-
The Romero family’s F&S Holdings divested its 60% controlling stake in AirAsia Philippines to focus on its power generation and ports businesses
-
F&S Holdings offloaded its AirAsia Philippines shares to AA Com Travel Philippines
-
The Romeros say CapitalOne Energy Corp. will now be the holding company that will integrate the group’s power-generation units
The Romero family is divesting its 60% controlling stake in AirAsia Philippines to focus on its power generation and ports businesses.
F&S Holdings, owned by Rep. Michael Romero and wife Sheila, offloaded its AirAsia Philippines shares to AA Com Travel Philippines Inc., an Asian aviation company, the group said in a press statement on June 5.
The amount and other details of the transaction have not been disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement.
“We wish nothing but the best to our former partner in AirAsia Philippines, as well as to AA Com Travel Philippines. May they continue to fly high and reach new heights,” F&S chairman Sheila Romero said in a press statement.
“We are excited at the opportunity to consolidate our business enterprises, and realign them to focus more on our core businesses in power and ports,” Sheila said.
F&S’ divestment leaves AirAsia Philippines as the sole local owner with a 60% stake in the country’s third-largest airline.
Tony Fernandez and Datuk Karmarudin Menarum, the Malaysian founders of the former AirAsia Group that is now known as Capital A Bhd, own 40% of AirAsia Philippines.
“Needless to say, we did not want to undertake this while the pandemic was ongoing, and nearly every business – particularly air travel – was severely hampered. That would not embody the kind of relationship we had with our partners,” the F&S chairwoman said.
F&S entered AirAsia Philippines via a 15.7% share investment, growing it into a majority holding back in 2019 by acquiring the combined 28.7% shareholding of former ambassador Alfredo Yao and Maan Hontiveros and, later, the 15.6% stake of Antonio Cojuangco.
AirAsia Philippines had earlier recorded a 382% jump in passenger volume to 4.21 million in 2022 from 875,927 in 2021. The budget airline’s load factor rose to 89% in 2022 from 80%.
The carrier operates daily flights from Manila to Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan, Davao, Iloilo, Kalibo, Caticlan (Boracay), Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Tagbilaran and Zamboanga. Other interisland destinations flying out of AirAsia’s Cebu hub include Cagayan, Davao, Caticlan, Puerto Princesa and Clark.
AirAsia Philippines’ active international destinations include Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei, Osaka, Incheon, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bali.
“We will continue to invest aggressively on our family’s core businesses in Globalport terminals, which now operates 10 ports in the country, and power businesses,” Sheila said.
CapitalOne Energy Corp. will now be the holding company that will integrate the Romero group’s power generation companies, including its renewable energy ventures Alterpower Digos Solar Inc., a 40-megawatt solar power plant in Digos, Davao del Sur, and Fort Pilar Energy, a 100-MW battery energy storage operator.
The group’s power units include Belgrove Power Corp., which owns the 650-MW Malaya thermal power plant, designated as a must-run unit of the Department of Energy. This means the Malaya plant, on a real-time or scheduled basis as instructed by the system operator, must either come on-line or provide additional energy on a particular trading interval to address system security requirements.
CapitalOne Energy chairman Joseph Omar Castillo said in the press statement that F&S is expanding its solar power portfolio with sites being developed in Cagayan, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Marinduque and Palawan with a peak combined capacity of 180 MW.
“To CapitalOne Energy Corp., may our future endeavors help power up the economy, and energize more communities in the Philippines,” Sheila said.
RELATED READ: AirAsia launches Manila-Tokyo flights
