MPIC expects to sell 20% stake in MPTC within two months

METRO PACIFIC Investments Corp. (MPIC) is in advanced talks to sell about 20% of its stake in Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) to help reduce the latter’s debt, its chairman said.

MPIC Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said the company has narrowed the list of potential buyers to one.

“We’re down to the short strokes,” Mr. Pangilinan told reporters on Wednesday.

MPIC currently owns 99.9% of MPTC. Its tollway projects include the North Luzon Expressway and the Cavite-Laguna Expressway. The company has earmarked P35 billion for its capital expenditures this year for various projects.

Mr. Pangilinan said the stake sale is part of a plan announced in January to raise P30 billion to P50 billion through a private placement to reduce MPTC’s debt.

Asked about the timeline for the private placement, Mr. Pangilinan said he expects to close the deal within the next two months.

MPTC accounts for half of MPIC’s P64.99 billion in short-term debt and the current portion of its long-term debt as of end-2024, MPIC Chief Financial, Risk, and Sustainability Officer Chaye A. Cabal-Revilla said in a separate briefing.

Earlier this month, Mr. Pangilinan confirmed that MPTC has deferred merger talks with Ang-led San Miguel Corp. to focus on raising funds to reduce debt.

Mr. Pangilinan hopes the merger can be completed within the year but said there is no definite timeline for its completion.

In September last year, MPIC signed a deal with Mit-Pacific Infrastructure Holdings Corp. (Mit-Pacific) for a share buyback and exchangeable bond issuance.

Under the agreement, MPIC will buy back 4.58 million common shares owned by Mit-Pacific, equivalent to a 7.3% stake in MPIC, reducing Mit-Pacific’s ownership in MPIC to 7.8%.

Additionally, MPIC will issue P11.9 billion worth of exchangeable bonds to Mit-Pacific, which may be converted into 1.5 million MPTC common shares.

If Mit-Pacific opts to exchange the bonds for MPTC shares, it will acquire a 6.6% stake in MPTC along with a board seat in the tollways company.

Mit-Pacific is a joint venture between Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. for Transport & Urban Development.

MPIC is one of the three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., alongside Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.

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