Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/582103
8 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 OctObEr 2015 News GO plc asks banks for advice on full sale by Dubai-based owners reuters reports that GO plc is asking for banks' advice on 'full sale' of telecoms company JurGen Balzan ReuteRs yesterday reported that telecoms operator GO has "in- vited banks to pitch for the role of advising it on the full sale of the company." Quoting "sources with knowl- edge of the matter," the interna- tional news agency carried a report in its daily brief on bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals of com- panies. GO is currently undertaking a restructuring process that in- cludes spinning off a subsidiary, Malta Properties while its parent company had previously said it would retain its stake in the new firm because it fitted with its strat- egy of focusing on real estate in- vestments. the report of a "full sale" comes after the company's majority share- holder, emirates International tel- ecommunications Malta Limited (eItML) informed its board of directors of its intention to seek to dispose of its shareholding in the company "in the short term." eItML – a subsidiary of Dubai- based emirates International tel- ecommunications LLC (eIt) – owns 60% of GO plc. In a stock exchange announce- ment in July, GO said it would be making further announcements as and when required by listing rules. In July, eIt - a unit of Dubai Holding, had also said that it had not yet approached or identified any buyer for its stake, and "has only just started the process of evaluating its options." eIt also owns 20 percent of the united Arab emirates' No.2 tel- ecommunications firm du and 35 percent of former monopoly tunisie telecom, according to its website. Dubai Holding is an investment vehicle owned by the emirate's ruler sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Its subsidiar- ies include hotel group Jumeirah and real estate developer Dubai Properties. In July's annual general meet- ing, GO shareholders endorsed the spin-off of a subsidiary, Malta Properties Limited (MPL), into a separate, and publicly listed, entity focused on the property manage- ment of various parcels of land de- volved to it by the government. Based on a recent report carried out by firm Architecture Project, MPL's property portfolio, cover- ing 11 different sites, is valued at nearly €53 million. "the spin-off of MPL will allow GO to focus on its main business of communication while MPL fo- cuses on maximising long-term value for our shareholders from the Company's extensive property portfolio," MPL chief executive Nikhil Patil said. As a result of the MPL spin-off, all GO shareholders will receive exactly the same number of shares in the new entity as they currently own in GO. A representative from HsBC Malta plc asked the board of direc- tors during the eG whether it was eItL's intention to also dispose of the shares in the spin-off compa- ny. Chairman Deepak Padmanab- han, who is appointed by eItML, replied that issues of shareholder intentions would not be answered by the board of directors. Observers were surprised at the speculative question from a repre- sentative of a leading financial in- stitution, since it is not customary for HsBC to participate actively in the general meetings of other listed companies. Government to launch 'tidal system' pilot project to address traffic jams Extraordinary Parliamentary debate held following opposition's proposal to discuss traffic crisis MiriaM Dalli A heated discussion between the two sides of the House during the time allocated for parliamentary questions led to the government and opposition to agree on an im- promptu debate on the congestion of traffic. Just 15 minutes before yester- day evening's parliament sitting started, the Opposition presented a motion urging the House to dis- cuss the issue. During the PQ time, Justice Min- ister Owen Bonnici said he was "amazed" at how the motion pre- sented by the Opposition "lacked proposals". Off mic, Prime Minis- ter Joseph Muscat was heard tell- ing Opposition leader simon Bu- suttil that he was ready to hold the discussion immediately. Busuttil instantly accepted the call, even though no vote was taken last night. During his intervention, Muscat announced that the government would embark on a pilot project - known as the 'tidal system'. the project would see lanes opening up in one direction, and then the other, according to the demands of traffic. "For example, a road could have three lanes pointing south and one lane pointing north in the morn- ing, and the reverse in the after- noon," Muscat said. Insisting that his government was "serious" about addressing the traf- fic problem, Muscat acknowledged that "there is an increase in cars on the road and there are also more infrastructural projects underway – both private and public." In the conspicuous absence of transport minister Joe Mizzi, who is abroad on official business, Mus- cat warned that the traffic problem will continue to grow "if we don't act now." Muscat agreed with the opposi- tion's calls for a holistic plan, how- ever, he said, "I also ask, where was this plan for the past 25 years? We are starting from zero." Muscat said the country needed better roads and improved infra- structure to cater for the cars. He added that more parking spaces were necessary, but conceded this would further encourage the use of cars. While pointing out that the in- frastructure was not up to stand- ard he underlined the importance of road works such as the one at Coast Road and the planned works for the Kappara and Marsa junc- tions. "Works on the Kappara junction will create further inconvenience. so what do we do? We discard the works?" he asked. Muscat also pointed out that there was a problem even with how the contract department issued contracts for road works: the same contractor would apply for differ- ent works, win multiple contrac- tors only for that same contractor working at a stretch to keep up with the works. He also said that a tax rebate promised in Budget 2015 for par- ents who make use of school trans- port "was taken up by operators". Noting that an average of 40 cars were bought every day over the past two years and a half, Muscat announced that government will address a number of issues relating to traffic in next week's budget. 'Traffic is people's top concern' In his intervention, opposition leader simon Busuttil stressed that traffic "is not a perception, but a reality and our citizens' main concern."Noting that the extent of the traffic problem meant that commuters spent 10 hours per week stuck in traffic, Busuttil said government was being criticised because of the worsening situation. He said that instead of imple- menting its roadmap, government "jammed traffic" and lambasted government's failure to improve the maligned public transport system. Insisting that Busuttil public transport remained a joke, Buisut- til said "ask the commuters them- selves whether the service has im- proved." Lashing out at government pro- posal to wake schoolchildren one hour earlier to avoid rush hour, the opposition leader said this exposed "a rift" between education minister evarist Bartolo and transport min- ister Joe Mizzi. Busuttil said the opposition had created a working group to come up with forward-looking proposals to solve the transport problems. Booed by government MPs after suggesting further ways to encour- age the use of bicycles, said "we are giving this issue political priority." 'Sorting out Austin Gatt's mess' Opening the debate, Bonnici spoke about alternative methods of transport and said that the govern- ment is sorting out the mess left by former Nationalist transport min- ister Austin Gatt. "But a missed opportunity re- mains a missed opportunity. We could have addressed this problem four years ago … I believe that alter- native means of transport remains the solution." Bonnici said people who attended the Notte Bianca event on satur- day were encouraged to make use of public transport. the use of the ferry was extremely popular. "We should strengthen the sea transport between Valletta and sliema," Bonnici said, adding that this was another "missed opportu- nity" PN motion In its motion filed yesterday, the opposition called for a parliamen- tary debate on the ever increasing traffic problem, the lack of traffic management, and its impact on the country. In the motion, presented by dep- uty leader for parliamentary affairs Mario de Marco, the PN also called on the government to acknowledge the traffic problem and to imple- ment a plan for traffic manage- ment. the Opposition said the traffic problem was now the source of in- convenience for businesses, and was reducing competitiveness, increas- ing environment, social, health, lo- gistical and mobility problems. It cited a recent study by the Insti- tute for Climate Change and sus- tainable Development, that tagged the cost of traffic in 2020 at €89 million for accidents, €15.3 million in air pollution costs, €51 million in climate change costs, and €151 million in wasted time due to traf- fic jams. GO Chairman Deepak Padmanabhan addressing the shareholders during the annual general meeting