MPIC, SMC heads back to negotiation table
‘We’d like to engage them because everybody’s reported their first quarter results. So, now we can go back to work.’
Daily Tribune‘We’d like to engage them because everybody’s reported their first quarter results. So, now we can go back to work.’
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is ready to resume discussions with San Miguel Corp. (SMC) to over the potential merger of their toll road businesses.
In an interview, MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan cited the release of first-quarter results as a signal to return to the table.
“We’d like to engage them because everybody’s reported their first quarter results. So, now we can go back to work. If we’re going to do it, we might as well do it as expeditiously as possible,” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan added that both groups must now sit down and finalize the details.
“We just have to sit down and try to flesh out. They’re doing very well,” he said, referring to SMC’s recent performance.
In March, Pangilinan said MPIC put negotiations with SMC on hold to focus on raising fresh equity.
MPIC needed to secure P30 billion to P40 billion in fresh funds, primarily to reduce debt.
MPIC and SMC agreed to merge their toll road businesses to boost efficiency and ease congestion. The Pangilinan group wants a 50-50 split despite speculation that Ramon S. Ang’s group prefers a 90-10 split.
MPIC, through Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., holds the concession rights for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, Cavite Expressway, North Luzon Expressway, NLEX Connector Road, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway in Cebu.
Through Metro Pacific Tollways Asia, it also has a significant stake in PT Nusantara Infrastructure in Indonesia and CII Bridges & Roads of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, SMC, through SMC Infrastructure, operates the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, the South Luzon Expressway, the Skyway System and the NAIA Expressway.