Philippine wealth fund to invest in port company Asian Terminals

[MANILA] Philippine sovereign wealth fund Maharlika Investment plans to acquire a minority stake in Asian Terminals, the nation’s second-largest port operator.

The fund said that it will pay 3.6 billion pesos (S$79 million) for an 11.2 per cent stake in Asian Terminals, which runs ports in Manila and several provinces. Shares of the company were suspended from trading on Tuesday (Dec 16) following the announcement.

Maharlika has pursued a few deals since its inception in 2023, and its investment in Asian Terminals is its first in the port industry. It said in January that it will acquire a 20 per cent stake in the nation’s power transmission operator for 19.7 billion pesos, although it has yet to close the deal.

In February, the fund extended a US$76.4 million loan to an affiliate of an Australian miner.

“We are deploying the fund to capture value from critical utilities that possess high barriers to entry and a direct correlation to the country’s gross domestic product growth,” Maharlika president and CEO Rafael Consing said in a statement.

Consing was a long-time executive of global port operator International Container Terminal Services owned by tycoon Enrique Razon.

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Asian Terminals said that it plans to conduct a tender offer and voluntarily delist from the stock exchange.

The port company and Maharlika will buy out minority shareholders at 36 pesos per share, a premium over the 34.30 pesos closing price on Monday. Asian Terminals shares have jumped 105 per cent this year, bucking a broader decline in the main stock index.

Delisting is a “strategic step to optimise the company’s structure for long-term growth, enabling faster decision-making, greater investment flexibility, and enhanced operational capabilities”, Asian Terminals said in a separate statement. BLOOMBERG