NLEx, SCTEx operator inks P5-B loan deal

MANILA North Tollways Corp., a unit of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said it had sealed a fresh P5-billion loan agreement to fund expansion projects and refinance existing debt.

The company, which operates North Luzon Expressway and the Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway, entered into a 10-year, fixed-rate term loan facility with the Aboitiz family’s Union Bank of the Philippines, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

MNTC also signed last December 2015 a separate P5-billion loan deal with Philippine National Bank.

Metro Pacific Tollways president Rodrigo Franco said earlier that the company was also raising funds for road widening at the NLEx and for the financing of the expansion project at NLEx.

MNTC is expanding NLEx via its segment 10 project. As previously disclosed, this project will cost P10.5 billion and will run from Valenzuela City all the way to C3 in Caloocan City by its expected completion date of 2017.

MNTC is owned by Metro Pacific subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the largest toll road operator in the country, operating 60 percent of the country’s toll roads.

The Metro Pacific Group, which controls the Manila Cavite Expressway, or Cavitex, is also involved in energy retail (Manila Electric Co.), water services (Maynilad Water Services Inc.) and private hospital operations.

The toll road group, which has pending toll hike petitions with the Toll Regulatory Board, remains a major earnings contributor for Metro Pacific.

In the first nine months of 2015, MPTC posted a core net income of P2 billion, up 27 percent due to strong traffic growth and its increased holdings in the NLEx.

Average daily entries rose 9 percent on the NLEx and 10 percent on the Cavitex from a year earlier, it said. Miguel R. Camus