Property developer Ayala Land Inc. said Tuesday it plans to construct seven commercial facilities and acquire more properties in Cavite, Pampanga and Tarlac to boost its landbank.
Ayala Land said in a disclosure to the stock exchange funding for the upcoming developments would come from the P5.11-billion proceeds it obtained from the sale of mixed-use development in Pasig City to unit AREIT Inc., its real estate invest trust company.
“Ayala Land intends to use proceeds received from the sale of The 30th to AREIT to fund ongoing and future investments in real estate properties in Metro Manila and other key regions in the Philippines, which Ayala Land may undertake on its own or through other subsidiaries,” the property firm said.
Under the REIT guidelines, any sponsor of an REIT that contributes income-generating real estate to a REIT will be required to reinvest any proceeds realized by the sponsor from the sale of REIT shares or other securities within a period of one year from the receipt of the proceeds.
Ayala Land said the reinvestment plan would involve the development of a five-story mall in Pasig City with a gross leasable area of 50,000 square meters and another five-story regional mall in Makati with GLA of 50,000 s qm.
It will also develop a four-level retail project with GLA of 115,000 sq. m. and a nine-story office space with total GLA of 20,000 sq. m. in Cebu.
Ayala Land said to expand its landbank, it will acquire properties in Cavite, Tarlac and Pampanga by the second half of 2021.
The company earlier agreed to sell The 30th commercial development to AREIT for P5.11 billion. The 30th is a commercial building along Meralco Ave. in Pasig and has GLA of 75,000 sq. m. composed of an office tower and a retail podium.
The office tower has an average occupancy of 94 percent and is predominantly leased to business process outsourcing firms where AREIT will derive a stable leasing income.
Ayala Land reported a net income to P6.4 billion for the first nine months of 2020, down by 73 percent from a year ago, as the coronavirus pandemic impacted its business operations.
Consolidated revenues also went down by 48 percent in the nine-month period to P63.3 billion from a year earlier. The company said, however, there was an improvement between the second and third-quarter revenues as quarantine restrictions gradually eased.
“We anticipate favorable developments moving forward as the reopening of the economy gains traction and have started to introduce new product inventory in our estates,” ALI president and chief executive Bernard Vincent Dy said earlier.