MNTC mulls refinancing debt via borrowings

Manila North Tollways Corp. wants to borrow money to refinance P12 billion worth of debts while interest rates are still low. The company may also take out loans to finance expansion projects for 2011, MNTC president Rodrigo Franco said. MNTC is currently in talks with several banks for the refinancing, Franco said, noting that funds may be raised via a syndicated loan from local lenders or a bond float. Funds from multilateral lenders are also being considered. “We plan to refinance P5 to P7 billion worth of old and existing debts, but this can go as high as P10 to P12 billion depending if all obligations will be included," Franco told reporters late Monday. “We are still choosing which debt will be refinanced. At the end of this month, we will finalize that," he said. “We just want to restructure our debts because we want to take advantage of the low interest rates and to negotiate our terms so we could still do some of our projects in the future," he added. He said the company will also borrow money to finance part of its 2011 capital expenditures estimated at P1 billion. MNTC is a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the Philippine subsidiary of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. — VS, GMANews.TV