NLEX Corp gears for bond market foray

A tollroad unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is hoping to tap the bond market, eyeing an initial entry sometime this month or the next.

Rodrigo Franco, president and chief executive of NLEX Corp., said in a press briefing last week that they were just waiting for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) nod for its P25-billion offering.

Last March, the company disclosed its plans to tap the bond market to raise up to P25 billion, which would be offered in several tranches. Under its registration with the regulator, the bond market foray would be spread over three years.

“The initial tranche would be P4 billion, with [an] option to increase to P6 billion,” he said.

He said the schedule would depend on how soon they could get the necessary approvals, but was eyeing “May or June.”

MPIC, the holding firm, plans to spend P60 billion to P70 billion on projects this year.

In a separate disclosure to the local bourse last week, MPIC said consolidated core net income grew by 16 percent to P3.6 billion in the first quarter from P3.1 billion in the same period last year.