MPIC Executive Vice-President for Business Development Karim G. Garcia told reporters last Friday it is in advanced talks with several international airport operators which are keen on investing in the Philippines.
The Philippine Airport Consortium, which includes MPIC, Aeroports de Paris and ADP Ingenierie, was one of several companies pre-qualified by the previous government to bid for the bundled airport project.
San Miguel Holdings Corp.-Incheon International Airport Corp. Consortium; GMR-Megawide Consortium; Aboitiz-led Maya Consortium and the Gotianun-led Filinvest-Jatco-Sojitz Consortium were also pre-qualified, but the bidding did not push through.
“The process stopped because of the election. The project was small as it is and then they unbundled it. Our partners were very large, world-class airport operators. They saw owning one regional airport in the Philippines was not worth their while,” Mr. Garcia said.
Rolled out during the Aquino administration, the Department of Transportation and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines divided the five airports into two bundles: first, the P20.26-billion Bacolod-Silay Airport and the P30.40-billion Iloilo Airport, and the second comprising the P40.57-billion Davao Airport, the P14.62-billion Laguindingan Airport and the P2.34-billion New Bohol (Panglao) Airport.
The current administration has opted to unbundle the five airports to hasten the completion of the selection awarding process.
The winning concessionaire is set to develop, operate and maintain the airports for 30 years.
MPIC pointed out that the requirement for airport operators to take a 10% equity in the project drew mixed reaction from their potential partners.
“The 10% equity hinders the process. The airport operators are in the business of operating the airport, not owning equity in the airport. Most airport operators around the world, their business model is they operate the airport for a fee under a technical services agreement,” Mr. Garcia said.
“If you force them to put equity, that makes the process a lot harder. Because they know you need them for that requirement, they tend to be less willing to give their partners a better pricing on their services,” Mr. Garcia said.
MPIC is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
