Ayala, Aboitiz finalize joint venture

Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures (EV), two of the country’s biggest conglomerates, have formalized their partnership that will bid for the contract to rehabilitate and manage the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

In a disclosure Friday, Ayala said its board approved the execution of a memorandum of agreement for the partnership, which was originally announced earlier this month.

The partnership with the Cebu-based Aboitiz family is the Ayala group’s second joint venture with a local major conglomerate to pursue big-ticket infrastructure projects being bid out by the government. Earlier this year, the Ayalas partnered with Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. to bid for the P30-billion contract for the extension of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1 to Cavite.

Both the MCIA and the LRT extension projects are being bid out under the Aquino administration’s public private partnership (PPP) program.

The Ayala group last April won the contract to build the four-kilometer Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) link—the first and so far the only infrastructure project to be bid out under the PPP program.

Property subsidiary Ayala Land also submitted the highest bid for the concession deal to manage the 74-hectare Food Terminal Inc. complex. The group’s P24-billion bid for the contract was nearly P10 billion higher than the next highest bid. Paolo G. Montecillo