Why Ramon Ang Joining the Board of Manny Pangilinan's MPIC Is a Big Deal

On Monday (October 23), listed conglomerate San Miguel Corp announced that its president and CEO Ramon Ang has made a sizeable investment in Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the infrastructure company led by chairman Manny Pangilinan. 

SMC said, however, that Ang made the “indirect investment” in MPIC in “his personal capacity,” (meaning not through SMC) and upon the invitation of Pangilinan himself.

The investment was enough for Ang to earn a seat as a member of the board of directors of MPIC, which was recently delisted from the stock market due to concerns about its valuation.

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SMC’s disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange was triggered by an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which first reported Ang’s purchase of an equity stake in MPIC early on Monday.

The report sent shockwaves throughout the business community, mostly because SMC and MPIC have traditionally been seen as fierce rivals in the country’s high-stakes infrastructure space.

For years, MPIC and SMC competed to win lucrative contracts to build roads and highways in Metro Manila and beyond. In the last few years alone, both companies have fought over some of the country’s most important infrastructure projects, including toll roads (such as the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, the NAIA Expressway, and NLEX and SLEX); railways and mass transit (including the LRT 1 line and the MRT3 line); power and energy (both have interests in the sector and have competed in power generation and power assets acquisition); water utilities; and telecommunications.

Both companies’ rivalries even extend to sports, with SMC and MPIC owning basketball teams in the Philippine Basketball Association.  

However, in recent years, the two companies have become more open to working with each other. In August this year, for instance, SMC and MPIC announced that they would collaborate on the 87.96-kilometer Cavite-Batangas Expressway (CBEX) and Nasugbu-Bauan Expressway (NBEX).

“Our shared commitment to nation-building has led us to this historic collaboration,” Ang said during the signing ceremony for the project. “Together, we aim to deliver world-class road networks that will serve as arteries of progress, growth and development for our country and the Filipino people. This collaboration stands as a testament to what we can achieve when we are united in purpose.”

“Together with SMC, we envisage a future where our CBEX and NBEX can help pave the way for connectivity and economic growth in the CALABARZON region,” Pangilinan added. “We look forward to leveraging on our respective strengths for the realization of this vital infrastructure project.” 

With Ang’s purchase of an equity stake in MPIC, the relationship between the two tycoons will become closer than ever. The Inquirer report even said that, according to sources, Ang joining the board of MPIC will eventually lead to the long-awaited merger of the toll road businesses of SMC and MPIC—SMC Tollways and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. respectively.