Ayala Land raises P3.5B from sale of FTI lots

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. has raised P3.5 billion from the sale of commercial lots in the Food Terminal Inc. property in Taguig City in the first quarter, in line with its plans to unlock values from the 74-hectare landbank acquired from the government last year.

The sale of FTI lots, now called as “Arca South,” comprised the bulk of the P4.1 billion in revenues from the sale of commercial lots booked by ALI in the first three months which, in turn, rose by 348 percent year-on-year.

“There will be a few more programmed [sales] towards the end of the year. That will complete the allocation for commercial lot sales,” ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said in a press briefing last week.

ALI earlier announced that it had started selling commercial lots in FTI with sizes typically ranging between 2,500 and 3,000 square meters based on a headline price of P150,000 to P155,000 per sqm. This was intended not only to generate liquidity and monetize part of what ALI paid for FTI, but at the same time accelerate the rate of development in the complex.

FTI is the single biggest property acquired by ALI since taking over the Bonifacio Global City project in 2003. This accounted for the bulk of the company’s landbanking cost last year.

ALI earlier estimated that its acquisition price of FTI per square meter was a little over P32,000, a significant discount to Makati and Bonifacio Global City land values. ALI won the property through a public bidding with a net present valuation of P23.9 billion. but total cost is estimated at P27 billion when value-added tax is included.

Ysmael said ALI would keep 50 hectares of Arca South in its own portfolio. “We will develop these on our own either by ourselves or with joint venture partners, and that’s where we’ll introduce mixed-use development, predominantly residential but with strong office, retail or even hotel components,” he said.

It was earlier reported that ALI had given an average discount of 10 percent to the commercial lot buyers because a lot of them availed of an early payment package. The buyers can use these lots to put up offices, a vertical school, hotel, retail center or even a residential project.

The Arca South masterplan, which will likely take 10 to 15 years to develop, is similar to ALI’s “Vertis North” project, a large-scale mixed-use urban hub comprising about 45 skyscrapers at the heart of what is envisioned to be the central business district of Quezon City.

But unlike the skyscrapers in nearby BGC, the typical height of the FTI buildings will only be around nine storeys. The height restriction is due to its proximity to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, at present the main international gateway to Metro Manila.

The development model in FTI is unique and, to gain additional areas, ALI is planning a below-ground type of main highway, something that has been done in other countries. This would allow ALI to recover and maximize space.

The lack of access points to FTI is seen to be addressed by an intermodal transportation terminal hub that the government plans to implement in the complex. This six to seven-hectare terminal hub is expected to be finished during the term of President Aquino, which ends in 2016.

source:  Philippine Daily Inquirer 

Ayala Land keen on BHI’s Cavite assets

PROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is interested in acquiring the Ternate, Cavite, and Puerto Azul pieces of proerty of resort operator Boulevard Holdings Inc. (BHI), a company official said.

Antonino T. Aquino, ALI president, told reporters the company is currently conducting due diligence on the BHI properties in the province of Cavite.

ALI, however, is not likely to acquire the Friday’s beach resort brand of Boulevard Holdings in Boracay, Aklan and Puerto Galera in Mindoro Oriental.

“We are always talking about leisure type of community exactly similar to what we had in Anvaya [Cove in Bataan], or something similar to what we will be doing in El Nido [Palawan]. The concept is to come around with those kinds of leisure-type of communities,” Aquino said. ALI is set to complete due diligence in about four months.

BHI has recently authorized its chairman and chief executive officer, Jose Marcel Panlilio, to sign a terms of reference and a final agreement for the sale of the firm’s units or assets.

BHI in 2009 acquired seven parcels of land in Barangay Sapang in Ternate, Cavite, with a total area of about 106 hectares. It earlier said the company originally wanted to develop the site into a third Friday’s Resort, but the plan did not pushed through.

In Puerto Azul BHI has about 3,000 hectares of land, where it also planned to put up a Friday’s Resort, this time in Paniman Beach.

Aquino said the due diligence will establish if the best deal with BHI would be a joint venture or an outright acquisition

“But it will probably be a combination or depending on the territory that we’re talking about,” Aquino said.

BHI was established in 1994 as a holding company that mainly develops hotels and resorts and tourism-related businesses and investments in strategic land locations and other real-estate property business. Its main business, however, is the operation of the Fridays resorts.

Total sales of Friday’s Boracay reached P44.34 million for the period, lower than the previous year’s P48.02 million, or an 8-percent decline.

BHI reported a lower income of P1.56 million for the first half of its fiscal year ending in November 2012, lower than the P3.49 million in 2011 as a result of lower revenues.

ALI posted a record P9.04 billion in net income for the year 2012, 27 percent higher than the P7.14 billion recorded the previous year. Consolidated revenues reached P54.52 billion, 23 percent higher year-on-year.

source:  Business Mirror

Ayala Land’s acquisition plans gain ground

PROPERTY DEVELOPER Ayala Land, Inc. expects to firm up after four months plans to acquire assets in Cavite of Panlilio-owned Boulevard Holdings, Inc. which could be developed as a leisure project, a top company official told reporters on Saturday last week.

“We just came around an agreement to talk and come up with the land values. There are studies we have to do prior to the actual due diligence work, and the due diligence would take about maybe 120 days or so -- four months to be able to complete the detailed due diligence,” Antonino T. Aquino, Ayala Land president and chief executive officer, told reporters at Globe Circuit Event Grounds in Makati City on Saturday.

Boulevard Holdings officials were not immediately available for comment.
Last April 26, Ayala Land inked an agreement, subject to further discussion, to acquire “certain landholding assets” of Boulevard Holdings, with Ayala Land’s upscale brand Ayala Land Premier expressing “preliminary interest” in some of Boulevard Holdings’ properties.

Asked which Boulevard Holdings’ assets were in Ayala Land’s sights, Mr. Aquino said: “That’s also part of what has to be determined, but it’s in Ternate, Cavite… it’s a very large area.”

Boulevard Holdings is a holding company established in 1994, with primary interests in hotel, resort, and tourism-related developments.

Since 2011, Boulevard Holdings has been scouting for foreign and local partners to develop the firm’s 3,000-hectare Puerto Azul resort in Ternate.

“We have always talking about leisure-type communities, exactly similar to what we have in Anvaya (Cove), and something like what we will be doing in the El Nido Resort area,” Mr. Aquino said when asked to elaborate on possible plans on Boulevard Holdings’ assets.

“So, the concept is really to be able to come around with those type of leisure-oriented communities.”

In Bataan, Ayala Land has developed in partnership with Subic Bay Development and Industrial Estate Corp. Anvaya Cove, a 320-hectare leisure complex.

In El Nido, Palawan, Ayala Land has developed and currently operates an island resort complex consisting of the Lagen, Milinoc, Apulit and Pangulasian Island resorts.

MORE ALLIANCES
Mr. Aquino added that Ayala Land will pursue new business and leisure developments in Cebu in partnership with Aboitiz Land, Inc., the real estate arm of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc., and Taft Property Venture Development Corp., a unit of Gaisano-led Vicsal Development Corp.

“We will jointly acquire something together and then, on that basis, put up again an integrated mixed-use development which… in Cebu, will effectively be the third major business district-oriented development there -- a city district-type development following Cebu IT Park and Cebu Business Park,” Mr. Aquino said of his company’s initial 50%-50% partnership with AboitizLand forged last April 24.

Cebu IT Park (formerly Asiatown IT Park) is a 24-hectare economic zone in Cebu City, while Cebu Business Park is a 50-hectare master-planned development, also in Cebu City. Both projects are owned and operated by Ayala Land affiliate Cebu Holdings, Inc.

“For Vicsal, it will be something that is in the Mactan (Island) area, which tells you that it would be more of a leisure-type development. I think that tells you again we like the tourism side. We know that with the success we’ve had in Anvaya, so it’s going to be a replication and this is exactly the same model we will be doing there,” Mr. Aquino said of Ayala Land’s team-up with the Gaisanos that was forged last April 26.

Ayala Land was organized in 1988 when parent Ayala Corp. decided to spin off its real estate division into an independent subsidiary to enhance management focus on real estate.

Shares of Ayala Land fell by 15 centavos or 0.46% to P32.40 apiece yesterday from P32.55 on Friday last week, while those of Boulevard Holdings gained 1.4 centavos or 8.04% to 18.8 centavos from 17.4 centavos each.

source:  Businessworld