Lim family is the controlling shareholder of Taliworks. Datuk Lim Chee Meng owns a direct and indirect stake of 52.62% in Taliworks. Lim Chee Meng is the son of the late Datuk Lim Ah Bak.

As listed in the 2006 Annual Report, the single largest shareholder of Taliworks is Datuk Lim Chee Meng who holds 224,700,000 shares (direct and indirect); Datuk Hj Abdul Karim held 6,450,000 shares (direct and indirect); Datuk Wan Puteh holds 520,000 and Datuk Hj Mohd Sinon holds 225,000.

In July 2007, Taliworks acquired a 55% stake in Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd for RM107.8mil. Cerah Sama owns Grand Saga Sdn Bhd, which operates the 11.5km Cheras-Kajang highway under a concession that expires in 2027. Taliworks bought the controlling stake in Cerah Sama from Bunga Abadi Sdn Bhd, a company in which Lim has substantial shareholding.

According to Taliworks corporate information at www.taliworks.com.my Dato' Haji Abd. Karim Bin Munisar is their chairman and the CEO is Tuan Haji Abdul Rahman bin Hj. Siraj; Datuk Lim Chee Meng is its executive director who is also the director of Central Industrial Corporation Berhad.

The registered office of Taliworks as published in their website is Level 17, Menara Milenium, Jalan Damanlela, Pusat Bandar Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur. But according to their Annual Report 2006 the registered office is 10th Floor, Wisma Havela Thakardas, No. 1, Jalan Tiong Nam, Off Jalan Raja Laut, 50350 Kuala Lumpur; and their principal place of business is No. 28, Jalan Wan Kadir 1, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur.

In 1987, Taliworks was awarded the first water supply privatisation contract in Malaysia with the privatisation of the Operations and Maintenance of the 545 million litres per day (mld) nominal capacity Sungai Semenyih Water Treatment Works in Selangor.

Since then, Taliworks has expanded its core business in the privatised water supply sector to include the operation and maintenance of the Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Works Phase 1 (SSP1), which supplies to large parts of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, and the water supply and distribution system in Langkawi, Kedah.

There are two main companies in Taliworks, namely Sungai Harmoni Sdn Bhd and Taliworks (Langkawi) Sdn Bhd, which hold long term contracts for the privatised water supply operations above.

Taliworks currently manages a total of 6 water treatment plants with a combined design capacity of 1,039.5 mld that serve more than 2 million people in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Langkawi, Kedah.