Filinvest vouches for partner in P17.5-B airport bid

A consortium led by the Gotinanun family’s Filinvest Group said its partner for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Changi Airport Group, which operates the famed airport in Singapore.

The clarification was made in response to “misleading reports” about its partner Changi Airport SA, a subsidiary of Changi Airport International (CAI), and suggestions that the unit did not enjoy the backing of parent firm Changi Airport Group.

“However, the choice of this subsidiary does not mean any lesser commitment by CAI. CAI invests in overseas through various wholly owned subsidiaries,” Filinvest said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Filinvest’s Mactan-Cebu Airport bid representative Joseph Yap added that CAI is fully committed to all its overseas projects with the full backing of experience, expertise, resources and commitment from Changi Airport Group.

“It is our intention to bring the Changi experience to Mactan Cebu through CAI,” Filinvest said in its statement.

The Filinvest-Changi consortium came in second behind Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR, the frontrunner for the airport project, which drew a total of seven players. GMR-Megawide offered P14.4 billion during the opening of financial proposals in Dec. 12 last year, about P400 million above Filinvest-Changi’s offer.

The Gotianun Group is currently seeking the disqualification of GMR-Megawide and the Lopez family’s First Philippine Airports consortium, allegedly due to conflict of interest.

The issue centered on GMR’s relationship with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) for its overseas airports. Malaysia Airports is the partner of First Philippine Airports.

“For the sake of absolute clarity on the issue, we would like to clarify … that there is absolutely no conflict of interest between Megawide–GMR consortium and the First Philippine Airports consortium as per the bidding rules,” GMR-Megawide said.