A Philippine toll road operator completed Wednesday two transactions worth a total of more than US$91 million, including an equity investment and a bond purchase, with a Ho Chi Minh City-based infrastructure developer.

Under the first transaction, the Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) transferred 30 million of its shares at the CII B&R, its bridge and road construction unit, to Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), according to a company representative.

The CII also issued 1.02 million covered bonds to the Filipino firm.

The total value of the two deals is more than VND1.95 trillion ($91.06 million).

Filipino newswire GMA News Online quoted a disclosure from Philippine Infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the parent company of MPTC, as saying the transactions are expected to "enhance profitability and strengthen the balance sheet" of MPIC.

In the meantime, CII chairman Le Vu Hoang said in a statement that the participation of the strategic partner MPTC will help CII B&R with experience and expertise in operating and maintaining roads and bridges, particularly expressways.

MPTC is the largest toll road operator in the Philippines, operating 63 percent of the total 320km of toll roads in the country, the company said on its website.

Following a restructuring in late 2013, CII seeks to become a corporate group that operates five units focusing on water (CII Water), engineering and construction (CII E&C), real-estate (CII Land), infrastructure services (CII Service) and CII B&R, The Saigon Times Online quoted Hoang as saying.

CII Land is scheduled to be established this year, while the other four are operational, with CII B&R playing the most important role.

In October 2014, CII transferred seven road and bridge projects with a total investment of $373 million to CII B&R. The two companies are also in talks on nine new projects worth a total of nearly $1.7 billion.

CII had sought an experienced and financially capable partner to implement such a huge number of megaprojects, Hoang said.

In August 2013, Manila Water, a subsidiary of the Filipino Ayala Corporation, also bought 18.37 million shares worth VND400 billion ($18.64 million) from Saigon Water, a company where CII holds a majority stake, according to The Saigon Times Online.

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