Megawide unloads remaining shares in Mactan-Cebu Airport to Aboitiz for P7.76B

Megawide Construction Corporation has sold its remaining stake in GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), the developer and operator of Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), to Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. (AIC), allowing the latter to have full control of the internationally acclaimed gateway.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Megawide announced that, in accordance with its September 2022 agreement with AIC, it unloaded its remaining 33.33% and one share in GMCAC to the Aboitiz firm for “a total consideration of P7.76 billion.”

Megawide said its remaining 2,643,316,257 outstanding capital stock in GMCAC has been “assigned, sold, transferred, and conveyed, absolutely and irrevocably, unto AIC.”

In September 2022, Megawide and its partner GMR Airports International BV executed a Share Subscription and Transfer Agreement with AIC for the latter to acquire 33.33% and one share in GMCAC and eventually sell all of their remaining stake in the MCIA operator come October 30, 2024.

GMCAC holds a 25-year concession to develop, operate, and maintain MCIA.

Megawide said the final closing will reduce the company’s outstanding current liabilities and boost its liquidity position.

“As an infrastructure innovator, the completion of the airport transaction facilitates our natural progression into property development and allows us to focus on our Precast and Construction Solutions (PCS) unit—which serves as our unique competitive advantage against other industry players—and our other infrastructure projects, including the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX),” said Megawide chairman and CEO Edgar Saavedra.

“At the same time, this strengthens our balance sheet and forms part of our medium-term financial management program,” he added.

Megawide used the proceeds of the initial transaction with AIC to acquire PH1 World Developers Inc. in July 2023.

Apart from MCIA and PITX, the company said it delivered 10,000 classrooms for the Department of Education’s PPP for School Infrastructure Project, completed the design and construction of the new Clark International Airport Passenger Terminal Building and is currently constructing Malolos-Clark Railway Package 1 and Metro Manila Subway Project Contract Package 104. —VBL, GMA Integrated News