Wise Holdings ties up with Trinity Works of US for development of Fernando Air Base

Publicly-listed Wise Holdings Inc. will enter into a strategic partnership with US-based firm Trinity Works LLC to convert the Fernando Air Base in Batangas into a joint military and commercial use facility.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Wise Holdings said the Texas firm Trinity Works will take the lead in arranging the strategic alliance or consortium, including project management and financing.

The project involves the development and conversion of as much as 2,000 hectares of land located at the northern portion of the air base into an integrated mixed-use special economic zone with industrial, commercial, residential, recreational-leisure and other institutional uses.

The facility will serve military, general aviation, domestic passenger, regional cargo and charter aircraft using a single, extended runway capable of ultimately accommodating larger long-haul jets including B-747s and B-777s.

The redeveloped airport is expected to be completed within 24 months.

The planned development is being undertaken under the initiative of the Regional Development Council IV as part of the Southern Tagalog strategic development plan.

Wise Holdings initiated the feasibility study and will work in obtaining governmental approvals, including sovereign guarantees and perform land acquisition and civil works.

The contemplated development has been selected because of its strategic position within the growth corridor from Metro Manila through Laguna to Batangas City.

Wise Holdings plans to form a strategic alliance or consortium with one or more prospective financial and operational partners for the planning, development, marketing and management of the project.

Wise Holdings, Inc. was originally known as Wise and Co. Inc., the parent company of several wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries engaged in various industries including trading of industrial machinery and other products, real estate development and insurance services.

The company was restructured when the Jakarta-based Dharmala Group acquired strategic interest in the company through the purchase of 70-percent equity from the original stockholders. It was renamed Dharmala Philippines, Inc. (DPI) and converted into a purely management and holding company.

The trading operations of DPI was spun off to a separate subsidiary also named Wise and Co. Inc. in an effort to preserve WHI’s goodwill, having been known as a trading firm since its organization in the Philippines in 1926. A Filipino group, VR Holdings Corp., eventually gained controlling interest in DPI when it acquired the company in December 1998.

To build a new corporate identity and to maximize the institutional image of its subsidiary Wise and Co. Inc., its corporate name was changed to Wise Holdings Inc.

Currently, the company operates through four strategic business groups namely, the Trading group, the Financial Services Group, the Consumer Banking Group and the Investments Group.