MPIC taps P19-billion loan for Cebu toll road

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the infrastructure and tollways conglomerate chaired by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, has tapped a loan facility for its toll road project in Cebu. 

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, MPIC said its indirect subsidiary, Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC), has signed a P19 billion, 15-year term loan facility with various banks. 

CCLEC will use proceeds of the loan to fund the construction and other costs related to the project. 

“Proceeds of the loan will be used by CCLEC to fund the construction costs and other project costs of its toll road facility linking Cebu and Cordova with a cable-stayed bridge as part of the facility,” MPIC said.

The loan is secured by a pledge over CCLEC shares and a security interest over certain assets of CCLEC.  The toll road will utilize an open system once it starts commercial operations sometime in 2021.

The P26-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway project is an 8.25-kilometer bridge that would connect Cebu City to Mactan Island via Cordova. 

Early this week, MPIC also tapped a P24.42 billion, 15-year loan for its indirect subsidiary, MPCALA Holdings Inc. 

MPIC also secured a P20 billion, 10-year loan facility primarily to fund the company’s capital expenditure requirements.

The conglomerate has a profit guidance of roughly P15 billion in core net income this year, up 6.4 percent from P14.1 billion last year. 

In the first nine months of the year, the company’s consolidated reported net income attributable to owners of the parent company rose 12 percent to P12.5 billion, while non-recurring income amounted to P297 million, compared with non-recurring expenses of P202 million a year earlier, driven mainly by foreign exchange gains at Manila Electric Co., the conglomerate’s power distribution giant.

It reported an eight percent increase in consolidated core net income to P12.2 billion in the nine months to September. 

Aside from the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway and the Cavite-Laguna Expressway project, it is also doing the NLEX-SLEX connector road project and the NLEX-Harbor Link Segment 10 C-5 South Link.