Marubeni buys into Maynilad

MANILA, Philippines—The Japanese trading giant Marubeni has finalized a deal to buy a 20 percent stake in Maynilad Water Services Inc., coming in as a strategic partner of the Metro Pacific-DMCI consortium.

The deal trims the economic interest of infrastructure holding firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. in Maynilad by 4 percentage points to 52.8 percent and DMCI Holdings, by 16 percentage points to 25.24 percent, said a joint statement disclosed by the two local companies to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Marubeni is buying into Maynilad through an affiliate and will acquire a stake of 21.54 percent in DMCI-MPIC Water Co., the joint venture holding company which will hold 92.85 percent of the shares in Maynilad.  This translates to a fifth of the economic interest in the operating unit Maynilad.

“This minor reduction in our economic interest in Maynilad allows us to expand the shareholder roster as we take Maynilad to the next stage of development through significantly increased investment in sewage and waste water management. I believe Marubeni will be a valuable addition to the MPIC/DMCI partnership which has been so successful to date in delivering expanded and improved clean water… to millions of people in our concession area,” MPIC chair Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

Isidro Consunji, president of DMCI added: “Marubeni has been a strong partner of DMCI for many years. Its entry into Maynilad will help us gain access to Marubeni’s technical and engineering expertise as well as to Japanese financing institutions, thereby assisting in the further development of Maynilad.”