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P20 billion raised by San Miguel Corp. will mainly be for investments in New Manila International Airport (NMIA) and Mass Rail Transit 7 (MRT-7) projects
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P736-billion NMIA in Bulakan, Bulacan capable of accommodating up to 200 million passengers per year
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8 billion MRT-7 project is an elevated railway from North Avenue, Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan expected to be partially operational in 2021
San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will pour the P20 billion it raised from the sale of its shares into its investments, particularly in transportation projects New Manila International Airport (NMIA) and Mass Rail Transit 7 (MRT-7).
The P20 billion was raised from the sale of 266.667 million Series 2-J preferred shares on October 29 to retail, institutional, and trading participants of the Philippine Stock Exchange. The preferred share issuance is part of SMC’s shelf registration of over 533 million Series 2 preferred shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission to be sold within three years.
“We are happy with the outcome of this offering. There’s a lot of optimism riding on a recovery in 2021 and while there is still some reason for caution, investors are confident enough we can deliver on our commitment to build back better and pursue projects that are crucial to the recovery and future growth of our country,” SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said in a statement.
Both houses of Congress have already approved a bill granting SMC unit San Miguel Aerocity Inc. the authority to build, develop, and operate the New Manila International Airport in Bulakan, Bulacan.
READ: Bulacan airport franchise gets Senate final nod
The concession agreement for the airport project was signed by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and San Miguel Aerocity in September 2019, a month after SMC received the notice of award for its unsolicited and uncontested proposal.
The project has a total cost of P735.63 billion under a build-operate-transfer arrangement. San Miguel will finance, design, construct, supply, complete, test, commission, and operate and maintain the new international gateway. The 50-year concession period will start after the project’s initial phase has been completed.
The airport, to be built on a 2,500-hectare area in Bulakan, will have a passenger terminal building with a design capacity of 100 million to 200 million passengers per year, four parallel runways that are upgradable to six, and eight taxiways.
MRT-7, meanwhile, is a 23-kilometer elevated railway from North Avenue, Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan expected to be partially operational from the North Avenue common station to Fairview in Quezon City in 2021.
The project, which broke ground in 2016 after a seven-year delay, will have 14 stations and will only take 30 minutes to travel end to end. It will also connect to the MRT-3 and LRT-1 and serve over 800,000 passengers daily.
