MAYNILAD Water Services, Inc. has signed a P18.5-billion notes facility with various banks, which will be used mainly to refinance debt.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and DMCI Holdings, Inc. disclosed their subsidiary Maynilad will use the proceeds of the notes facility to refinance existing peso-denominated loans and other general corporate requirements.
The loan will have a tenor of seven, 10 and 15 years. It tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corporation, BPI Capital Corporation and China Bank Capital Corporation as lead arrangers and bookrunners for the deal.
Maynilad, the concessionaire for Metro Manila’s west zone, earlier said it is setting aside P9 billion for 2018 as capital expenditure (capex).
Two-thirds of the capex or about P6.5 billion will be spent on infrastructure projects, such as rehabilitation of water network facilities, upgrade and construction of pumping stations, and reservoirs for better supply and pressure management.
Maynilad will also allocate P1.7 billion for wastewater management projects to increase sewerage coverage and maintain network reliability. The remaining budget will go to upgrading the company’s customer service and information program.
WATER CONNECTIONS
In a separate statement, Maynilad said it connected nearly 53,000 water service connections to its distribution network in 2017, bringing the total number of accounts to over 1.4 million. Most of the new connections are in Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Quezon City, Valenzuela, Caloocan, and parts of Cavite province.
As of end-2017, the water concessionaire said around 98% of its customers have 24-hour water supply. It noted all of its customers receive water at an average pressure of 7 psi (pounds per square inch), allowing water to go up to the second floor of a house.
Maynilad said it is targeting to bring water pressure to 16 psi., which is already being provided to 70% of its concession area.
“We have yet to reach more than 600,000 residents in the West Zone, who still rely on unsustainable water sources like deep wells for their daily needs. More investments are still needed to expand our distribution network so that we can provide these people with potable surface water,” Maynilad President and CEO Ramoncito S. Fernandez was quoted as saying in a statement.
MPIC, which has majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
