Metro Pacific hungry for more agri firms after Carmen’s Best purchase

Manuel Pangilinan-led infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is taking another bite in the agriculture segment, months after buying the Carmen’s Best ice cream and dairy group from the Magsaysay family.

Pangilinan said they signed an initial agreement for an unnamed agriculture investment, which they hope to conclude in a few months.

Commenting on the deal size, Pangilinan said it was “not small.”

The businessman is deploying more investments in agriculture following the P200-million acquisition of Carmen’s Best, an integrated dairy business.

In a separate statement, Pangilinan said such broader move was aligned with the company’s goal to maximize “opportunities and enabling solutions to urgent societal challenges.”

“Looking ahead, we will be focusing on unlocking further opportunities in agriculture in the hopes of helping to address our country’s food security aspirations,” he said.

This came as Metro Pacific said on Wednesday it would keep its 2022 core profit growth guidance of P14 billion, an increase of 13.8 percent over last year, on robust financials in the nine months to September. Metro Pacific is a major player in utilities and infrastructure with portfolio companies such as Manila Electric Co. and Maynilad Water Services Inc., toll roads such as North Luzon Expressway and Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway, the Light Rail Transit Line 1 and private hospitals.

Core profits from January to September rose 25 percent to P11.8 billion.

“Improved financial and operating results of the constituent companies delivered a 17-percent increase in contribution from operations, mainly driven by a strong recovery in toll road traffic, growth in power consumption, and increase in billed water volumes,” Metro Pacific said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday.

The company also underscored a 7-percent decline in interest expenses amid a sharp increase in rates for the year. During the period, power accounted for 58 percent of net operating income; toll roads at 26 percent; and water at 15 percent. The remainder came from real estate, hospitals, fuel storage and light rail. —Miguel R. Camus INQ