Mitsui eyes MPIC stake in toll unit

By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter

MITSUI & CO. LTD. has expressed interest to buy Metro Pacific Investment Corp.’s (MPIC) 20% stake in Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) before the latter resumes merger negotiations with San Miguel Corp., MPIC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

“We have to raise money first, once we finish that, then we will resume [merger talks with San Miguel Corp.],” he told reporters on the sidelines of the VITRO Sta. Rosa data center inauguration last week. “They (Mitsui) already converted half of their MPIC shares to shares of MPTC.”

Mr. Pangilinan earlier said the sale of their toll interest is part of a plan to raise P30 billion to P50 billion through a private placement to cut MPTC’s debt.

MPTC is trying to raise funds before it resumes merger talks with San Miguel.

MPIC owns 99.9% of MPTC, whose debt accounts for most of MPIC’s P64.99-billion short-term debt and the portion of its long-term debt as of end-2024.

Last year, MPIC signed a deal with Mit-Pacific Infrastructure Holdings Corp. for a share buyback and exchangeable bond issuance.

Under the deal, MPIC will buy back 4.58 million common shares owned by Mit-Pacific, equivalent to a 7.3% stake in MPIC, reducing Mit-Pacific’s ownership of MPIC to 7.8%.

Additionally, MPIC will issue P11.9 billion worth of exchangeable bonds to Mit-Pacific, which may be converted to 1.5 million MPTC common shares.

If Mit-Pacific opts to exchange the bonds for MPTC shares, it will acquire a 6.6% stake in MPTC along with a board seat in the toll company.

Mit-Pacific is a joint venture between Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. for Transport & Urban Development.

MPTC has said it had finalized the alignment of�� Cavite-Batangas Expressway (CBEX), the company’s project with San Miguel.

“My impression is that the alignment has already been agreed,” Mr. Pangilinan said, but declined to give a timeline for the project’s groundbreaking. “The principals of the partnership and the alignment have been agreed upon, and we should start working soon.”

In 2023, MPTC signed a memorandum of agreement with San Miguel to build and operate CBEX and the Nasugbu-Bauan Expressway (NBEX) projects with a combined value of P72 billion.

Under the deal, the parties will develop an almost 80-kilometer toll road that will connect MPTC’s Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) to Bauan, Batangas.

In 2018, MPTC was granted the original proponent status for the 50.4-kilometer Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway project by the Department of Public Works and Highways, some segments of which overlapped with San Miguel’s unsolicited proposal for CBEX and NBEX, which were approved by the Cavite and Batangas governments.

MPIC is one of the three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., alongside Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., holds a majority stake in ����ý through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.