DMCI entices partners to boost bid for Maynilad

Construction giant DMCI Holdings Inc. remains interested in Maynilad Water Services Inc. as it eyes majority ownership in a consortium to bid for the Lopez-owned water utility firm.

At the sidelines of the company’s stockholders meeting yesterday, DMCI president Isidro Consunji said that while the company has yet to conduct due diligence on Maynilad, management has started negotiating with prospective partners, both local and foreign, to provide the needed financial muscle to outbid its rival suitor, the Ayala Group.

Consunji said DMCI may take a 60-percent stake in the consortium depending on how negotiations turn out.

"We’re talking to as many parties as we can. Ayala kalaban. Mahirap tapatan yon," Consunji said.

DMCI submitted a letter of intent to Benpres Holdings Corp. last April 1 on its bid to acquire the Lopez firm’s 59-percent-owned subsidiary Maynilad.

It was willing to invest an amount in Maynilad equivalent to the amount required under the water utility’s rehabilitation plan to pay off between $50 and $60 million worth of liabilities to creditor banks.

With almost P2 billion in cash from the sale of shares in coal mining subsidiary Semirara Mining Corp., DMCI is looking at new investments this year to further improve cashflow.

Consunji said DMCI is awaiting approval by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court of Maynilad’s revised rehabilitation plan prior to conducting due diligence audit on the utility firm’s balance sheets and financial reports.

As of January this year, Maynilad’s liabilities were estimated at P18 billion and its assets placed at no less than P2 billion.

West Zone concessionaire Maynilad supplies water to some 11 million customers in Metro Manila and adjacent municipalities and cities.

The Ayala consortium, which also includes the ING Group, has said it is prepared to undertake the rehabilitation of Maynilad.

A Filipino-French joint venture, Maynilad is 59 percent-owned by Benpres, the local flagship of the Lopez family while about 20 percent is owned by Ondeo, a French multinational affiliated with Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, and 20 percent by Lyonnaise Asia Water Ltd.

The shareholders of Maynilad, its creditors and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System have been negotiating the terms of the restructuring of Maynilad’s debt and equity. MWSS and Maynilad’s creditors have also reportedly considering allowing the entry of a reputable private investor to run Maynilad.