MPIC acquires majority stake in MRT Line 3

MANILA, Philippines -  Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has acquired a controlling stake in Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) which owns the MRT 3 railway project along EDSA.

MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan revealed in an interview that aside from the stake of Fil-Estate Corp. in MRT 3, they have also acquired the stake of other shareholders.

While he did not disclose how much of MRTC is now owned by MPIC, he said they now have a controlling stake in the railway company.

He said the other private shareholders of MRTC (which include the Camposes of Unilab but now excludes Fil-Estate chairman Bob Sobrepena who sold his stake to MPIC earlier), have arrived at a consensus to vote together.

Pangilinan said the shareholders have sold their respective stakes to MPIC as a group, but there are still others who MPIC hopes to convince to sell.

MPIC earlier acquired the 29 percent stake of Fil-Estate Corp. in MRT 3 and now wants to purchase government’s stake to give it 100 percent ownership. “But we have not heard from government yet regarding our proposal,” Pangilinan revealed.

MPIC earlier offered to acquire the shares held by state-owned lenders Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines in MRT 3 for $1.1 billion, an amount enough to settle the government’s outstanding debt to MRTC bondholders.

There have been reports that government is inclined to bid out its stake in MRTC via the solicited bid route but Pangilinan said it is about time that government recognize that MRTC has been privatized a long time ago.

As this developed, Pangilinan revealed that MPIC expects to receive the results of an initial study by Meralco subsidiary Indra on the viability of MPIC undertaking the development and operation of Terminal 2 of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga.

“The Indra study is still ongoing but they should have their initial conclusion by the end of this month. It appears though that the project is more complex that we expected,” he said.

MPIC’s plan is not only to build and operate Terminal 2 but also put up a high-speed railway system that will run from Clark to Manila.

Pangilinan also said in an earlier interview that MPIC is currently in talks with government on how to participate in the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the MRT 3.