KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Putrajaya is postponing its forcible acquisition of Selangor’s water utility firms as three out of four companies have now agreed to Selangor’s original buyout offer as part of the state’s ongoing water restructuring exercise.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim both confirmed that Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB) and Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (ABBAS) have agreed to the state government’s takeover plan.

“The federal government has decided to postpone the enforcement of Section 114 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Wasia) as there no need to enforce it on Selangor’s water utility firms. This decision is also supported by the Selangor government,” the joint statement from the federal ministry and state government read.

According to the statement, the buyout for PNSB will cost the state government RM2.47 billion, RM3.11 billion for Syabas and RM990 million for ABBAS.

The statement said that the total buyout price of RM6.57 billion for the three companies was in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed by both Putrajaya and Selangor back in February.

The agreement signed between Selangor and Putrajaya in February stated that the state would take over the four water concessionaires operating in the state — Syabas, PNSB, ABBAS and Splash.

Only the state-owned ABBAS accepted the offer by the time it had expired on March 21.

Splash rejected the offer outright, while PNSB and its subsidiary, Syabas, said they were willing to “consider” the state’s offer on several conditions.

The companies had wanted higher pay-outs, stipulating a 15 per cent return on equity instead of the 12 per cent offered. They also want to be compensated in full for not putting up water rates.

“The Selangor government is still prepared to carry on with the takeover of equities, assets and liabilities of Splash if its shareholders agree to the price offered by the state government on February 26,” the statement added.

*Note: The joint statement had misstated the agreed amount to be paid to Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd as RM900 million, which was carried in an earlier version of this story. The erroneous figure has since been amended.