MVP: Tollways listing still possible this year

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan is hoping there would be no delays in the planned listing of a mega tollways joint venture company with San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

In an interview, Pangilinan said he expects the initial public offering of the potential merged entity of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) and the toll road business of Ramon S. Ang’s. SMC to take place this 2024.

“It can be done (this year) because this business is not complex. With the commitment of both parties, I don’t see why we cannot do it within the year,” Pangilinan said.

“Of course we haven’t looked forward to what regulatory approvals may be needed in Indonesia and in the Philippines so we still have to see that through,” he said.

Pangilinan said it is good to have significant companies which are candidates for listing, especially after the delisting of parent Metro Pacific Investments Corp. last year.

“So we need more companies to be listed. One got delisted recently so we would like to replace that with operating companies,” Pangilinan said.

“This is a single product company, relatively easy to understand. EBITDA is fairly high. Once you build the tollways all you need is maintenance, capex (capital expenditures) and expansion capex if traffic grows, which is usually the case,” he said.

In line with the planned merger of MPTC and SMC’s expressway arm, Pangilinan said both companies are currently at the stage of exchanging information about their respective tollways.

He said the inclusion of MPTC’s Indonesian toll road business will also have to be discussed with SMC.

MPTC unit Metro Pacific Tollways Asia owns a 40 percent share in the operator of the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Flyover in Indonesia and manages two projects in Vietnam, namely, the Hanoi Highway Expansion Phase 2 and the Rach Mieu Bridge.

“We’re simply exchanging information now so we have an idea how big our tollways are and how big their tollways are as well,” Pangilinan said.

“But it is looking good in combination to be a significant company in the Philippines. Combined, starting EBITDA is probably at least P50 billion so that is a significant company if you were to put it together,” he said.