MPIC secures P10-B loan for capex

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the tollways and infrastructure conglomerate chaired by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, has secured P10 billion worth of loans from two local banks for its projects.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday (PSE), MPIC said it entered into separate agreements to secure loan facilities in the aggregate amount of P10 billion.

“Proceeds of which will be used by MPIC to finance its investment in various projects and for other general corporate purposes,” it said.

The loan agreements are 10-year fixed-rate term loans of P5 billion each from BDO Unibank and Union Bank of the Philippines.

Sought for comment, MPIC chief financial officer David Nicol said the P10 billion loans form part of next year’s budget.

“It’s all part of funding our 2018 budget and mainly for tollroads and rail,” Nicol said yesterday.

MPIC is preparing to spend P100 billion next year, higher than the P94 billion programmed for 2017.

Over the next five years, the conglomerate is looking to undertake P653 billion worth of projects to hitch a ride on the Duterte administration’s Build Build Build infrastructure program.

MPIC would fund the capex through a combination of debt and equity.

Of the amount, projects for power would get the largest share at P380 billion, followed by toll roads at P125 billion and rail at P70 billion.

Apart from the committed projects MPIC is also pursuing other prospective projects on biogas, logistics and toll roads worth another P167 billion.

If these prospective projects push through and are added to the group’s committed capital outlays, MPIC is looking at a capital spending of P820 billion for its various infrastructure-related ventures.

The conglomerate also joined a super consortium of seven conglomerates, which plans to submit an unsolicited proposal to develop the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Aside from MPIC, other conglomerates in the consortium are Alliance Global Inc., JG Summit, Filinvest Land Inc. , Aboitiz Equity Ventures and LT Group.

MPIC’s businesses are tollways, hospitals, water, power and rails, among others.