MANILA - Food and beverage group San Miguel Corp. said Thursday it had bid for a controlling stake in a $312.5 million toll road project in the northern Philippines.

Listed San Miguel, one of the country's largest firms, said it offered to acquire "initially a 35% stake in Private Infrastructure Development Corp., with an option to increase such stake to 51%."

It told the Philippine Stock Exchange in a disclosure that it was in talks about terms and conditions with the consortium of construction firms that won the franchise to build the 88-kilometre (55-mile) expressway project.

San Miguel said earlier this month that it sees the north of the main island of Luzon as a "potentially dynamic industrial corridor" and said the project would complement its country-wide distribution network.

In the past year the company has also taken a significant stake in top power retailer Manila Electric Co., oil refiner Petron Corp. and is undertaking a joint venture with Qatar Telecom.