METRO PACIFIC TOLLWAYS Corp. (MPTC) said it’s weighing opportunities to expand its toll road assets in Vietnam.
“Vietnam is a special story. In Vietnam, we were getting dividends. If someone makes us a proposal for an asset that’s attractive for us, we are going to acquire it,” MPTC President and Chief Executive Officer Gilbert F. Santa Maria told reporters on the sidelines of an event last week.
He said the corporate will not be investing in Vietnam at present because it continues to receive dividend streams from its existing toll operations there.
“We are going to proceed to take a look at what Vietnam plans are,” he added.
MPTC, the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), has operations in Indonesia and Vietnam.
Its Vietnam presence is thru affiliate CII Bridges and Roads Investment Joint Stock Co. (CII B&R), during which it holds a forty five% stake.
Earlier this yr, CII B&R said it was working on the expansion of the nearly $1.6-billion Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway, a project covering about 96 kilometers and seen as key to improving transport connectivity in southern Vietnam.
The corporate has also expressed interest in bidding for 4 infrastructure projects in Vietnam valued at a combined $1.65 billion.
In Indonesia, MPTC and its partners have likewise pursued expansion. In November, the corporate said it was advancing plans to construct an elevated toll road along the Jakarta Outer Ring Road, with the project currently within the financial proposal stage.
In 2024, MPTC, along with its subsidiaries and Singapore’s GIC Pte. Ltd., finalized a $1-billion investment cooperation for the acquisition of a 35% stake in PT Jasamarga Transjawa Tol (JTT), a significant toll road operator in Indonesia. PT Nusantara Infrastructure, which owns infrastructure concessions in each western and eastern Indonesia, operates businesses across transportation, toll roads, communications, and distribution networks.
MPTC earlier raised P20 billion via fixed-rate bonds to fund infrastructure work and manage its growing debt. It intends to allocate net proceeds from the offering to partially finance investments in the development and maintenance of the Manila-Cavite Expressway, Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX), and Lapu-Lapu Expressway (LLEX), in addition to to refinance bridge facilities and support other corporate purposes.
The corporate is working to scale back its P200-billion net debt.
MPIC is one in every of the three key Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., together with Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of the PLDT Helpful Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., holds a majority interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose