The planned merger of the toll road assets of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has entered the valuation stage, bringing what could be the country’s biggest infrastructure tie-up closer to completion.

In a recent chance interview with reporters, MPIC chairman and president Manuel V. Pangilinan said talks are now focused on valuing the tollway portfolios that will form part of the transaction, with both groups targeting a closing as early as the third quarter.

“It’s moving forward,” Pangilinan said.

MPTC’s Indonesian operations off the equation

The negotiations have narrowed to domestic assets after MPTC’s Indonesian operations were taken out of the equation, simplifying a deal that would unite the country’s dominant expressway operators.

Pangilinan said the ownership structure is expected to settle at around a 45-55 split in favor of SMC.

“We know that’s where we should land,” he said.

The transaction would combine MPTC’s network — including NLEX, SCTEX, CALAX, CAVITEX, NLEX Connector and CCLEX — with SMC’s portfolio of SLEX, Skyway, TPLEX, STAR and the NAIA Expressway, creating an infrastructure powerhouse that controls most of the country’s major toll roads.

Partners

Previously, MPIC and SMC explored a joint bid for the operations and maintenance of MRT-3. The two conglomerates were likewise partners in the planned P72-billion Cavite-Batangas Expressway and Nasugbu-Bauan Expressway projects.