By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Senior Reporter

MAHARLIKA INVESTMENT Corp. (MIC) said capital deployment will remain on track and focused on its core pillars even as global uncertainty remains high amid the ongoing war involving the US, Israel, and Iran.

“We are not slowing down. The current geopolitical headwinds and volatile currency fluctuations, in fact, validate exactly what we were built to do,” MIC President and Chief Executive Officer Rafael D. Consing, Jr. told BusinessWorld.

“Rather than pulling back, we are responding with highly strategic and calibrated capital deployment,” he added.

The Philippines has been under a one‑year state of national energy emergency since March as it faces heightened risk of fuel supply disruptions due to the war in the Middle East.

Mr. Consing said the sovereign wealth fund will be anchoring its investments in energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and mineral extraction and processing to build natural hedges for the Philippine economy.

“The current market volatility presents us with unique opportunities to acquire high-value, critical assets at reasonable valuations,” he said.

Mr. Consing said the MIC views the critical mining sector as a vital sovereign hedge and has already earmarked specific investment amounts for opportunities under evaluation.

“We recognize how indispensable copper is to the global energy transition and the growth of artificial intelligence,” he said.

“We are actively evaluating a pipeline of critical mineral projects, and we will share specific project and company details once binding agreements are signed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the MIC is looking to finalize its acquisition in Synergy Grid & Development Phils., Inc. (SGP), following its acquisition of a stake in Asian Terminals, Inc. (ATI).

On March 17, MIC announced the completion of its acquisition of 101.19 million common shares in ATI, securing a stake in the port and logistics operator.

This is after the settlement of the tender offer, which resulted in the acquisition of 177.61 million shares, was completed.

“Our immediate priority is finalizing our acquisition in SGP to lock in our stake in the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines,” Mr. Consing said, citing a P19.7-billion investment deal to acquire a 20% stake in SGP.

Asked for the timeline, he said: “I have to defer to SGP’s own disclosures, since they are a publicly traded company.”

In a disclosure dated Dec. 3, 2025, SGP said that although a binding term sheet was executed between the two “the parties are in the negotiation and due diligence stage.”

SGP previously said there is no set date of closing, citing the scale and strategic nature of the investment.

Meanwhile, Mr. Consing said that the MIC is also making headway on joint initiatives in agriculture and sustainable energy “as we aggressively transition into the active capital deployment mode.”

For 2026, he said that the outlook on MIC’s financials remains optimistic.

“This year marks a pivotal shift for MIC as foundational investments like ATI begin to generate resilient cash flows,” he said.

“[The year] 2026 will be defined by robust capital deployment, risk-adjusted returns, and measurable socioeconomic impact,” he added.

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