MPIC all set to delist at PSE  

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the Pangilinan-led tollways and infrastructure conglomerate, is now on its way to being a private company after majority shareholders successfully concluded a tender offer to buy out shares held by the public.

Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of MPIC said the acceptance of the tender offer “is amazing” and shows that “conglomerates have become passé.”

“The focus now is specific companies...Our companies are very small and Filipinos have a natural aversion to bigness that’s why our stock exchange is too small and because it’s too small it impinges on liquidity...We got to do something about that,” Pangilinan said.

After the delisting MPIC would list its tollways business, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp while the water distribution arm, Maynilad Water Services Inc. is targeted to list by 2026, he said.

State-owned pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which decided to stay on as a shareholder of MPIC, meanwhile, is entitled to a board seat after the delisting process, Pangilinan has confirmed.

Based on the preliminary report of the tender offer agent, as of Sept. 19, a total of 5.5 billion MPIC common shares have been tendered, equivalent to 19.04 percent of MPIC’s total issued and outstanding listed shares.

The total of tendered shares, excluded shares and other non-public shares is equivalent to 97.22 percent of MPIC’s total issued and outstanding listed shares and has exceeded the threshold required to complete the voluntary delisting, MPIC said in a regulatory filing yesterday.

When the tendered shares are accepted and crossed, the bidders expect MPIC’s public float to fall to 2.78 percent, paving the way for MPIC’s voluntary delisting around October or after the transaction is crossed and settled on Sept. 26 and 28, respectively.

MPIC is an infrastructure holding company in the Philippines, owning: 47.5 percent of Manila Electric Company (Meralco); 99.9 percent of MPTC, the largest toll road developer and operator in the Philippines; 20.0 percent of Metro Pacific Health Corp., the largest private hospital operator in the Philippines; 52.8 percent of Maynilad and other assets.

The majority shareholders that took MPIC private are First Pacific Company Limited (First Pacific) through its affiliate, Metro Pacific Holdings Inc., Ty-led GT Capital Holdings Inc., a consortium including Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and MIG Holdings Inc. (MIG).

Prior to the tender offer, MPIC had two major shareholders, First Pacific affiliate Metro Pacific Holdings at 46.1 percent and GT Capital at 17.1 percent, followed by investment funds and retail investors.

For the transaction, UBS AG acted as international financial advisor, First Metro Investment Corp. acted as domestic financial advisor, and First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp. acted as tender offer agent to the bidders.