MPIC eyes Ayala LRT stake after polls

We have spent quite a bit of money to rehabilitate the existing system of LRT-1

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) might increase its stake in the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), operator of Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) depending on who will lead the next administration.

This was after Ayala Corp. expressed its interest to divest its stake in the company.

“We are looking at it, but it will depend on the outcome of the elections since we need to understand what the new president might expect from LRT-1. We have pending applications for tariff adjustments,” MPIC chairperson Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters in a press briefing on Wednesday.

“We have spent quite a bit of money to rehabilitate the existing system of LRT-1. I think starting today, the generation-4 train sets will be deployed and we have started the construction of the extension of the LRT-1,” he said.

LRMC is a joint venture company of MPIC’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation (MPLRC), Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. (AC Infra), Sumitomo Corp., and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Investments Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.

Restructuring underway

In a statement last week, the Ayala group said it is “working on divesting our remaining thermal assets, our interest in the LRT-1, and some of our non-core businesses” to hit its targets and sharpen its portfolio.

As of end-December 2021, MPIC has a 35.8 percent effective stake in LRMC, while Ayala Corp. has a 35 percent share in the company.

Meanwhile, LRMC president and chief executive officer Juan Alfonso said the generation-4 trains will run along the LRT line 1 beginning Wednesday night, 4 May.

It will also run during off-peak hours and weekends to demonstrate reliability and performance, including their compliance with the technical and operational requirements.

LRMC targets to commercially use the first generation-4 train set by the end of the month.