METRO PACIFIC INVESTMENTS CORP. is raising P12 billion from the sale of nine-year debt notes to fund its acquisition from the Lopez family of additional shares in Manila Electric Co.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Friday, MPIC said its board approved the issuance of fixed-rate corporate notes in one or more tranches to selected institutional investors. The notes will be backed by 163.6 million Meralco shares equivalent to a 14.7-percent stake in the utility.

MPIC has mandated First Metro Investment Corp. and PNB Capital and Investment Corp. as joint issue managers and joint lead underwriters; Metrobank-Trust as facility agent, paying agent and debt service account agent, and PNB-Trust Banking Group as collateral trustee.

Selling debt through corporate notes to institutional investors is generally a faster way of raising funds compared to a retail bond offer.

MPIC had matched a P300-a-share buyout offer made by a group led by Henry Sy Jr. to the Lopezes’ First Philippine Holdings Corp., which was selling half of its remaining stake in Meralco. The P22-billion transaction will bring up MPIC’s interest in Meralco to 21.4 percent from 14.7 percent. The PLDT group, which is likewise led by First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong, owns another 20 percent of Meralco.

With the combined MPIC and PLDT interest in Meralco to be raised to 41.4 percent, the group has cemented its position as the single-biggest voting block in the power retailer, which has been the darling of the stock market since the start of the year owing to the bidding war by rival corporate groups.