MREIT Inc., the real estate investment trust company of Megaworld Corp., is accelerating an asset acquisition plan with the purchase of P20-billion worth of office buildings this year to increase its portfolio value to P78.5 billion from the current P58.5 billion.
MREIT said in a disclosure to the stock exchange these properties will come from several office assets of Megaworld across the country.
“MREIT is looking to surpass its target for 2022 in terms of asset injection. These new assets may include some of our ‘built-to-suit’ properties, which are considered superior in both quality and lease tenure,” said MREIT president and chief executive Kevin Tan.
“We earlier announced an additional 44,300 square meters by end of the year, but we are working to further bulk it up with more assets as we continuously look for ways to increase dividend yields for our shareholders,” he added.
MREIT in December completed the acquisition of four commercial properties with a total gross leasable area (GLA) of 55,700 square meters for P9.1 billion.
MREIT’s leasing portfolio as of end 2021 consisted of 14 prime, grade A buildings with a total GLA of around 280,000 sq. m. located in economic zones accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
“We believe that the current business conditions are conducive to the attainment of our growth plans. We are currently looking at several properties for potential acquisition, not just in these three townships but also in two more new Megaworld townships. We are very optimistic of our very long growth runway considering that Megaworld is building more offices and even launched new townships last year,” said Tan.
The planned acquisition will be funded through equity and potentially some borrowings.
“There are still a number of items that we have to finalize, and as everyone knows, we have to go through the process as set under the REIT Law. But our objective for the year is to deliver on this enhanced investment plan and ensure the sustained growth of the company,” said Tan.
MREIT is aiming to be one of the largest REITs in Southeast Asia. It plans to accumulate 500,000 sq.m. of leasing portfolio by 2024 and 1 million sq. m. by 2023.
