MPTC strives to cut debt before IPO

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) plans to trim its outstanding obligations by at least 30 percent to ensure it is in the pink of health by the time it goes public in 2025.

MPTC president and CEO Rogelio Singson told reporters that the company intends to raise as much as P45 billion from new and existing investors for debt payments.

To date, MPTC has accumulated more than P150 billion in debt to bankroll the delivery of new tollways and the expansion of existing projects.

Singson said MPTC has the largest debt among all subsidiaries of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), even more than those of Manila Electric Co. even though the latter is engaged in power distribution, considered as a cash-burning business.

For Singson, MPTC has to reduce its debt levels before it makes an initial public offering (IPO) in 2025. He said the company has to make sure that finances are healthy enough before it opens its shareholdings to the public.

“I know the general outlook (for MPTC), and that is why we need to raise money to reduce our debt level,” Singson said.

The company is in negotiations with local and foreign investors for its plan to raise fresh funds for debt settlement.

If investors find the P45 billion too much, Singson said the company could raise the remainder of the amount from the IPO that it is set to make in 2025.

MPTC was supposed to join the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) following the delisting of its parent MPIC. However, the company delayed its plan to go public once a decision to merge with San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) expressway business is made.

Singson believes that it will take another two years before MPTC can proceed with its listing in the PSE. For one, it has yet to be determined what will come first: the merger or the IPO.

In August MPTC and SMC signed a P72-billion agreement to build two expressways in Batangas and Cavite that will stretch for a combined 88 kilometers, marking the first time that the toll road rivals will tie up for a project as big as this.

Afterward, SMC president and CEO Ramon Ang was elected to the board of MPIC upon making a personal investment in it, sparking talks that the infrastructure giants plan to integrate their expressway units.