By Aubrey Rose A. Inosante, Reporter
MAHARLIKA investment Corp. is predicted to (MIC) will make its first investment this quarter, almost definitely in the energy sectorFsaid icial.
“Definitely the first quarter. I think we had a year to prepare. We had a year to implement our management. We received formal approval to start recruitment at the end of July last year,” President and CEO of MICFRafael D. Consing Jr. said in an interview with icer Business World it’s january 2.
The MIC has yet to make any investments since President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in July 2023. signed the act on establishing the first property fund in the country.
The Maharlika Investment Fund (MFI) has initially committed to making its first investments by the end of 2024.
Consing said the sovereign wealth fund is “ready” and has the financial backing and manpower needed, but won’t invest “without due diligence.”
Consing said MIC earned $2.3 billion in interest income in 2024.
By law, the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines were authorized to contribute P25 billion and P50 billion, respectively, as initial seed capital for the WOI. Both state lenders released the funds to the Treasury Bureau in September 2023.
Consing said MIC’s strategic plan might be approved by the board on Jan. 9. He added that the company had made some changes following a gathering with the Governance Committee of Government-Owned and Controlled Companies (GCG) before the holidays.
The MIC is considering investments in energy, food security, health care and resource development, especially mining.
“In the first quarter it will be the energy sector. Healthcare, if everything turns out okay, if our due diligence results come back okay, first half. For the last two, I would say the beginning of the second quarter,” Consing said.
Consing said he believes investments in the energy sector, especially transmission lines, can have the “greatest impact.”
“So ideally we would really like to have the opportunity to purchase from a national chain if possible. Secondly, now we have also individually signed MOUs (memoranda of understanding) with corporations comparable to Mindoro and Palawan, which fall under the scope of SPUGS [small power utilities group] category,” he said.
In 2024, MIC signed an agreement with Occidental and Oriental Mindoro to support investments in critical energy infrastructure.
“There are about 34 SPUGS in the country. The two largest are Mindoro and Palawan. We imagine that given Palawan’s contribution to tourism, in addition to the population that lives there, in addition to Mindoro’s potential contribution to the overall electricity sector in the Philippines, we felt that these were two priority areas where we could actually help construct transmission lines ” – he said.
However, Mr. Consing declined to comment on MIC’s plan to invest in National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. (NGCP).
He said National Power Corp. is currently taking inventory of all its assets in Mindoro, and the MIC “will have to sit down and determine what portion of these assets it will need as part of the expansion of these lines.”
“We are currently acquiring the services of a technical consultant and a team that will prepare the entire feasibility study. Because all this will require regulatory approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission,” he added.
Consing said that in addition to transmission lines, additionally they intend to construct more substations.
“But the problem is that Mindoro is not connected to the grid. So even if you build that much power, it will be wasted because it can’t ultimately be exported to the grid. So ultimately the NGCP will have to put it together,” he said.
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto, who chairs the MIC board, has pushed for the sovereign wealth fund to invest and get a seat on the NGCP board.
NGCP, the operator of the national power grid, is 60% owned by businessman Henry T. Sy Jr. and Robert G. Coyiuto Jr., while China’s State Grid Corp. controls 40%.
