Gov’t extends bidding cutoff for stake in toll operator

The government has given interested buyers more time to submit their offers for a stake in Manny V. Pangilinan-led Tollways Management Corp. (TMC).

In a general negotiation bulletin dated Feb. 26, chief privatization officer Gerard L. Chan said the deadline for submission of offers was extended to March 20 instead of the earlier announced March 16.

The Department of Finance-attached Privatization and Management Office (PMO) is selling 76,000 common shares or 20 percent of the government’s issued and outstanding common shares in TMC. It retained the same price tag as last year when “no bidders showed up”: P2.578 billion.

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

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

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

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