The Maharlika fund that Joel Consing leaves behind
After three years at the helm, Joel Consing leaves Maharlika with a handful of investments, more than P53 billion in undeployed cash, and an ambitious list of plans for his successor to carry forward
More than three years after Maharlika emerged from a maelstrom of debate over its governance and purpose, the fledgling fund finally invited reporters to see what had become of the public money entrusted to it.
But amid the spectacle of charts and investment returns was also an impending goodbye.
Rafael “Joel” Consing Jr.’s term as the first president and chief executive of the Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) ends on November 23. He leaves behind a team of about 60 professionals, a handful of investments, and perhaps most crucially, more than P53 billion in mostly undeployed cash, the fund’s dry powder for future investments.
Maharlika was controversial from birth. Economists questioned its purpose and vulnerability to political interference, particularly because its capital came from state banks rather than windfall national wealth. Land Bank and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) even had to seek regulatory relief after contributing P50 billion and P25 billion, respectively.
Consing argues that Maharlika can do what those banks cannot as easily, taking equity stakes and pursuing riskier investments that would be more difficult for lenders to justify under banking regulations.
So, with its first chief executive preparing to leave, what does Maharlika have to show for itself?
Speaking at the Fourth ASEAN Investment Forum on Tuesday, November 10, Consing likened the young fund to a tree still growing its roots.
“From above ground, it can look as if nothing is happening. And that was Maharlika’s first year. We deployed very little,” he said.
Much of that time, he explained, went into “things you just cannot photograph,” from establishing the organization to writing investment policies, risk controls, and procedures for evaluating deals.
Where the money went
Maharlika’s latest unaudited results give Consing something tangible to show.
In the first three years, MIC has managed some growth in its net asset value (NAV). For sovereign wealth funds, NAV is an important measure to see how much wealth has been generated and kept over time.
Starting with P75 billion, MIC brought in P882 million in investment income, P7.34 billion from treasury placements, and P1.05 billion in gains on the valuation of its listed holdings. After P843 million in operating expenses and P1.25 billion in share issuance costs, it reported P7.17 billion in value created.
Of that, P2.82 billion has been distributed as dividends to the national government, leaving adjusted net assets of P79.35 billion as of September, excluding the P50-billion unpaid government capital subscription.
The fund has grown its wealth, although much of that growth has come from interest earned on money that’s still awaiting investment. Some of the gains also remain on paper, particularly those tied to the changing market value of its shares in Synergy Grid and Development Philippines (SGP).
Its more recent earnings, however, suggest that actual investments are beginning to contribute more. Revenue reached P2.41 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 17% year-on-year, while net income increased 24% to P2.18 billion. Comprehensive income, which also accounts for changes in the value of certain investments, rose 32% to P2.85 billion.
This means that active investments now made up half of MIC’s Q3 2026 revenue, up from just 8% in the first quarter, a good sign for a new fund that’s still slow to deploy capital.
However, profit alone says little about how well a sovereign wealth fund invests. One standard metric used is the internal rate of return (IRR), which accounts for both the size and timing of cash flows from an investment.
Upon Rappler’s request, Consing shared additional performance figures off the record, including returns on individual investments and the overall portfolio’s IRR. These suggested encouraging early results, although bear in mind that the fund’s track record remains short and quite limited.
The Maharlika chief also agreed that merely reporting financial numbers is not enough to win over a skeptical public.
“Being able to prove returns is mathematical. Everyone is able to get that. We disclose our returns. But building trust, that takes time,” he said on Tuesday.
He also called for “greater transparency moving forward,” arguing that MIC’s disclosures should improve as the fund starts putting more money into investments.
Even so, the returns are worth examining more closely, particularly how much has actually been earned in cash and how much is tied to the changing paper value of MIC’s holdings.
Take its investment in SGP, for example. MIC bought approximately P1.2 billion worth of shares in the listed company, which were valued at P2.22 billion as of September. That represents more than P1 billion in unrealized gains.
But those gains remain on paper, subject to the swings of the stock market. In the third quarter alone, MIC’s SGP holdings lost P783 million in market value, although the shares still remained worth considerably more than what MIC originally paid for them.
But the SGP investment has brought in actual cash too, paying MIC P70.7 million in dividends during the first nine months of 2026. Unlike gains from rising share prices, these are returns the fund has already earned without having to sell its holdings.
Current active investments
All that said, here is a closer look at MIC’s investments, both completed and in the pipeline:
- Petron Corporation. MIC’s largest single deployment is a P15-billion working capital loan, fully drawn in May 2026, to help the country’s only oil refinery finance fuel purchases amid an oil supply crunch. The facility earned MIC P343.4 million in interest during the first nine months, but is short-term financing rather than a long-term infrastructure investment. It is scheduled to mature on November 10.
- Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI). MIC invested about P8 billion to acquire an 11.94% stake in the port operator. The investment had a carrying value of P7.93 billion as of September 2026. MIC now has a seat on ATI’s board and a share in its earnings, alongside cash dividends. Part of Maharlika’s goal with this investment is to help expand port infrastructure beyond Metro Manila and reduce logistics costs.
- Synergy Grid and Development Philippines (SGP). MIC deployed P1.2 billion to get a 1.93% stake in SGP, now valued at P2.22 billion as of September. However, its much larger proposed P19.7-billion investment – which would have given MIC two board seats each in SGP and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) – has been shelved for now. Consing insisted the door remains open for his successor to pursue, although he declined to discuss why negotiations stalled.
- Makilala Mining Company. MIC has already exited its P426.9-million bridge loan to the mining company, which helped finance engineering and development studies for a copper-gold project. The loan generated a P19.7-million gain on the transaction and about P37 million in realized foreign exchange gains.
MIC had deployed P24.7 billion by end-September, about a third of its initial P75 billion, with P53.67 billion still in cash and cash equivalents. There was no fresh deployment in Q3 2026.
What does Consing say to critics who believe MIC has been too slow to put its money to real work? For him, speed is not the right way to judge his team. The fund, he argued, was built to reject unsuitable investments, not chase a deployment target.
“Honestly, I’d love to be able to deploy the entire P75 billion and go to you and say, hey, you know what, we’re superheroes,” he told reporters. “But is that what you want?”
A bigger fund than Maharlika’s own money
The MIC chief also wants Maharlika to eventually move beyond investing just its own capital. His proposed model borrows from the private equity industry, where investment managers assemble portfolios and attract outside investors to help finance them. Under Consing’s plan, MIC would develop investments before transferring them to the separate Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), which would then use bank-managed trusts to raise additional capital.
Why trust vehicles? Creating special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) – separate companies usually created by private equity funds to hold investments – could take another three years because of government approval requirements, Consing said. Using existing bank trust departments, such as Land Bank’s, would be faster than setting up SPVs.
In effect, Maharlika would handle the origination of deals and potential investments, while raising more funds from a wider pool of investors. Institutional investors would come first, taking on the initial risks before ordinary Filipinos get a chance to invest. Consing envisions MIC offering pooled investment products resembling unit investment trust funds (UITFs) for retail investors.
“Can you imagine Temasek or GIC doing a UITF?” Consing asked, referring to Singapore’s state investment companies. “Giving the population a chance to invest in Temasek’s investments at the onset. That’s what we want to do.”
Truth be told, MIC’s initial P75 billion is tiny beside Temasek’s S$518-billion net portfolio (P25.6 trillion)* as of March 2026. An injection of outside capital from institutional and retail investors could, for instance, give Maharlika the ability to actually pursue large-scale infrastructure development projects.
Consing hopes to make MIF operational around June 2027. Separately, he wants the framework for bank-managed investment trusts in place within 12 months. Whether those vehicles actually raise money, however, would be up to his successor and MIC’s board.
What comes next
In looking for investments with the biggest multiplier, or the best bang for the buck, Consing favors investing in energy infrastructure, particularly transmission grids rather than individual power plants. MIC is studying potential investments in Mindoro and Palawan, whose isolated power systems remain reliant on expensive diesel.
Transmission lines alone may not bring down the cost of electricity, Consing noted, but they create the connections through which renewable projects could eventually reduce costs and government subsidies.
And artificial intelligence? Consing, speaking in a personal capacity, said MIC does not yet have the expertise to assess investments across the industry. More urgent, he suggested, was bringing electricity to Filipinos who still lack it.
“What is AI if we have not achieved 100% electrification for our entire country?” he asked.
International investments may come eventually, but only after Maharlika builds enough surplus, he said. For now, his argument is that money supplied by Philippine government banks should first be invested in the Philippines.
And there’s certainly no shortage of opportunities in the Philippines. When Consing finally hands over the reins, his successor will have plenty of homework waiting, courtesy of a thick compendium of research papers that hope to give Maharlika some ideas about where to go next. – Rappler.com
*S$1 = P49.427 based on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Reference Exchange Rate Bulleting for November 6, 2026
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