Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. said Wednesday it sold its entire stake in Don Muang Tollway Public Company Limited for $149.25 million.
Metro Pacific said in a disclosure to the stock exchange FPM Tollway (Thailand) Limited, a 100-percent indirect subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., signed agreements with several parties for to sell 100 percent of its shareholdings in AIF Toll Roads Holdings (Thailand) Co. Ltd.
AIF Toll Roads owns about 29.45 percent of the outstanding shares of DMT.
DMT is the operator of a major toll road facility in Bangkok, Thailand and holds the concession for a 21.9-kilometer elevated toll road facility in Bangkok.
“MPTC has decided to take advantage of the increased interest from third parties to acquire MPTC’s entire shareholdings in DMT,” MPIC said.
“The transaction will allow MPTC to realize a gain on its investment in DMT and benefit from the increased liquidity,” it said.
The parties said the purchase price was determined after considering the AIF Toll Road’s interest in DMT, the value of the assets and business of DMT and in comparison to previous offers.
Metro Pacific said the whole amount would be paid in cash on the closing of the transaction. The company said the proceeds from the sale would be used to fund MPTC’s other projects.
MPIC through MPTC also owns a 44.9-percent interest in CII Bridges and Roads, which has several road and bridge projects in and around Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
MPTC operates the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway and Cavite Laguna Expressway in the Philippines.
It is also building an 8.3-kilometer toll road known as the Cebu-Cordova Bridge project, linking the island of Mactan to mainland Cebu through the municipality of Cordova.
The company is also constructing the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road, an eight-kilometer, four-lane toll road linking the North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway, passing through Metro Manila and using the existing Philippine National Railway alignment as its route.
Metro Pacific’s attributable net income fell 57.67 percent in the first three quarters of 2020 to P5.01 billion from P11.80 billion a year ago, following the lockdown and border restrictions implemented by the government in the first half.
The infrastructure conglomerate said revenues slowed by 16 percent to P46.2 billion from a year earlier, as the COVID-19 pandemic affected its power, railway, and toll road businesses.