Biz Buzz: Strange bedfellows

When the deal for the new Mactan-Cebu International Airport terminal was bid out and awarded five years ago, one particular giant corporation found the results particularly hard to swallow.

We’re talking about Filinvest Development Corp. whose controlling Gotianun family has, after all, roots in Cebu and understandably felt that they would do a better job of modernizing the air facilities of one of the country’s most dynamic provinces.

“Who are you?” the Filinvest brass supposedly asked of the Megawide boys—chair Edgar

Saavedra, partner Louie Ferrer and former partner Michael

Cosiquien— at that time, suggesting that the construction firm was an upstart with no capacity to fulfill the project’s requirements.

What followed as a long and contentious battle—played out in the courts and in the media—that quieted down only after the brand new terminal was rolled out last year to wide acclaim.

Well, that’s the difference five years makes.

Last Wednesday, Megaw- ide’s Saavedra and Ferrer were in close physical proximity with Filinvest group’s head honcho

Josephine Gotianun-Yap— often only a few feet away from each other—during the site inspection of the new Terminal 2 in Clark International Airport.

Why? Well, Megawide won the construction contract again for this one, while the Filinvest group partnered with JG Summit Holdings of their distant Cebu cousins, the Gokongweis, to win the operations and maintenance contract for the new terminal last year.

In short, once Megawide finishes the P10-billion passenger terminal by mid-2020, they will turn it over to theGokongwei-Gotianun team, who will run it for 25 years.

“We will be turning over a very beautiful terminal to them,” Saavedra and Ferrer told Biz Buzz almost in unison.

Gotianun-Yap was at the site inspection and the short program led by secretaries Carlos

Dominguez III and Arthur Tugade, and the press briefing that followed, but there was no visible interaction between her and the Megawide boys.

And while the audience clapped heartily when Saavedra and Ferrer were praised by the government officials, Gotianun-Yap’s clapping was more … shall we say … restrained.

But who knows? If the terminal proves to be a money spinner in the future, maybe everyone will be applauding each other and old wounds would be forgotten? One could only hope. —DAXIML. LUCAS

BPI’s future crib

With Bank of the Philippine Islands’ (BPI) old headquarters at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas set to be demolished this June to give way to a new iconic skyscraper, the bank’s top brass set up camp at Ayala North Exchange, a new office hub with a retail podium beside Makati Medical Center.

The brand-new office building will be BPI’s home for the next few years, until the new head office is completed by 2024.

BPI has mandated international architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)—touted as one of the largest and most influential architecture, interior design, engineering and urban planning firm in the world—to design its future office. SOM also designed Ayala Tower Two.

The new BPI building will be 40 to 42 stories high and will be a “very modern iconic landmark,” BPI chief financial officer Maria Theresa Marcial-Javier said. She added that it would have a lot of open space, greenery, civic area and retail podium.

The new head office will not only create a bigger space for the bank, it will also add to leasable office property inventory in Makati in the future.

The building will be a joint venture between BPI, which will own 51 percent, and sister property firm Ayala Land, which will own 49 percent.

“The plan is to develop the back area. It will be a combination of retail and office,” Javier said.

As of now, the back portion of BPI’s 5,599-square meter prime property is underutilized as it is only used as a two-level parking lot. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA

Still up for grabs

It’s an interesting opportunity to own a market-leading cement manufacturer and several local big players have looked at it, but at an estimated valuation of $2.5 billion for 83 percent of Holcim Philippines, several players have dropped out of the race. Aside from the valuation, antitrust restrictions are also seen as a barrier for big domestic players to participate.

To drum up interest, however, Bloomberg reported that several foreign players have been in- vited to join the next round of bidding, namely: China’s Anhui Conch Cement Co. Ltd., Japan’s Taiheiyo Cement Corp., China Resources Cement Holdings Ltd. and Hongshi Group Co. Ltd.

So, will Holcim still end up under foreign control or will it soon be Filipinized?

Among the local players who could still be in the race are San Miguel Corp. president Ramon

S. Ang (founder and chair of Eagle Cement Corp.) and Henry Sy

“Big Boy” Jr. (founder of Big Boss Cement Inc.). These business tycoons are friends but in this race, they may separately bid for Holcim Philippines, if at all. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA

Final appeal

Go-Jek’s appeal now rests in the hands of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade although there appears little chance it will prosper here either unless the Indonesia-based ride-hailing giant complies with the Philippines’ foreign ownership requirement.

Recall that Go-Jek’s initial application to operate in the Philippines was rejected by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) since its local affiliate exceeded the 40percent foreign ownership cap.

A subsequent motion for reconsideration was turned down by the LTFRB on the same ground.

LTFRB Chair Martin Delgra told us the appeal had been turned over to the office of the transport secretary. However Tugade himself said Go-Jek needed to comply with Philippine laws.

Of course, there is no shortage of ways for foreign firms to meet the country’s constitutional requirements on ownership. As reported by Bloomberg recently, no less than the Ayala Group was in talks for a possible alliance with Go-Jek.

Another route is for Go-Jek to partner with or invest in one of nine existing firms licensed to operate a ride-hailing service, formally known as transport network companies (TNCs).

We heard most of these are struggling to break the dominance of Grab anyway. In some cases, these TNCs have been burning through piles of cash month after month just to continue operations. E-mail us at bizbuzz@inquirer.com.ph. Get business alerts and a preview of Biz Buzz the evening before it comes out. Text ONINQ BUSINESS to 4467 (P2.50/alert)