Lopez firm plans to join airport bid

Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. plans to join the bidding for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport passenger terminal redevelopment project.

Awash with the proceeds from the sale of shares in utility Manila Electric Co., FPH also chalked up an attributable net income of P9.6 billion in 2012 compared to only P2.1 billion in the previous year, FPH chief information officer Francis Giles Puno told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

This developed as the company booked a one-time gain of P6.1 billion from the sale of additional shares in Meralco to the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. FPH also generated extraordinary gains of P2.1 billion relating to the consolidation of investment in upscale property developer Rockwell Land Corp.

With a stronger balance sheet in the aftermath of the sale of shares in Meralco, FPH has expressed its intention to take on more infrastructure projects. It obtained board approval to participate, through a consortium, in the prequalification and bidding for the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Mactan-Cebu airport passenger terminal rehabilitation and expansion project.

FPH’s disclosure did not identify other prospective members of its consortium for the airport project in Mactan, the country’s second-largest international gateway after Metro Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The Mactan-Cebu project is being offered under the public-private partnership (PPP) framework. Based on a PPP Center briefing paper, the project will involve the construction of a world-class passenger terminal building with a capacity of eight million passengers a year as well as the operation and maintenance of the old and new facilities. The current terminal has a capacity to service 4.5 million passengers a year.

Other contenders for the project are Megawide Construction Corp. in partnership with GMR Infrastructucre Ltd of India, the consortium between Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific and tycoon John Gokongwei, the alliance between the Aboitiz and Ayala groups and San Miguel Corp. in partnership with tycoon Lucio Tan. The five have bought the terms of reference for the bidding.

Interested parties were given until April 22 to submit prequalification documents for the airport project bidding. The implementing agency for the PPP is the Department of Transportation and Communication.

Meanwhile, FPH also disclosed the signing of a P5-billion loan deal with Banco de Oro Unibank. Part of the proceeds will be used to refinance the prepayment of fixed-rate notes due 2014 and 2017 and/or redeem P4.3 billion in outstanding preferred shares which FPH has the option to buy back on April 30. The rest will be used for general corporate purpose.