Mitsui eyes MPTC stake, MPIC seeks funds

Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has shown interest in acquiring Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.'s (MPTC) 20% stake from Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) before MPTC resumes merger talks with San Miguel Corp.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, MPIC's chairman and CEO, stated that they need to raise funds first through a private placement of P30 billion to P50 billion to reduce MPTC's debt.

Mitsui has already converted half of its MPIC shares into MPTC shares as part of the deal.

MPIC is planning to issue exchangeable bonds worth P11.9 billion to Mit-Pacific Infrastructure Holdings Corp., which could be exchanged for 1.5 million MPTC common shares, giving Mitsui a 6.6% stake in MPTC.

MPTC and San Miguel have finalized the alignment of the Cavite-Batangas Expressway (CBEX) project but no timeline has been provided for its groundbreaking.