Villar to buy all of MCX from Ayala for PHP 3.8B

Ayala Corporation and its AC Infrastructure arm have just sold all of its stake in Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX) operator MCX Project Company, Inc. (MCXPCI) to Manny Villar's Prime Asset Ventures, Inc. (PAVI) for PHP 3.8-billion. This was released through an SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filing today.

Under the investment agreement, PAVI will make the PHP 3.8-billion payment to Ayala Corporation in two tranches: the first PHP 3.219-billion will be paid at the financial closing, while the remaining PHP 581-million paycheck will be paid when Ayala Corporation’s lockup period expires, as prescribed in the MCX concession agreement with the Philippine government.

The sale of Ayala’s stake at MCXPCI to Villar's PAVI is subject to the consent of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which is the MCX’s project grantor.

DPWH was formerly headed by Manny Villar's son and former Las Pinas congressman, Mark Villar.

Ayala Corporation's sale of MCXPCI is part of the company's plan to raise $1 billion from refocusing their assets from certain non-core assets to the expansion of their real estate, banking, utilities, as well as to pump more funds onto their booming healthcare and logistics businesses.

MCX – which opened to the public in 2015, is a 4-kilometer, 2x2-lane toll road that connects South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to Daang Hari in Bacoor, Cavite. Ayala Corporation entered into a concession agreement with the DPWH in 2012, and it was reported that MCX was completed at a cost PHP 2.23-billion.