First Pac invests P5.8B for stake inThai toll road project

MANILA, Philippines - Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Philippine infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) are investing P5.8 billion to acquire a 29.45 percent stake in a toll road operator in Thailand.

FPM Infrastructure Holdings Ltd., 75 percent owned by First Pacific and 25 percent owned by MPIC, is investing in Don Muang Tollway Public Co. Ltd (DMT) as part of plans to invest in infrastructure projects in the region.

First Pacific is spending P4.4 billion for a 26.2 percent stake in the toll road operator while MPIC is investing P1.4 billion for a 3.25 percent interest in DMT.

The vendor of the toll road stake is a 50-50 joint venture between Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and South East Asian Strategic Assets Fund. Other major shareholders of DMT include the Phanichewa Group with 37.1 percent and Thailand’s Ministry of Finance with 25.1 percent.

First Pacific managing director and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a statement that the company is seeing more opportunities outside the infrastructure market of the Philippines.

“We welcome the prospect of diversifying our investments as we continue to seek strong and steady returns for our shareholders,” Pangilinan said.

He pointed out that the First Pacific Group is keen on further investing in infrastructure, telecommunications as well as consumer and food sectors in emerging Asian countries.

“We are strong believers in the growth potential for emerging Asia in the years ahead and we are hopeful of making further investments in the near term to enable our shareholders to take part in the region’s growth,” he added.

Investment management and holding firm First Pacific has focused on the economies of emerging Asia. It has investments in telecommunications, infrastructure and mining companies in the Philippines, food in Indonesia, and gas-fired power plant in Singapore.