The UK Government’s MOBILIST programme has announced a cornerstone investment of $10 million (PHP 586 million) in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Maynilad Water Services on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). The investment marks one of the largest IPOs in the PSE’s history and underscores the UK’s commitment to sustainable development and climate resilience in the Philippines.
Maynilad, which provides essential water and wastewater services to over nine million people in the West Zone of Metro Manila, will utilize the newly raised capital to upgrade and expand the city’s vital water infrastructure. This includes the deployment of advanced smart sensor networks designed to pinpoint maintenance needs, ensuring more effective and resilient water supply management.
MOBILIST joins a significant roster of international investors, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), demonstrating strong multilateral confidence in Maynilad’s growth and mission. This successful listing serves as a powerful precedent, proving that large-scale infrastructure companies in the Philippines can effectively raise capital through public markets, thereby enabling sustainable funding for essential sectors like water, renewable energy, and climate adaptation.
This investment is the second made by the MOBILIST programme in the Philippines, following its support for Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation’s IPO in 2024.
British Ambassador to the Philippines, Sarah Hulton OBE, commented on the strategic importance of the investment:
“I am proud that the Philippines is the first country in the world where MOBILIST has invested in two listings. With this investment, the UK is not just financing one water utility. Through MOBILIST, we are creating a template for innovative development finance, demonstrating how public markets can unlock investment in critical infrastructure, sustainable development and climate adaptation.”
The UK continues to deepen its strong partnership with the Philippines, which currently tops the World Risk Index for the third consecutive year. Since 2023, MOBILIST has collaborated closely with the PSE to develop the country’s capital market, steering private capital toward climate transition and sustainable development initiatives.
Furthermore, the UK and the Philippine Government are actively collaborating on the ‘EMDE Public Markets Coalition,’ launched at the UN’s Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FFD4) in Seville this July. The Coalition, which also includes the Government of Norway and the African Development Bank, aims to create a Toolkit to facilitate greater investment in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) through public markets, unlocking development finance at scale.
