First Pacific to broaden SEA base

HONG KONG – First Pacific Co. Ltd., parent firm of infrastructure holding firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp., is looking to widen its geographic base as it sees strong growth prospects in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

First Pacific chief executive Manuel V. Pangilinan said the group is currently invested in just two countries, with 70 percent or so in the Philippines and the rest in Indonesia. “We would like very much to diversify our risk geographically. We are looking at potential projects across the region,” he said.

“We would like to go back to Thailand, invest in the telco space. In Vietnam, we bid for a bulk water system but we lost to the Ayala Group,” Pangilinan said.

He said noted that the group always insists on taking control or, at the very least, a significant influence.

He also underscored the need for the PLDT Group to move into the converging social media space to remain on top of the game and further boost profits.

Pangilinan said he expects competition to remain tough not just from new and existing players but from “over- thetop” ( OTT) players of the Internet world like Google and Facebook, which directly compete with traditional services being offered by PLDT.

He expects radical changes that digital technologies are bringing to the telecom sector to be more profound.

Pangilinan said the PLDT Group is sticking to its core income guidance of P37 billion this year, down from 2011 level, as he termed 2012 as the year of realignment. The group, however, expects to resume its upward growth path in 2013 with core net income seen hitting P39 billion.

By 2014, the group sees its core income growing further to P42 billion.

Pangilinan said the company is still optimistic of further adding GMA Network to the group’s growi n g investment portfolio as it sees media content a vital tool for its businesses.