A company which is owned by a Manila newspaper owner yesterday confirmed that it has agreed to buy a majority stake in Manila Airport's Terminal 3 from Fraport and two other investors for $230m.

If the deal does ahead then it will bring to an end an embarrassing saga for the German airports company which has become embroiled in corruption allegations that were levelled at its one time partner in the consortium that built the airport: Philippine International Air Terminal Co (PIATCO).
Manila Bulletin Publishing's owner Emilio Yap is buying the majority stake and he confirmed yesterday that Fraport had agreed to withdraw all civil and criminal cases once the deal was done. Terminal 3, designed to handle 13m passengers a year, was originally scheduled to open in late 2002, but the Supreme Court invalidated the contract in May that year, ruling that the deal signed in 1997 by the former government of the then President Joseph Estrada was illegal.
The PIATCO consortium that built the airport is currently seeking $565m in a suit filed with the International Commercial Court in Singapore and separately, Fraport had sought World Bank arbitration to settle the dispute.
Originally Fraport had sought compensation in excess of $400m, but it has now effectively settled for half that sum, although the agreement still has to be ratified by Fraport's Board.