$625M Pinai fund to attract more investments

A bridge in Mindanao serves as a lifeline for impoverished upland farmers. The Asian Development Bank believes that the Philippines will attract more foreign private equity funds (PEFs) once the country activates its own $625-million infrastructure fund. ADB PHOTO

The Asian Development Bank believes that the Philippines will attract more foreign private equity funds (PEFs) once the country activates its own $625-million infrastructure fund.

Under the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (Pinai), a pool of resources will be drawn from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), a unit of the Macquarie Group, APG Asset Management, and the ADB itself.

GSIS will contribute the most with $400 million, while ADB will provide $25 million. The two foreign firms will account for the rest.

Once it becomes operational, the government may tap the Pinai fund to finance some of its priority infrastructure projects.

“[Pinai fund] is anticipated to generate a development impact well beyond the initial investment by leading to the launch of additional PEFs in the country, attracting additional foreign capital, and further developing domestic capital markets,” ADB said in a paper on the Pinai fund.

ADB said that with the Pinai fund, foreign PEFs would gain more confidence to do business in the Philippines.

The development bank said that private sector investments in public infrastructure could reach 4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product with the disbursement of the Pinai fund.

“Equity direct investments create a significantly higher multiplier effect as new capital attracts additional investment and financing in underlying investments,” ADB said.

Spending for public infrastructure in the country is below 3 percent of GDP, below the 5-percent average for Southeast Asia.

Insufficient infrastructure is often cited as one of the key reasons why the Philippines lags behind its neighbors in the area of attracting foreign direct investments.