Pinsent Masons MPillay supports Asian Development Bank on major airport expansion tender in the Philippines

The PhP170.6 billion project will be completed through a Public-Private Partnership managed by the DOTr and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA). The tender for the project was released on 23 August 2023 with the successful bidder expected to be announced early next year.

The NAIA is the main airport for international travellers to and from the Philippines. The project is designed to address longstanding passenger capacity and aircraft movement issues.

The Pinsent Masons MPillay team advising on the matter was led by partners James Harris and David Platt and included senior associate Jonathan Fong.

Commenting on the matter, James Harris said: “We are very pleased to be supporting the ADB on the tender for this significant airport upgrade and expansion project for the Philippines Government. This project is vital to the economic development of the Philippines and is one of the largest brownfield PPP projects to launch globally this year.”

Pinsent Masons MPillay has advised on risk allocation and transaction structuring of the project, project and bid documentation, proposed concession agreement from an international best practice standpoint and will also support ADB/DOTr with the competitive tender process, negotiations, and ultimately with financial close. Local legal counsel involvement has been provided by PJS Law, Manila. Other advisers assisting ADB include PwC (financial) and Landrum and Brown (technical).

The firm is a longstanding adviser of ADB supporting it on a number of high-profile projects. In 2021 the firm was appointed to advise it on its Energy Transition Mechanism which will see the phasing out of coal-fired power stations across South East Asia.

The ADB provides its members and partners in the Asia Pacific with transaction advisory services, loans, technical assistance, grants and equity investments to fund projects that focus on social and economic development. The bank has 49 member nations from the Asia Pacific region and a further 19 non-region members.