Metro Pacific Tollways eyes loans for P36-billion expansion

MANILA, Philippines - Aside from its planned share sale, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) might also tap the debt market to support its P36 billion five-year expansion program.

MPTC president Ramoncito Fernandez said the company might use a combination of debt and equity to fund the expansion of the North Luzon Expressway.

Fernandez said MPTC is  currently in talks with several financial institutions to act as advisors for its planned share offering to prospective investors, which is likely to take place next year.  The share issue is also aimed at raising MPTC’s public float.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the local flagship of Hong Kong-based conglomerate First Pacific Co. Ltd., owns 99.85 percent of MPTC with the balance of .15 percent held by the public.

He said the company is also open to partnerships with other entities for the connector roads and large-scale projects outside the NLEX concession.

Among MPTC’s projects include  Segment 8.1 which will connect the NLEX from Mindanao Avenue to ValenzuelaCity; Segment 9 and 10 covering a distance of eight kilometers from NLEX to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela and Port Area in Manila; and the NLEx-SLEX Connector Road Expressway from C3 in CaloocanCity to Gil Puyat Avenue in MakatiCity.

MPTC is in continuous discussions with the Citra Group of Indonesia to increase its stake in Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. (CMMTC) to a significant minority.  The group is reportedly looking at raising its investment to 30 percent from the existing five percent in CMMTC.

MPIC had declared its interest to enlarge its participation in CMMTC since 2006 but the Indonesian group that controls the Skyway could not decide if it wanted to retain control or to sell.

The Skyway project is a joint venture between the Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada, a publicly-listed toll operator in Indonesia, and the state-controlled Philippine National Construction Corp. The first phase of the 35-kilometer elevated toll road, with a cost of more than $500 million, was built along the South Luzon Expressway.

Construction of the Skyway’s second phase which will extend the existing Skyway to Alabang in Muntinlupa as well the rehabilitation of the existing expressway, including toll collection systems and toll plazas, will cost more than P10 billion. 

The second phase of the Skyway project, which is expected to create 30,000 jobs over a period of two years, forms part of the P38.1 billion road construction package designed to decongest the major roadways in and around Metro Manila.

The Skyway project was done on a build-transfer-operate basis wherein Citra financed the design and construction of the toll road, after which it will transfer ownership of the toll road to the government. The government then allows Citra to recover its investment and generate some profits through the collection of tolls from motorists using the Skyway.

In the first half this year, MPTC reported a six-percent growth in  core income after tax of P636.4 million while, reported net income, which includes non-recurring losses, grew 36 percent to P607.6 million from only P446.5 million.