In 1903, Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company was established to provide electric light

and power and an electric street railway system to Manila and its suburbs. The facilities that
Meralco built to provide these two services represented for many years the largest single
investment of American private capital and know-how in the whole of East Asia. For a little
more than four decades, Meralco provided Manileños their first modern mass public
transportation system with electric streetcars. These were supplemented by buses in the 20s.
World War II destroyed the railway system beyond rehabilitation during 1948. Meralco gave up
its transportation business, instead focusing on providing electricity. The electric service
powered much of the postwar rehabilitation and early industrialization of the young republic,
which gained independence in 1946.

By 1961, a group of Filipino investors, led by the entrepreneur Eugenio Lopez Sr., bought
Meralco from its American owners, the first major American enterprise to be 'Filipinized.'
During the decade that followed, the new Filipino management built electric-generating and
distributing facilities at an unprecedented pace to meet the burgeoning needs of its franchise
area. This was made possible by earning the confidence of international credit institutions like
the Ex-Im Bank of the United States, the Ex-Im Bank of Japan, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KFW), and other banks, insurance
companies, and major American, German and Japanese suppliers. Meralco was the first
Philippine company to issue mortgage trust indenture bonds successfully in the US financial
market on Wall Street. Meanwhile, an enlightened human resource management regime ensured
industrial peace and employee loyalty at home.

In 1903, Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company was established to provide electric light
and power and an electric street railway system to Manila and its suburbs. The facilities that
Meralco built to provide these two services represented for many years the largest single
investment of American private capital and know-how in the whole of East Asia. For a little
more than four decades, Meralco provided Manileños their first modern mass public
transportation system with electric streetcars. These were supplemented by buses in the 20s.
World War II destroyed the railway system beyond rehabilitation during 1948. Meralco gave up
its transportation business, instead focusing on providing electricity. The electric service
powered much of the postwar rehabilitation and early industrialization of the young republic,
which gained independence in 1946.

By 1961, a group of Filipino investors, led by the entrepreneur Eugenio Lopez Sr., bought
Meralco from its American owners, the first major American enterprise to be 'Filipinized.'
During the decade that followed, the new Filipino management built electric-generating and
distributing facilities at an unprecedented pace to meet the burgeoning needs of its franchise
area. This was made possible by earning the confidence of international credit institutions like
the Ex-Im Bank of the United States, the Ex-Im Bank of Japan, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KFW), and other banks, insurance
companies, and major American, German and Japanese suppliers. Meralco was the first
Philippine company to issue mortgage trust indenture bonds successfully in the US financial
market on Wall Street. Meanwhile, an enlightened human resource management regime ensured
industrial peace and employee loyalty at home.