Metro Pacific secures P10-B loan facility

METRO PACIFIC Investments Corp. (MPIC) said it has signed a loan facility agreement with a couple of banks totaling P10 billion to finance the company’s projects and operations.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, the infrastructure conglomerate said it has entered into separate agreements with BDO Unibank, Inc. and Union Bank of the Philippines. MPIC will be taking 10year fixed rate term loan worth P5 billion from each bank.

“Proceeds ( of the loan) will be used by MPIC to finance its investment in various projects and for other general corporate purposes,” the company said in the disclosure.

The conglomerate earlier announced it will be allocating P100 billion for capital expenditures in 2018, out of the P653- billion five- year spending plan.

This capex program will be funded through a combination of equity partners, internallygenerated income, value crystallization in its portfolio, and banks. MPIC will also be offering P30 billion worth of bonds to be issued in tranches in the next three years.

Of the total spending, MPIC has allotted P38 billion for toll roads through Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., P17 billion for rail through Light Rail Manila Corp., P21 billion for Manila Electric Co., P12 billion for Maynilad Water Services, Inc., P6 billion for Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc., and P6 billion for logistics in 2018.

The aggressive spending comes as MPIC aims to grow its toll roads, power, water, hospital, and rail businesses. The company is also looking to take part in the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program, which involves a rollout of P8 trillion worth of infrastructure projects during President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s term.

The listed conglomerate booked P11.13 billion in attributable profit in the first nine months of 2017, 17% higher than the P9.5 billion posted in the same period in 2016. Revenues accelerated 30% to P43 billion during the same period.

MPIC is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kongbased First Pacific, along with PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining. Hastings Holdings, Inc. — a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. — maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

Shares in MPIC were unchanged at P6.71 apiece at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday. —