30 July 2012, Manila Bulletin
by Lee Chipongian
Sun Life Financial Philippines Inc. is interested in investing in the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) projects but is very careful about putting in their investible funds in these projects.
Sun Life Financial president and CEO Rizalina Mantaring said the parent company of Sun Life in Canada has about 15 percent of its assets in insurance invested in PPPs but while the local subsidiary is not yet considering allotting the same amount in infrastructure-related projects here, it is something that is under assessment.
“It all depends on the projects, we have to assess these projects carefully on an individual basis so I wouldn’t say that we will put 15 percent of our money in because if we find that there’s nothing that we can invest in, then of course we cannot,” said Mantaring in an interview.
In Canada, Sun Life which has almost $500 million of assets under management has investments in roads and toll roads, hospitals, airports, schools and social housing. It provides debt capital and financing for a lot of infrastructure projects such as renewable energy.
“There’s definitely a lot of experience in Canada obviously, in investing in PPP projects and we already have a criteria for assessing a project. So, if a project passes the criteria then we are certainly interested,” said Mantaring.
In the Philippines, Mantaring noted roads and toll roads have particular appeal because of its steady income streams.
“Roads have predictable income and toll roads – well, just judging from its potential income that’s of interest to us, but again every project has to be judged on an individual basis. We have to look at the TOR attached to that project,” she explained.
So far, the company has been exploring funding possibilities and how much of its investment portfolio can be set aside for PPPs.
“We’re not selecting a particular sector in PPP to invest in but there has to be a fairly predictable flow of income in the future because that’s the nature of our business,” said Mantaring. “We cannot afford volatilities that’s why only a small portion of our portfolio is invested in equities. We have guarantees that last over a long period of time.”
Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) reported a 2011 premium growth of 31 percent to P13.9 billion, which made it the country’s top earning insurance company.
At the end of last year, it has total assets of P119 billion.
