By Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
GOKONGWEI-LED Robinsons Land Corp. intends to list a real estate investment trust (REIT) with 14 properties by the second half this year “to create further opportunities for growth” and “to crystalize the value of some of its high-quality office assets.”
The company said the listing will include a gross leasable area (GLA) of 400,000 square meters (sq.m.) from its portfolio.
“We have made several announcements in this regard. It is our intention to have [a] REIT or real estate investment trust IPO (initial public offering) this year, we plan to list 14 out of our 25 office assets into this REIT,” Frederick D. Go, president and chief executive officer of Robinsons Land, said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting on Thursday.
However, the plans are still subject to regulatory approvals.
The company’s office buildings division aims to complete the development of Cybergate Iloilo 1, Cybergate Galleria Cebu, Cybergate Bacolod 2, Cyber Omega, and Bridgetowne East Campus 1 this year, which it had previously called “ideal” for business process outsourcing firms.
Robinsons Land said the completion of these five projects will grow net leasable space by 18% to 721,000 sq.m. By 2022, the company aims to complete GBF 1 in its Bridgetowne Estate to bump up its net leasable space to 774,000 sq.m.
Meanwhile, the company also bared its plans of expanding its malls to the provinces this year by pushing through with the expansion of Robinsons Place Dumaguete this year, as well as the opening of a mall in La Union.
“Together with the Tacloban Mall, which we had just reopened, total leasable space will reach 1.58 million square meters by the end of this year,” Mr. Go said, referring to the company’s malls division.
For 2022, the company plans to open its Antipolo expansion mall, and Robinsons Place Gapan in Central Luzon to raise its mall GLA to 1.63 million sq.m.
Robinsons Land’s industrial and integrated developments segment is looking to complete three facilities to get a total of173,000 sq.m. of net leasable space.
The real estate firm’s hotels and resorts business will also open Go Hotels in Tuguegarao and Naga, and Summit Hotel in General Santos and Naga “in preparation for the anticipated resurgence of domestic tourism.” Westin Sonata and Fili Urban Resort Cebu are in the pipeline to launch in 2022.
For the first quarter of 2021, the company’s capital expenditure spending was at P4.98 billion.
Robinsons Land said it currently has 832 hectares in its land bank and continues to be “on the lookout for land bank opportunities nationwide.”
On Wednesday, Robinsons Land shares at the stock exchange went down by 1.64% or P0.28 to close at P16.84 apiece.