Gov’t ready to sell 50% SCTEx stake to MPTC for at least P20B

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is willing to sell to the Metro Pacific group its 50-percent stake in the country’s longest highway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), for more than P20 billion—an amount that will enable the government agency to extinguish debts while registering a windfall.

BCDA President and CEO Joshua Bingcang said tycoon Manuel Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) had expressed intent last week to buy out the shares held by the government-owned and -controlled corporation in the 93.77-kilometer expressway.

Their 30-year concession—eight years of which had been realized—sets a 50:50 revenue sharing from the tollway operations.

“[For] the remaining 22 years, they want to prepay all the projected future shares of BCDA,” Bingcang said in an event in Tarlac on Friday.

The parties created a technical working group to come up with the appropriate valuation for the transaction, which is targeted to be finalized by next month.

READ: SCTex shows us how infra should be built

In estimating the figure, Bingcang said they wanted a number that would benefit the public.

Baseline offer

“The point is: we should come up with a good price for the government. We intend to contribute whatever revenues we will raise for that arrangement with Metro Pacific to the national government,” he explained.

In particular, he noted that the amount of P20 billion—the baseline of the offer—represented the balance of the loan that the government had obtained from the Japan International Cooperation Agency for the construction of the infrastructure. Bingcang said the proceeds would ensure that the government would have enough in its coffers to pay the debts.

But he stressed that any additional amount would sweeten MPTC’s offer given that the BCDA was receiving a P1-billion profit share annually from the SCTEx operations. The BCDA official hinted that such a share in revenues was poised to grow given that traffic volume projection was also on the rise.

Cavitex deal

“I was told that if the right price will be offered, then the government can consider this seriously,” Bingcang said.

In a related development, MPTC also has a standing offer to acquire the 10-percent share in Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) held by Public Estates Authority Tollway Corp. (PEATC), a unit of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).

READ: Cavitex operator wants peaceful settlement of dispute with PRA

But the parties are currently in dispute as PEATC filed a petition to fully control not only the expressway management but the toll fee collection as well. The PRA unit argued that MPTC no longer had the authority to handle Cavitex operations after the expiration of its operations and management agreement in 2021.

MPTC’s portfolio also includes the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), NLEx Connector, Cavite-Laguna Expressway, and Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.