Consing: Immediate Maharlika returns challenging

IMMEDIATE returns from the Maharlika Investment Fund should not be expected, the new chief of the sovereign wealth fund said.

“Like many of the startups …it’s a bit challenging to guarantee returns right away,” Maharlika Investment Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Joel Consing told reporters on Wednesday.

“The question really is will you be generating income immediately in those investments that you will be undertaking? So that takes a bit of time. Particularly the kind of investments that we intend to undertake,” Consing said.

He claimed to have laid out long-term investment plans and added that even the “low-hanging fruits are not short term.”

Consing, who claimed that the Maharlika fund would be crucial in shaping the future of the Philippines, said that investment decisions would not only be “financially sound” but also beneficial to the environment and society as a whole.

Easily achievable opportunities, he said, include public-private partnerships.

Energy assets within non-energy agencies that are currently not operating optimally could also be considered, Consing added.

“[W]hat I would propose would be for us to take on that asset … which we would then rehabilitate and bring up to its optimal capacity and from which we would then generate immediate accretion in terms of income,” he explained.

Through strategic investments, Consing said the Maharlika fund would transform the Philippines into a thriving hub for tourism, agriculture, energy and digital innovation.