MVP: PrimeWater buyout under study

AS MAYNILAD POSTS SOLID Q3 PERFORMANCE

- By RICHMOND MERCURIO

Business titan and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said his group is in the early stages of exploring the potential acquisition of Villar-owned PrimeWater.

“We signed a nondisclosure agreement with them, and they opened the data room to us about two to three weeks ago,” Pangilinan said.

“I don’t think we finished this first stage analysis of PrimeWater. Probably, it will take us another week to be able to frame an offer to them. So nothing is finalized. We are at the beginning of the process and it’s difficult to predict where we will eventually land,” he added.

Former senator Cynthia Villar earlier said that her husband, tycoon Manuel Villar Jr., wants to dispose of PrimeWater since it is being used against them in politics.

PrimeWater, a subsidiary of Prime Asset Ventures Inc., has previously faced consumer complaints concerning the quality and reliability of its water services.

The company serves over 1.7 million households and treats more than 500 million liters of water daily.

Its service coverage spans Tuguegarao in Cagayan province, through Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Calabarzon and the Visayas, extending all the way to Davao City in Mindanao.