Metro Pacific raises P8.64B to finance infrastructure projects

INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDING firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. has raised P8.64 billion in fresh funds for its expansion program from the sale of shares through a “top-up” private placement.

MPIC sold 2.4 billion shares at P3.60 each to investors in Asia, Europe and the United States in a stock placement managed by CLSA Ltd. and JP Morgan Securities Ltd.

The placement price represented a 1.1-percent premium to MPIC’s 30-day volume-weighed average closing price.

Principal stockholder First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong announced Friday that its local affiliate, Metro Pacific Holdings Inc., had participated in the share placement by subscribing to 1.19 billion MPIC shares valued at P4.29 billion. It now has a 58.6-percent stake in MPIC.

“We have been telling our shareholders and the wider investment community for many months now that MPIC remains a major focus of investment for First Pacific because of the Philippines’ great need for investment in infrastructure and the government’s strong commitment to public-private partnership to meet this need,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, First Pacific managing director and chief executive officer.

Metro Pacific said in a statement it would use the proceeds primarily in its toll road businesses in the Philippines. It has submitted an unsolicited bid to the government for a project connecting the two main expressways linking the capital to northern and southern provinces.

The company is also looking to get state contracts for the development of road and rail networks and airports across the country which the government wants to pursue under a public-private partnership scheme.

Pangilinan, who is also chair of MPIC, said the share placement was “timely following closely on recent progress on its objective of seeking new toll roads to invest in as well as expanding its current road network.”

“This undertaking prepares us for the planned expansion of our toll roads businesses that will bring us closer to realizing our vision of connecting the North Expressway to the South into one seamless highway,” Metro Pacific president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim said.

Trading in MPIC was suspended for 30 minutes yesterday to give investors time to digest news on the private placement. It immediately fell after the suspension was lifted. MPIC fell as much as 6.6 percent in early trade after it announced the share sale and later pared its losses to P3.63, down 4.2 percent at mid-session.