Singapore remains a significant investor in the Philippines

SINGAPORE is a major source of investments for the Philippines. In 2019, the city-state was the top investor with total approved investments of US$3.4 billion. Despite the pandemic last year, Singapore remained a significant economic partner of the Philippines with US$201 million worth of approved investments.

Notable projects are in key sectors like manufacturing, telecommunications infrastructure, healthcare and renewable energy. A few of the recent big-ticket projects are by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, and HyalRoute Group.

In October 2019, GIC invested in Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, the operator of the largest private hospitals and healthcare network in the Philippines in terms of authorised bed capacity and revenue, with interests in 14 hospitals and approximately 3,200 beds across the country. GIC announced that KKR and an affiliate of GIC will invest a total of US$685 million in Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings through a series of investments in common shares in Metro Pacific Hospitals and in mandatorily exchangeable bonds issued by Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.

In another significant investment in March this year, GIC completed the acquisition of 17.5 per cent of AC Energy Corporation, a renewable energy company backed by Ayala Corporation, one of the Philippines' biggest conglomerates, through an investment of US$244.85 million.

Meanwhile, Singaporean company HyalRoute Group, through its Philippine subsidiary Philippines Fiber Optic Cable Network (PFOCN), is developing a fibre optic cable infrastructure network in the Philippines. The Singapore company is working with the Philippines Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to strengthen the country's digital connectivity through PFOCN's fibre optic cable infrastructure network.

Another successful partnership between the Philippines and Singapore worth highlighting is the Clark International Airport. The concession to manage and operate the airport was turned over in 2019 to a consortium made up of Filinvest Development Corporation, JG Summit Corporation, Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions and Singapore's Changi Airport Group.