Aboitiz, Megawide close P25 billion deal for Cebu airport

MANILA, Philippines — The Aboitiz Group now owns a 33-percent stake in the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) after it concluded a P25-billion deal with the Megawide Group.

In a disclosure yesterday, Megawide said the company, together with GMR Airports International B.V. (GAIBV), has closed the deal with Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. (AIC) wherein AIC acquired GAIBV and Megawide’s shares in GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), the airport operator, for an initial P9.5 billion covering 33.3 percent minus one share in GMCAC.

Under the deal, Megawide and GAIBV will then issue P15.5-billion worth of exchangeable notes to AIC. When the notes mature in 2024, AIC will then trade them for the remaining 66.6 percent plus one stake in GMCAC.

Megawide chairman and CEO Edgar Saavedra said the transaction paves the way for a new direction for the engineering company.

“We are excited to finally consummate this transaction that will clear the runway for GMCAC’s next chapter, as well as accelerate Megawide’s long-term growth aspirations. We are also looking forward to unlocking more opportunities with this venture as we continuously re-engineer our portfolio towards achieving a First-World Philippines,” Saavedra said.

Megawide is strengthening its portfolio toward more cycle-resilient, scalable, and higher growth segments, particularly in transport, social, and digital infrastructure spaces.

It will focus on modernizing and innovating systems and structures that will help jumpstart the Philippines’ recovery and ascendancy in the next normal.

Megawide plans to  build several transit-centric developments in key locations across the country and ride the information technology wave through its foray into data centers.

In 2020, Megawide, along with two South Korean firms, won the contract to build the first phase of the Malolos-Clark Railway Project.

Last May, Megawide also received the go signal to construct two stations, namely, Ortigas North and Ortigas South, for the Metro Manila Subway.