Maharlika eyes up to 3 more investments worth P4B before year-end

The Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC), which manages the Philippines' sovereign wealth fund, is eyeing up to three more investments before the end of 2026, potentially bringing its total capital deployment for the year up by as much as P4 billion.

MIC president and chief executive officer Rafael Consing Jr. said the agency is considering investments in utilities and infrastructure, industrials, and agriculture, subject to approval by its Board of Directors.

“We expect two or three more transactions to be announced before the year-end. I won't name them at this point in time because as they are signed, it will then be disclosed,” he told reporters during a briefing in Taguig City on Thursday.

“If all three happen, maybe you can probably add another P2.5 billion to maybe P4 billion,” Consing said.

MIC has so far deployed P18.77 billion in capital during the first nine months of the year. This includes a P15-billion working capital loan to Petron Corp. and an additional P3.68 billion in cash payments for shares in Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI).

MIC had earlier set a target of P35 billion in capital deployment for the year, but Consing acknowledged that the agency would likely fall short of this goal.

“I don’t think so. I’m just being realistic. I don’t think it’s going to reach P35 (billion). It’s a good target to me,” he said.

“What I recommend, encourage observers, is considering judging it for quality of investments and return rather than by speed of deployment,” he added.

In 2023, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) remitted P50 billion and P25 billion, respectively, to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) as the initial capital for the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).

“We felt that we owed it to the country that we, still as a national development fund, invest all the capital onshore,” Consing said, noting that the funds came from state-owned lenders that had to seek capital relief from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Meanwhile, MIC reported a 49% increase in its third-quarter net income to P941 million from P629 million in the same period last year. Its total comprehensive income stood at P157.9 million, while revenues climbed 42% to P1.026 billion from P722 million.

“The third-quarter increase was driven by MIC’s share in the earnings of Asian Terminals Inc. and interest income from its loan to Petron Corporation,” MIC said in a statement released Thursday.

Active investments accounted for P515.6 million, or 50% of the quarter's revenue, while the remaining half came from treasury income. Another P1.65 billion in interest income was generated from funds deposited with LandBank and DBP pending deployment.

For the first nine months of the year, MIC's net income rose 24% to P2.18 billion, while comprehensive income increased 32% to P2.85 billion. Revenues also grew 17% to P2.41 billion.

The agency earned P292.7 million from its share in ATI's net income and P343.4 million in interest income from its loan to Petron. — VBL, GMA News