Philippine Billionaire Aboitiz Family Wins $226 Million Airport Project

Aboitiz InfraCapital—the infrastructure arm of the billionaire Aboitiz family’s Aboitiz Equity Ventures—has won a contract to upgrade and operate an international airport in southern Philippines.

The company will spend 12.8 billion pesos ($226 million) to upgrade the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental, a province on the southern island of Mindanao. The 30-year contract to operate the airport is expected to be signed with the government by the end of this month, it said.

“This deal marks another major step in our airports platform, and we remain optimistic as we pursue further opportunities with other regional airports,” Aboitiz InfraCapital CEO Cosette Canilao said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Aboitiz InfraCapital has been doubling down on its investments in Philippine airports. In 2022, bought the Mactan-Cebu International Airport from tycoon Edgar Saavedra’s Megawide and India’s GMR Group for 25 billion pesos. It has also submitted proposals to upgrade and operate other airports including the new Bohol-Panglao International Airport in central Philippines.

The Philippine government has been tapping private businesses to upgrade and run its aging airport infrastructure. Last month, a consortium led by billionaire Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Corp. took over the operations of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s main gateway, in Manila. San Miguel will invest 171 billion pesos to modernize the airport.

Led by Sabin Aboitiz, Aboitiz Equity is one of the Philippines’ leading Philippine conglomerates with interests in power, banking and financial services, food, and real estate. Sabin and his family have estimated $2.2 billion in net worth, placing them at No. 10 on the list of the Philippines’ 50 Richest when it was last published in August.