By BusinessWorld, as seen on https://www.bworldonline.com/metro-pacific-tollways-unit-raises-stake-in-indonesian-firm-to-78/, September 11, 2018 12:03 am

A UNIT of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) increased its stake in Indonesian infrastructure firm PT Nusantara Infrastructure Tbk, as the result of a mandatory tender offer.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, parent company Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) said PT Metro Pacific Tollways Indonesia (PT MPTI) now owns 77.94%, on a fully diluted basis, of the outstanding capital stock of PT Nusantara.

“As a result of the mandatory tender offer, a total of 3,760,231,769 PT Nusantara shares, which is equivalent to 24.68% on a fully diluted basis, were tendered at an approved price of IDR 211 per share,” MPIC said.

MPIC said the total cost stood at IDR 794.54 billion, which is equivalent to P2.86 billion.

In July, PT MPTI raised its stake in PT Nusantara to 53.26%, prompting the conduct of a mandatory tender offer. At that time, PT Nusantara’s minority shareholders collectively owned 44.21% of the firm, with the other 2.53% held as treasury shares.

PT Nusantara is involved in toll roads, water, energy, port operations and telecommunications. It operates a total of 34.47 kilometers in toll roads in Indonesia.

The partnership between MPTC and PT Nusantara comes as the former looks to expand its toll road business in Southeast Asia.

MPTC currently has a 29.45% stake in Don Muang Tollway Public Company Limited, a major toll road operator in Bangkok, Thailand, and 44.9% in CII Bridges and Roads, a firm with road and bridges projects in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Domestically, the company operates the North Luzon Expressway, Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway, and Cavite Expressway. It also has three toll road concessions under construction, namely the Cavite Laguna Expressway, the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, and the NLEx-South Luzon Expressway Connector Road.

MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of First Pacific, the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.