Be patient, fund managers advise potential investors

MANILA, Philippines - If you want to invest in the Philippines, you got to be “patient.”

Private equity investors emphasized yesterday the need for long-term objectives when it comes to placing money in one of Asia’s fastest growing economies as hurdles ranging from the most common infrastructure gaps to tightly family-controlled conglomerates remain.

“Get in! But be patient. (Your) horizon has to be longer term, around 10 years (or more),” said George Drysdale, chairman and chief executive officer of Marsman-Drysdale Group.

“There’s not much of transactional mentality here, they are the kind of long-term oriented. When you come in, you have to understand that,” he said during the forum Philippines 2015: Global Perspective, Local Opportunity in Makati City.

Michael Rodriguez, managing director of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, agreed, saying, however, this should not stop investors from coming into the country and “expand the level playing field.”

One way to do this is to “partner” with these families for the long term, Brian Hong of CVC Capital Partners, which manages $10 billion in Asia said, but added “dispute and exit mechanisms” should also be in place.

Anders Stendebakken, managing director of Brummer and Partners, said Filipino perception of foreigners “going in and taking control” will need to change and one way to do that will be to prove that investors are “value added to families.”

There are no immediately available list of all family conglomerates operating in the Philippines, but among the Forbes’ top 1,000 corporations, eight Philippine firms, with market capitalization of $77.5 billion, were included, all of which are family operated.

Shanaka Jayanath Peiris, resident representative of the International Monetary Fund, said the Philippines also needs to attract more foreign investors to address its infrastructure woes.

Rodriguez said this should start from the government, which needs to ensure “quicker” disbursement of funds.

“There are still a lot of systemic inefficiencies and problems. Infrastructure and bureaucratic problems still exist. There needs to be a desire by the government for projects to happen much quicker,” he explained.

Rodriguez, however, said “there has been some results,” especially in terms of public-private partnerships (PPP), where 10 projects worth roughly $5 billion have already been awarded.

Much of the forum also underscored continued opportunities for the Philippines in sectors such as tourism, health care, real estate and financing as part of a growing economy. In terms of raising funds, capital markets serve also a good avenue despite recent volatility.

“When the markets are volatile, the first thing I asked my issuers is, ‘how’s your business growing? Is it still driving in the way you want it to be?’. And so far, the response has been quite positive. Growth is still fairly strong. The fundamental underlying is still strong,” said Reggie Cariaso, capital markets head at BPI Capital Corp.