First Pacific spending P97b in PH By Jenniffer B. Austria | Nov. 09, 2014 at 11:25pm TOKYO—First Pacific Co. Ltd., a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, is spending up to P97 billion in 2015 to accelerate the expansion of its telecommunication, power distribution, water utility and toll road businesses in the Philippines. Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the local unit of First Pacific, earmarked P53.6 billion for core businesses, including P17.5 billion for water distributor Maynilad Water Services Inc., P10.2 billion for toll road operator Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., P14.7 billion for power distributor Manila Electric Co., P2.3 billion for the hospital business and P9 billion for the LRT 1 extension project. Metro Pacific chief finance officer David Nicol said including the P36-billion capital spending of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and P5.8 billion of Philex Mining, two companies where First Pacific remains the controlling shareholder and P1 billion for sugar interests, total spending by the First Pacific Group was estimated to reach P96 billion to P97 billion next year. Nicol said while First Pacific group remained committed to the Philippine market, the group’s capital spending for the toll road business would depend on the approval of tariff rate petitions. “We can’t keep on spending without getting clear indication on the tariff rate petition,” he said. Metro Pacific president Jose Ma. Lim said the company would not start new toll road projects, until it got clear indication on tariff rate petitions. Lim said the delay in the toll road tariff rate adjustments was not only affecting the company’s financial performance but was also hampering the ability to raise capital to finance planned projects. The group’s toll road firm is currently awaiting approval of the 19-percent toll rate adjustment on Road 1 of Cavitex, which should have been effective from Jan.1, 2012 and also for an 11-percent tariff rate hike for North Luzon Expressway, effective Jan.1, 2013. The company currently has as much as P40 billion worth of new tollroad and expansion projects in the pipeline. Lim said the company lost P150 million in 2012 and P990 million in 2013 due to delays in tariff rate hike. For this year, the company sees the figure reaching P1.1 billion and P1.3 billion in succeeding years. One of the planned new projects is the P18-billion connector road project that will link North Luzon Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway. Metro Pacific already applied for another round of tariff rate adjustment beginning 2015 for both NLEX and Cavitex.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 01:12:52 +0000
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