Benpres Holdings Corporation is the listed flagship of the Lopez Group of Companies, a conglomerate committed to excellence in public service. The history of the Lopez family in Philippine business spans some 200 years. In adhering to the philosophy of public service, Lopez Group professionals hold the attendant values of entrepreneurship, nationalism, teamwork and a strong work ethic.

History Time Line

Few families in the Philippines have had a history as colorful and as successful as the Lopezes. Since their beginnings in Iloilo in the early 1800's, the Lopez family members have espoused business excellence, nationalism, and social responsibility.

MILESTONES
1993
Benpres Holdings Corporation Listed on the Manila stock market in a P3 Billion initial public offering.

Bayan Telecommunications Holdings Corporation (BayanTel)
A joint venture with Bell Atlantic of the USA, BayanTel is engaged in fixed-line, international and domestic long distance services among others.

1994
First Philippine Infrastructure Development Corporation (FPIDC)
FPIDC is the Lopez vehicle for the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC), a joint venture with the Philippine National Construction Corporation and Egis Projects S.A. formerly TransRoute International SA of France, now known as part of the Egis Group, organized to rehabilitate and expand the 83-km Northern Luzon Expressway. MNTC completed the 8.8-km segment known as the Tipo-Subic Road in time for the 1996 Summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Maynilad Water Services Inc.
A joint venture with Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, now known as Ondeo, to operate and manage the water and wastewater services of the Western half of Metro Manila.

1995
Rockwell Land Corporation
Undertook the development of Rockwell Center, a 15-hectare mixed-use property in Makati consisting of high-rise residential buildings and a retail center.

First Gas Holdings Corporation (FGHC)
A joint venture with British Gas plc was formed in 1995. Its subsidiary, First Gas Power Corporation (FGPC), built a 1000 MW gas-fired combined cycle power plant to supply power to Meralco on a build-own-operate basis under a power purchase agreement.

1996
First Philippine Industrial Park
A joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan formed to develop a 300-hectare modern, efficient and environment friendly industrial park in Batangas.

Panay Power Corporation
A joint venture formed by First Holdings, together with First Private Power Corporation and Panay Electric Company, to construct and operate a 72-MW diesel-fired power plant in Iloilo City.

1997
First Philippine Pipeline, Inc.
Formed by First Holdings as a pipeline subsidiary intended to build and operate an oil pipeline north of Manila. First Philippine Balfour Beatty, Inc. First Holdings formed a joint venture with Balfour Beatty, Ltd of UK to pursue construction engineering and construction businesses in the country. ECCO-Asia was absorbed as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
First Philippine Union Fenosa A joint venture formed by First Holdings with Union Fenosa, the second largest utility company in Spain, to pursue power projects in the country.

1999
First Generation Holdings Corporation (First Gen)
To prepare for the eventual deregulation of the Philippine power industry, the Lopez Group established First Gen to consolidate its interests in power generation, including the 225-megawatt Bauang power plant, the 72-megawatt Panay power plant, the 1,000- megawatt Sta. Rita power plant and the 500-megawatt San Lorenzo power plant.

Sale of PCIBank
Benpres and JG Summit jointly sold their shares in PCIBank, ending over a decade-long partnership in commercial banking.

2000
New Economy investments (eLopez)
Benpres entered ventures involved in leading edge technology and intellectual resource development. Interests in the New Economy include outsource contact center operator Customer Contact Center, Inc., geographic information system integrator BayanMAP Corporation, location-based content provider FindME.com.ph (Webcast Technologies) and a minority stake in business-to-business electronic marketplace BayanTrade Dotcom, Inc.

2001
Beyond Cable Holdings, Inc.
A Master Consolidation Agreement signed between the PLDT Group and the Benpres Group paved the way for the consolidation of the interests of the respective parties in Home Cable and Sky Vision (SKYCable) in Beyond Cable.

2003
Sale of Panay Power Corporation (PPC)
PPC was sold for P2.3 billion. First Private Power Corporation's 20% share from the sales proceeds was distributed as dividends to its shareholders.

Sale of Customer Contact Center, Inc. (C-Cubed)
Benpres sold its 100% equity stake in C-Cubed, a 450 seat-call center.

Maynilad Corporate Rehabilitation
Maynilad sought court protection to enable the company to settle its obligations in due time, sustain the gains of privatization and protect the public interest in the West concession.

2004
BayanTel Rehabilitation
The Pasig Regional Trial Court approved BayanTel's financial rehabilitation. Creditors have, however, appealed the Court's decision.

Beyond Cable Debt Restructuring
Beyond Cable shareholders and creditors sign a debt restructuring agreement, which included a US$30 million new money infusion in the form of Convertible Notes.

2005
Commercial Operations of Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC)
MNTC began commercial operations in February. Tollways Management Corporation, a wholly owned MNTC subsidiary, was contracted to manage and operate the new North Luzon Expressway.