Gov’t to again try selling 20 percent stake in tollway firm owned by MVP

The government will again try to dispose of its minority stake in Tollways Management Corp. (TMC), owned by tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, early in 2020 after failing to do so this year.

The Privatization and Management Office (PMO), an agency attached to the Department of Finance (DOF), invited offers for the negotiated sale of 76,000 common shares, or 20 percent, of the government’s stake in TMC.

The minimum base price is still P2.578 billion as approved by the Privatization Council when the shares were offered from March to April this year.

Gerard L. Chan, chief privatization officer, had said “no bidder showed up” at the previous offer.

Prospective buyers have between Jan. 27 and Feb. 21, 2020 to accomplish and submit the requirements—letter of intent, notarized confidentiality agreement and a non-refundable fee of P50,000 to the PMO.

The deadline for submission of offers is on March 16, 2020.

The highest bidder would still be “subject to a right-of-first-refusal process by the existing stockholders of TMC,” the PMO said.

TMC, which operates and maintains toll roads, is a subsidiary of NLEx Corp., which is in turn a subsidiary of Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

NLEx Corp. is the builder-concessionaire and operator of North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

Edited by TSB