Manila North Tollways Corp (MNTC) has obtained an unsecured P1-billion fixed rate loan from two insurance companies, enabling it to bankroll its 2012 expansion projects.
The financing facility granted by the Insular Life Assurance Company Ltd. (InsularLife) and the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (PhilamLife) has a tranche with a trend-setting 15-year tenor, the first to be seen in the country.
The deal provides for two repayment tranches of P500 million on the 10th and 15th year of the loan repayment period.
“This is MNTC’s first 15-year loan transaction,” MNTC president Rodrigo Franco said in a statement. “What is remarkable is that the facility is unsecured. It is an unmistakable sign of the solid confidence of the financing community in MNTC’s stability even in the long term.”
Ronnie Alcantara, president of loan lead arranger Insular Investment & Trust Corp, said the P1-billion facility was a breakthrough deal as it established a 15-year benchmark for a private sector loan facility.
Earlier, MNTC sealed a separate agreement involving a P10.6-billion unsecured loan with major local creditors, the proceeds of which were allocated for debt refinancing and execution of its expansion plans.
Based on the plans, MNTC will integrate operations of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and Subic-Clark Tarlac Expressway following the signing of the latter’s concession agreement with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.
MNTC is also set to start the NLEx Phase 2 expansion program involving the construction of vital linkages to major thoroughfares in Metro Manila, introducing the concept of “urban expressways” which has proved popular in many capitals of Europe.
Among these projected secondary tollways is the NLEx Harbor Link, linking NLEx to Manila’s Port Area via another tollway connecting the NLEx main to the newly built cloverleaf junction in Valenzuela City. This expressway link is expected to speed up and reduce the cost of transporting cargo from Central and Northern Luzon to the North Harbor, the domestic port complex of Metro Manila.
The NLEx Harbor Link will be made up of Segments 9 and 10, two components of MNTC’s NLEx Phase 2 project designed to make the expressway more accessible to motorists.
Segment 9, measuring 2.42 kilometers long, will link NLEx to McArthur Highway, the old route to Central and Northern Luzon. When completed, this road will ease traffic at NLEx’s Valenzuela interchange, help decongest the Balintawak-Cubao stretch of Epifanio delos Santos Avenue, and is expected to spur the development of the Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela area.
Segment 10 will be 5.65 kms long and extend from Segment 9’s McArthur Highway interchange to Letre in Malabon all the way to the North Harbor.
Under Construction by Idea go http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=809
