Philippines takes PPP case to Canadian pensions

An announcement from the Philippines PPP Center says that “huge, untapped resources from the Canadian retirement industry are currently being eyed” for investment in the country’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme.

The announcement follows a trip to Canada by a Philippines delegation headed by the country’s foreign affairs secretary, Albert del Rosario. The trip involved a number of discussions with representatives of pension organisations who, according to the announcement, “expressed great interest” in investing in the Philippines’ line-up of PPP projects.

During the visit, the PPP Center’s executive director Cosette Canilao presented to the Canadian Chambers of Commerce and Business Enablers and also met with various Ontario pension funds including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP).

“These organisations are committed to forge robust alliances to grow their asset base in emerging markets, working within an environment of accountability, transparency and refined risk management,” said Canilao. She said the expressions of interest were “testament to the effectiveness of our reforms” and “indicative of the international community’s appreciation of our PPP Program”.

The statement added that, in the two years since the programme was launched, a number of private sector infrastructure funds have been launched in the country, including Macquarie’s $600 million Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure Fund.

The Philippines government is planning to launch at least eight PPPs this year, including new airports, an expressway and a water project. The deals are said to be worth a total of PHP130 billion (€2.5 billion; $3.1 billion).