MVP mulls retirement

MANILA, Philippines — Business titan Manuel V. Pangilinan is contemplating retirement and is in search of new CEOs for conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), which may soon welcome a strategic investor and may consider delisting from the market.

“It is staring me in the face. I know I only have X years to go in my useful life. And I’m planning for that (retirement),” Pangilinan said in an interview with Context.ph, a news website.

Pangilinan will turn 77 this year and is quick to admit the thought of giving up his CEO role has “increasingly” crossed his mind, Context.ph said in its report.

This developed as MPIC, the Pangilinan-led listed conglomerate, may revisit plans to voluntarily delist from the market as it continues to attract big ticket strategic investors aside from Japanese giant Mitsui.

“We will consider what is best for our shareholders,” MPIC chief finance, risk and sustainability officer Chaye Cabal said in a separate briefing last week.

Nothing is final yet, she said, but as it is now, management deems that MPIC’s shares are significantly undervalued by the market.

The average price of MPIC shares now is P4.05 per share while its 52-week high is P4.62 per share.

Cabal said the company is on the radar screen of a number of foreign investors aside from Japan’s Mitsui, but she neither confirmed nor denied if Mitsui would come in as a strategic investor into the conglomerate.

“With Mitsui, we already have existing partnerships, such as in power and sharing of technology,” she said.

Sources, however, said MPIC may seal a deal with a strategic investor group, which may potentially include Mitsui, within the first quarter of the year.

Both MPIC and Mitsui committed $600 million worth of joint infrastructure investments to the country, seen as a prelude to Mitsui buying into the conglomerate.

MPIC is into power, water, hospitals and toll roads, but has been expanding in less regulated industries such as agriculture and tourism.

During the briefing, Cabal also said the company is considering listing some of its subsidiaries, including water, hospitals and toll roads.

MPIC reported a core net income of P14.2 billion last year, up 15 percent from a year earlier.