5 investor groups keen on MPIC

Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp., an active player in the administration’s public-private partnership program, has lured the interest of a number of foreign investment funds, a company official said.

MPIC has been approached by at least five investors during  a Philippine government-led  roadshow in the United States last month, according to Rodrigo Franco, president of unit Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), which operates the North Luzon Expressway.

He said the groups included Japanese and US-based investors that participated in the event, which the Philippines used to drum up interest for more than 40 major PPP deals worth about $18.1 billion, the PPP Center said.

MPIC, which owns the country’s biggest electricity retailer and has already won railway and tollroad PPPs, remains open to taking in investors but Franco said there was no urgency on MPIC’s part given the liquidity in the debt market.

He said talks were still exploratory. MPIC tollroad arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., which owns MNTC, has long signaled that it was seeking either strategic or financial partners to support projects in its pipeline.

MPIC has been taking a larger role in new infrastructure projects being launched by the administration.

Its tollroad group recently won the P35.4-billion Cavite Laguna Expressway PPP, after unit MPCala Holdings offered a P27.3-billion premium payment to the Philippine government. Last year, MPIC and partner Ayala Corp. won a P65-billion project to operate the Light Rail Transit Line 1 in Metro Manila and expand the line to Cavite province.

“They are interested in rails and roads. These are generally funds with infrastructure focus,” Franco said.

The government has already awarded 10 PPP contracts to the private sector valued at about $4.2 billion, the PPP Center said.
These include the Mactan Cebu International Airport, the country’s second-busiest gateway, and also non transport-related deals, such as the construction of new classrooms and the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center.