The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) approved the joint venture (JV) between Fastcargo Logistics Corp. and Asia Seal Pte. Ltd., as well as the acquisition by Aéroports de Paris SA (AdP) of shares in GMR Airports Limited (GAL).
PCC cleared the two transactions because they are “unlikely (to) lead to a substantial lessening of competition in their respective relevant markets.”
In a decision dated August 13, PCC approved Asia Seal’s subscription of up to 40% of the then issued share capital new shares in FastCargo.
After completing certain internal corporate restructuring steps, Asia Seal will hold 100% issued share capital in each of Fastcargo’s subsidiaries—Fast Distribution Corp, Fast Services Corp., Fast Unimerchants Inc. and Fast Toll Manufacturing Corp. (FTMC).
Singapore-based Asia Seal is majority owned by CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV L.P., an investment fund holding interests in a number of companies in various industries.
Fastcargo is engaged in the business of loading and forwarding cargoes and providing warehousing services. Subsidiaries Fast Services Corp. provides warehousing services and Fast Distribution offers physical distribution and logistics management services. Fast Unimerchants is engaged in distribution and logistics management services using land-based motor vehicles, while FTMC is engaged in toll manufacturing, toll and multi-packing services.
In a separate decision on August 18, PCC also gave the green light for AdP, a Paris-based international airport operator, to buy a 24.01% stake in GAL. This follows the acquisition of a 24.99% indirect stake. Once the transaction is completed, GAL will be jointly owned by AdP and GMR Infrastructure Limited, a listed Indian corporation, which will keep a 51% stake and retain control over GAL.
GAL has a portfolio of assets comprising seven airports in the Philippines, India and Greece. Three out of the seven airports are operated by GMR: Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the Philippines in partnership with Megawide Construction Corp, Delhi International Airport, and Hyderabad International Airport in India. These airports handled a total of 102 million passengers in 2019. The four others handled a total of 22 million of passengers last year.
AdP said the acquisition forms part of its international strategy to acquire airport clusters located in dynamic regions.
