Mikee Romero on power, ports, and planes

Lawmaker, ports tycoon and sportsman Michael “Mikee” Romero is running late, he tells me in a text message.

We’re supposed to meet at 3:30 p.m. for an interview I requested.

“Just a little late,” he adds.

I tell him it’s fine. After all, our meeting was two years in the making. We were supposed to sit down sooner, but no thanks to the debilitating COVID-19 pandemic, we had to postpone it several times.

I already waited for two years, I jested, what’s a few minutes more?

Originally, when I set the interview back then, I just wanted to ask about the planned initial public offering (IPO) of AirAsia Philippines.

Congressman Mikee walks in a few minutes later, looking relaxed and not quite stressed considering that the pandemic crippled the airline industry just shortly after he acquired a majority stake in AirAsia.

But his calm and cool vibe doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. AirAsia, like any other airline, suffered during the last two years.

Oh, but what a difference two years can make. Indeed, the airline he managed to grow has had a challenging time, he says, and it hasn’t been easy.

The Romero family became the sole local owner of AirAsia Philippines in 2019 after buying out the only other remaining Filipino shareholder in the budget carrier.

Romero-owned F&S Holdings acquired the 15.6 percent stake of Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco in the carrier, raising its total stake to 60 percent from the previous 44.4 percent.

But the times have been tough, so the IPO is postponed again until conditions improve.

“I think no company would do an IPO now,” he tells me.

Revenge travel

But the young tycoon notes that revenge travel is here. The passengers are back; runways are busy again and AirAsia itself is already adding flights to meet growing demand.

Of course, recovery won’t happen overnight. He estimates that it would take two to three years for the airline industry to fully recover.

“More of three than two,” he says, cognizant of the realities of his relatively new found business.

AirAsia or any other airline had to spend huge amounts just to get its planes flying again. There are maintenance checks needed to be done and these cost about $500,000 for each plane.

As he waits for the industry to fully recover, Cong. Romero, 1Pacman party-list representative, is focused full time on his legislative work and philanthropy while keeping a close watch on his business empire, which is handled by his wife Sheila and executives.

Ports

He is into a lot of businesses. The Romero family’s port business, listed Globalport 900 Inc., a ports operator dominant in Visayas and Mindanao, is steadily growing and is handled by his wife Sheila as chairman and president.

He shows me a map of the Philippines and the dots where his port operations are. The company forecasts average annual consolidated gross revenue of P3.5 billion in the next five years.

Will Globalport expand internationally as well? Cong. Mikee says it’s possible.

There’s room to grow across the globe, he says.

It can happen, indeed, because Mikee knows port operations like the back of his hand.

“Batang pier ako!” he shares with pride.

Perhaps, he is referring to the time he was at the helm of Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc., which was at the center of a long tedious legal battle with his father. But that’s all water under the bridge now. We don’t talk about it.

_Power

The Romeros also ventured into the power business through Fort Pilar Energy Inc., which acquired the 650-megawatt Malaya Thermal Power Plant from the government.

Malaya is the premier back-up power for the country’s main grid.

Cong. Romero said the company also has a 40-MW solar plant in Digos, Davao del Sur and a 100-MW battery energy storage system.

The company may easily expand its capacity to 3,000 MW in the next five years.

Learning from Ramon Ang and Manny Pangilinan

It was tycoon Ramon “RSA” Ang who encouraged Mikee to get into the power business.

He considers RSA as family and mentor. He says that from RSA, he learned to listen to his gut and to think long-term. RSA is a visionary, he says.

He also learned a lot from MVP or Manny Pangilinan, whom he says is generous with his knowledge in business.

Mikee is proud of the fact that he is probably the only one mentored by both RSA and MVP, whom the business community sees as rivals with starkly different leadership styles – MVP is formal, conventional in his ways, yet creative and determined, while RSA is an unorthodox, gutsy CEO and considered by many as a disarming folk hero.

What’s next for Mikee Romero?

Cong. Mikee is in his last term as a lawmaker, so he will likely take a break from politics and focus on growing his business empire. In between, he does philanthropy work, including a project that funds the medical operations of children with congenital heart disease.

He is one busy man, indeed, and is allowed to be late. With his many businesses, he may actually be building the country’s next big conglomerate.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.