MPIC finalizes divestment of 35% stake in Manila North Harbor Inc for P350 million

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) formally announced yesterday the divestment of its 35-percent stake in Manila North Harbor Inc. (MNHI) for P350 million.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, MPIC said it sold to its partner, Harbour Center Port Terminal Inc. (HCTPI), all its shares in MNHI, the company which was awarded a 25-year concession to operate and redevelop Manila’s North Harbor, the country’s busiest part.

The sale was a result of MPIC’s failure to gain a controlling stake in the joint venture. As a matter of principle, MPIC, the local infrastructure arm of First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong, wants to take majority control of any business.

MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said last week the company would not be looking at new port projects in the immediate future and would just concentrate on what they have.

MPIC is organized into various business segments including water utilities (Maynilad Water Services Inc.), power distribution (Manila Electric Co.), toll operations and healthcare.

The amount of P350 million received from HCTPI represents the 35 percent of the outstanding capital stock of MNHI for the equivalent amount of P245 million and a repayment of a P105-million loan.

MPIC’s divestment of its shares in MNHI paved the way for the entry of diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. as the Romero-led HCPTI’s new partner. San Miguel, however, will be taking a back seat in the operations of the port and instead focus on the establishment of a grains terminal at the North Harbor to serve the needs of the group’s food and beverage businesses.

HCPTI president Michael Romero earlier said the company would spend about P7 billion over the next six years to renovate North Harbor, which currently services two million domestic passengers per year, and 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo.

MPIC, through Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. and Manila North Tollways Corp., is currently accelerating the expansion of its tollways footprint with the aim of decongesting traffic in major thoroughfares of Metro Manila especially along the circumferential and radial roads. The group is aiming to become the biggest and most efficient toll road management company in the country.

The group’s acquisition of the Philippines’ travel and transport backbone, the North Luzon Expressway, coupled with the newly-built Subic Clark Expressway (SCTEX), ensures a continued source of growth and profitability for MPIC. The planned linkages to the South Luzon Expressway or SLEX will put the Calabarzon provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon within reach and close proximity.

New access roads are being built by the group that will link it to Circumferential Road 5 (Commonwealth) and Radial Road 10, that will help decongest the National Capital Region’s major thoroughfares.