MARUBENI Corp. of Japan finalized an agreement to acquire a fifth of water distributor Maynilad Water Services Inc.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and DMCI Holdings Inc. said in a joint disclosure to the stock exchange they completed an agreement with Marubeni for the Japanese company’s acquisition of a 21.54 percent in DMCI-MPCI Water Co. Inc.
The joint-venture holding company will end up holding 92.85 percent of the shares in Maynilad.
Metro Pacific said with the entry of Marubeni, it would reduce its economic interest in Maynilad by 4 percent to 52.8 percent while DMCI would lower ownership to 25.24 percent.
Metro Pacific did not say how much Marubeni would spend to acquire the 20-percent stake, although it was earlier reported the transaction could reach $400 million, based on Maynilad’s stock value of $2 billion.
The acquisition will be Marubeni’s first venture in the country’s water treatment and sewerage business.
“This minor reduction in our economic interest in Maynilad allows us to expand the shareholder roster as we take Maynilad to the next stage of development through significantly increased investment in sewage and waste water management,” Metro Pacific and Maynilad chairman Manuel Pangilinan said.
“I believe Marubeni will be a valuable addition to the MPIC/DMCI partnership which has been so successful to date in delivering expanded and improved clean water provision to millions of people in our concession area,” Pangilinan added.
DMCI president Isidro Consunji said the entry of Marubeni would help the company gain access to the Japanese firm’s technical and engineering expertise.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in terms of customer base. It is a concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System for the west zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila, Quezon City, Makati, Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon and Cavite.
The water utility firm said it would spend a record P17.2 billion in 2013, or more than double its capital expenditure in 2012.
The bulk of this year’s spending will go to the construction of wastewater facilities, laying of new pipelines, reduction of water pilferage and upgrade of water facilities.
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