Sy not competing with SMC to build airport

The opportunity to invest in a potential new transport and business hub in offshore Cavite—not necessarily jumping into the airport business—was what lured the family of taipan Henry Sy Sr. to partner with the Tieng-led Solar Group for a massive reclamation project in Sangley Point.

Businessman Hans Sy downplayed talks of airport competition with Ramon Ang-led San Miguel Corp., which recently submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Duterte administration for a 2,000-hectare international air gateway in Bulakan, Bulacan near Manila Bay—located about 20 minutes from the capital district.

The interest in new airports comes as the aging Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila faces limited expansion opportunities at a time when air congestion is worsening.

“The idea was not going into the airport business, the idea was the whole reclamation development,” Sy, who recently stepped down as president of SM Prime Holdings Inc. but remains the head of its executive committee, told the Inquirer.

“It doesn’t even necessarily have to be an airport, these are just some of the things that can be done,” he added. Sy said an unsolicited  proposal has yet to be submitted to the government, nor have plans been finalized.

“Anyone who wants to build the airport, we can talk,” Sy said. “Or even if Ramon Ang says ‘that’s a good idea’— we can offer it to them. Airport operations is not our core business.”

SM Prime, the property arm of Sy holding company SM Investments Corp., currently has no direct involvement in the $50-billion Sangley proposal dubbed the Philippine Global Gateway project. However, it has a long history of successful reclamation projects around the country, alongside plans to reclaim about 600 hectares in offshore Pasay and Parañaque.

The partnership was through Sy-controlled Belle Corp., which disclosed a plan to acquire up to 49 percent of the Tieng family’s All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp., the main proponent behind the Philippine Global Gateway.