Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is shopping around for a company that will be the corner stone of its new venture in the logistics industry, group president Manuel V. Pangilinan said.
The push to build a logistics business dovetails with Metro Pacific’s recent foray into agriculture, which includes stakes in a dairy farm and manufacturing group, a stake in coconut products manufacturer and exporter, and a partnership with an Israeli firm in a hydroponics venture.
“We did dip our toe in the water. Maybe more than a toe, maybe our feet, in logistics many years ago and I think we failed,” Pangilinan told Context.ph in an exclusive interview. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try again. So we are looking at a different approach as to how we can build a logistics business. We haven’t done so,” he added.
Metro Pacific already has presence in logistics through MetoPac Move, but its focus is providing warehousing and cold storage distribution. It started operation in 2016.
Pangilinan wants to scale up the logistic business quickly and Metro Pacific is now talking to several groups—both listed and privately-held–who may be willing to cede their logistics business to the group.
“We’d probably need to do it the traditional way—acquire a company that will be the seed to grow the logistics business further. We are looking at several candidates and hopefully within the year we could invest in one that could become a core to build a viable logistics business in this country,” he said.
