Ayala Corp (Ayala) and Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) through its subsidiary AboitizLand, have signed a memorandum of understanding with ADC & HAS Airports Corp (ADC&HAS) to form a consortium that will participate in the planned public bidding of the P10-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) Passenger Terminal under the Philippine government’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) Program.
ADC&HAS operates airports serving the capital cities of Quito, Ecuador and San Jose, Costa Rica with an annual capacity of over 5 million passengers and over 3.6 million passengers, respectively. It also operates airports in the growing tourist destinations of Liberia, Costa Rica and the Chungcheong Northern Province in South Korea.
ADC&HAS combines the operational strength and technical resources of the Houston Airport System (HAS) and the airport privatization and development experience of Airport Development Corporation (ADC). HAS operates three airports in the United States that handle an aggregate capacity of nearly 50 million passengers annually, making it North America’s fourth largest airport operator.
“By partnering with ADC&HAS, we are bringing on board one of the most dynamic developers and operators of airports in the world today. ADC&HAS has been at the forefront of airport and commercial development for over 40 years, spearheading landmark airport privatizations in Canada, Hungary, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and just recently in Korea. Coupled with the technical resources from HAS, the world’s 6th largest airport system, we’re confident that our alliance with ADC&HAS will allow us to develop a world-class airport facility in Mactan that all Filipinos will be proud of,” AEV President & CEO Erramon Aboitiz said.
Ayala President & Chief Operating Officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala, for his part, said, “We are very excited to partner with ADC&HAS in the bid for the Mactan Airport. Their experience and success in building and operating world-class airports in multiple emerging markets under a PPP concession framework make them a highly suitable partner for a project like this. We believe their expertise in airport operations together with the combined strengths of the Aboitiz and Ayala groups can offer the opportunity to significantly increase the standards of airport operations in the country. We believe that Mactan can become an even more important international gateway to southern Philippines.”
ADC&HAS President & CEO Jeffrey Schefferman noted, “We are extremely pleased to partner with Ayala and Aboitiz and are delighted at the prospect of becoming part of a very exciting future in the continued development of Cebu and the Central Visayas region. As we recognize the importance of this project for the Philippines, we were very focused and deliberate in our initial due diligence process as we wanted to ensure that our consortium brought to bear the full range and depth of experiences and the financial wherewithal required to achieve success over the long-term. We are certainly excited to move forward in this PPP process.”
Article source: Ayala Corp
