INFRASTRUCTURE giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) hopes its mandatory tender offer for shares in PT Nusantara Infrastructure Tbk will result in the Filipino company holding 80 percent of the Indonesian conglomerate.
David J. Nicol, the Filipino company’s chief finance officer, told the BusinessMirror his group is ready to flex its financial muscle to secure another 26.47 percent in Nusantara.
“At the expected tender price, I would like to see us get as much as possible. I imagine some will choose to hold, so my guess is around 75 percent to 80 percent, but would be happy with more,” he told the BusinessMirror.
The tender offer—expected to be priced at P0.79 per share or a total of P5.29 billion—is an offshoot of the company’s acquisition of an additional shareholding of 4.99 percent in Nusantara for P597.33 million.
With the latest acquisition, the Filipino infrastructure conglomerate now holds 53.26 percent in Nusantara through PT Metro Pacific Tollways Indonesia (MPTI), consistent with its plans after its initial foray in Indonesia in 2017.
MPTI bought into Nusantara—an Indonesian company whose infrastructure portfolio includes toll roads, ports, energy and water—in November last year to expand MPIC’s foreign toll-road portfolio.
With a current net-profit margin of 22.12 percent, Nusantara may spell further success for the booming MPIC, whose net income rose to P3.6 billion for the first quarter of 2018, primarily due to the positive performance of its major businesses from power, toll roads and water.
Toll roads are by far Nusantara’s most extensive infrastructure. With four thoroughfares with a combined length of 35 kilometers (km), the company serves over 106 million toll-road users.
MPIC is the largest tollways operator in the Philippines with a combined length of 192 km. across three existing thoroughfares. Aside from Indonesia, it also has interests in expressways in Thailand and Vietnam.