By means of Aubrey Rose A. Inosante, Reporter
THE MAHARLIKA INVESTMENT Corp. (MIC) is expected to make its first investment this quarter, most likely in the energy sector, the top of the sectorFcially said.
“Certainly the first quarter. I think we had a year to set up. We had a year to actually put our board in order. We received our formal approval to begin hiring at the end of July,” said MIC president and CEO ofFIceman Rafael D. Consing, Jr. said in an interview with Business world on January 2.
The MIC has not made any investments since President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the law establishing the country’s first wealth fund in July 2023.
The Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) had initially committed to making its first investments before the end of 2024.
Mr Consing said the sovereign wealth fund is “ready” and supported with financing and the necessary workforce, but will not invest “without the benefit of due diligence”.
MIC earned P2.3 billion in interest income in 2024, Mr. Consing said.
Under the law, the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines were mandated to contribute P25 billion and P50 billion, respectively, as seed capital for the MIF. The two state lenders transferred the money to the Bureau of the Treasury in September 2023.
Mr Consing said the MIC’s strategic plan will be presented to the board of directors for approval on January 9. This after it made some changes following a meeting with the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GCG) before the holidays, he added.
The MIC examines investments in energy, food security, healthcare and resource development, particularly in mining.
“In the first quarter this would be the energy sector. Healthcare, if things go well, if our due diligence results turn out well, first half. For the last two, I would say early in the second quarter,” said Mr Consing.
Mr. Consing said he believes investments in the energy sector, particularly transmission lines, would be “the most impactful.”
“That is why we would ideally like to buy into the national grid, if we are able to do so. Or number two, we have also separately signed MOUs (memoranda of understanding) with companies like Mindoro and Palawan, which are under the SPUGS. [small power utilities group] category,” he said.
In 2024, the 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. And we believe that considering the contribution of Palawan when it comes to tourism, and also the population living there, and the potential contribution of Mindoro with regard to the entire electricity sector in the Philippines, we felt that these are two priority areas where we can even help build transmission lines,” he said.
However, Mr Consing declined to comment on the MIC’s plan to invest in the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
He said the National Power Corp. is currently doing an inventory of all its assets in Mindoro and that MIC “will have to sit down and determine what portion of those assets it would need as part of the expansion of these lines.”
“Where we are now, we are purchasing the services of the technical advisor and the team that will put together the entire feasibility study. Because all this requires regulatory approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission,” he added.
In addition to transmission lines, Mr. Consing said they also plan to build more substations.
“But the problem is that Mindoro is not connected to the electricity grid. So even if you build that much capacity, it will be wasted because ultimately it can’t be exported to the grid. So ultimately NGCP will have to connect that,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Ralph G. Recto, chairman of the MIC board, had pushed for the sovereign wealth fund to invest and have a seat on the NGCP board.
The NGCP, operator of the nation’s electric grid, is 60% owned by businessmen Henry T. Sy, Jr. and Robert G. Coyiuto, Jr., while the State Grid Corp. of China controls 40%.