Crown Equities to sell controlling stake in Hopewell

Publicly-listed Crown Equities Inc. (CEI) is selling its controlling stake in subsidiary Hopewell Crown Infrastructure Inc. to Northeast Development & Acquisition Corp. (NDAC) at a still undisclosed price.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, CEI said it has entered into a memorandum of agreement with NDAC and expects the deal to be concluded today (Feb. 27). No other details were given by the company and CEI officials could not be contacted for comment as of presstime.

Hopewell Crown is a strategic company formed by the Hong Kong-based Hopewell Holdings Ltd. and CEI in 1997.

It has a joint venture agreement with the Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) for the rehabilitation, expansion, operation and maintenance of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) from Alabang to Sto. Tomas, Batangas. The project, estimated to cost P29 billion, will be financed through a combination of debt and equity.

PNCC is the government-owned arm which holds the franchise to operate the SLEX as well as the North Luzon Expressway.

The tollway project stretches from the Alabang viaduct, passing through Calamba, Laguna; Sto. Tomas, Batangas; Lucena, Quezon; and ending at Pagbilao, Quezon.

However, Hopewell Crown’s inability to provide the financial requirement of the project was one of the reasons in the failure of the supplemental toll operations agreement (STOA) to meet the approval of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

The approval of the TRB, the supervising agency for the tollway project, is a requirement for giving Hopewell Crown concession rights over the project.

Hopewell was earlier looking at sourcing additional funds from financial firms. These firms included Citra and Ayala Corp., which considered investing P25 billion in the South Luzon road network.

CEI is a Filipino-owned publicly listed investment holding company with special focus on infrastructure, property and healthcare. It has investments in diverse fields including financial services, real estate, shelter development, tollway infrastructure and healthcare.