Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) Chief Executive Ramoncito S. Fernandez said the group sees "clearer leads” for possible investments in toll roads and water distribution.

"In general, the group, representing First Pacific, was in search for opportunities particularly in infrastructure: toll roads, energy, water distribution, hospitals and also consumer products,” Mr. Fernandez said in a telephone interview last Thursday, a day after he returned from a three-day visit to Vietnam.

"Currently, there are clearer leads, particularly in water distribution and toll roads,” he added.

Something will happen

Mr. Fernandez joined other top executives of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) led by its chairman, Manuel V. Pangilinan, during the visit. MPIC is the local unit of First Pacific.

"We expect something will happen by the early part of next year; or to be safe, we expect a deal in the next six to 12 months,” Mr. Fernandez said.

"We are looking at both green field and brown field investments,” he added, referring to new facilities and investment in existing ones, respectively. He said the group will return to Vietnam "in the next three months” to follow up initial leads.

While other MPIC executives, including Mr. Fernandez, returned on Wednesday, Mr. Pangilinan, Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) President Rodrigo E. Franco and Maynilad Water Services, Inc.

President Victorico P. Vargas extended their stay in Vietnam until Saturday.

Mr. Franco said he stayed longer to get a pulse of the market for the tollways business. "We just observed how is the market there,” Mr. Franco said in a telephone interview last Saturday. "There are business potentials there,” he noted.

"They need infrastructure just like in the Philippines during the ’90s; they are looking for more innovations, technology, and they need the capital, so there is really the opportunity.”

Mr. Franco noted that the team also wanted to get more information on policy developments in that country. "For toll roads, government regulations on public-private partnerships are still evolving -- that’s why we have to see,” Mr. Franco said.

He confirmed that the visit was primarily to survey expansion prospects for First Pacific. "As you know, First Pacific’s investments are in Indonesia and in the Philippines,” Mr. Franco said. "The group is looking for opportunities for expansion.”

First Pacific controls 25.6% of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT); 59% of MPIC, 31.3% of Philex Mining Corp. and 50.1% of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk. of Indonesia, according to its Web site.

Metro Pacific, for its part, has controlling interest in MNTC, the concessionaire of Northern Luzon Expressway (NLEx); power distributor Manila Electric Co.; and water service provider Maynilad Water Services, Inc., according to MPIC’s financial report for the first half.

The same report showed MPIC controls Asian Hospital, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Makati Medical Center and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Metro Manila; as well as Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City and Davao Doctors Hospital in Davao City, bringing total bed capacity of MPIC-held hospitals to around 1,800.

MPIC had also bagged the deal to expand Metro Rail Transit Line 3 after a "cooperation agreement” in 2010 with Fil-Estate Group, which controls railway concessionaire Metro Rail Transit Corp.

MPIC has also proposed to be the concessionaire of the 94-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, pending approval of President Benigno S. C. Aquino III, while its P22.95-billion proposal to build a 13.4-kilometer elevated toll road linking NLEx and Southern Luzon Expressway is being evaluated by the government.

MPIC reported P3.46 billion in net income in the first half, about a third more than the P2.66 billion in the same six months last year, fueled particularly by revenues of its utilities and hospital subsidiaries.

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Shares of MPIC were unchanged at P4.13 apiece on Friday from the previous day.