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Friday, March 29, 2024

Aboitiz seeking airport partners

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Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. is in talks with foreign airline operators as possible joint venture partners in bidding for the P108.2-billion bundled airport projects.

AEV chief finance officer Stephen Paradies said the company wanted to have a foreign partner with expertise in airline operations.

AEV earlier teamed up with Ayala Corp. and US-based global airport operator ADC & HAS Airports Corp. in a losing bid for the P17-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport terminal rehabilitation project.

Ayala Corp., however, said it was not keen on participating in the bundled airport project.

“It is not a priority [bundled airport projects],” AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. chief executive Eric Francia said. AC Infrastructure is a unit of Ayala Corp.

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The Transportation Department has divided the five regional airports into two bundles to attract more investors in the dual-stage bidding process.

The first bundle consists of the P20.26-billion Bacolod-Silay airport and the P14.62-billion Laguindingan airport while the second bundle covers the P40.57-billion Davao airport, the P30.4-billion Iloilo airport and the P2.34-billion New Bohol (Panglao) airport.

Aside from AEV, four other groups have bought bid documents for the regional airport projects. These are the Metro Pacific Investments Corp.-JG Summit tandem, San Miguel Corp., GMR-Megawide Group and Philippine Skylanders.

Meanwhile, Paradies said AEV might issue the planned P25-billion bonds in tranches.

The first tranche, which could be issued in July depending on how soon the company would be able to secure regulatory approvals, could amount to P10 billion.

Proceeds from the retail bond sale will be used primarily to finance planned acquisition projects in the infrastructure sector.

Aside from the bundled airport projects, AEV is also interested in two other infrastructure projects, including the P123-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project and the LRT 2 operation and maintenance project.

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