Government plans to sell stake in NLEX

MANILA, Philippines — The government plans to dispose of its 3.46-percent stake in Manuel V. Pangilinan-led NLEX Corp. as the country scours for possible sources of funds for the proposed sovereign wealth fund.  The Privatization Management Office (PMO) is rebidding a P2-million contract for consulting services for the valuation of the 649,198 shares in NLEX owned by the national government.

“The PMO is in need of a financial consultant to conduct the valuation of the Philippines’ shares in relation to the PMO’s proposed disposition of such shares,” the agency said.

The Marcos administration plans to sell various government assets to bankroll the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund.

The PMO has given interested consultants until Feb. 22 to submit their expressions of interest and eligibility documents.

The agency’s Bids and Awards Committee will draw a short list of consultants in accordance with the provisions of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

Under the evaluation criteria, 50 points will be for applicable experience and capability of consultant, 30 for quality of personnel and 20 for workload or current number of projects.

The PMO shall evaluate bids using the Quality-Cost Based Evaluation procedure. It shall allocate 60 percent for technical and 40 percent for financial proposals.

NLEX Corp., a unit of MVP-led Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) incorporated in February 1997, is engaged in the development, design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of toll roads. It holds the concession for the North Luzon Expressway project and the NLEX Connector Road Project, as well as the right to manage, operate and maintain the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).

In October 2016, the merger between NLEX and Tollways Management Corp. (TMC) was approved by a majority of the board of directors of both corporations, with NLEX as the surviving corporation.

In November 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the merger between NLEX and TMC, with NLEX as the surviving entity.

The government owned 76,000 common shares out of the 380,000 common shares of TMC, representing 20 of the total shareholdings of the company.

The government now owns a total of 649,198 shares in NLEX, representing 3.46 percent of the outstanding common shares in NLEX Corp.

Other shareholders of NLEX Corp. include MPTC’s MPT North Corp. with 70.78 percent, Sy-led BDO Unibank with 11.7 percent, EGIS Investment Partners Philippines Inc. with 10.16 percent and Global Fund Holdings with 3.9 percent.