Trump, 2 partners to invest over $1B in Subic

Three international real estate firms, including the Trump Organization of real estate mogul Donald Trump, announced yesterday they will invest more than $1 billion in the country for the development of a high-end leisure facility in Subic.

The Trump Organization, which is the primary company of Trump, oversees nearly all of the business development interests of the real estate mogul- such as real estate, hotels, golf clubs, etc. (but excluding the casinos).

The Trump Organization signed a memorandum of agreement with two of its partners, Korean firm Heung-A Property Group (HAPG) and Westgate Resorts Asia Ltd., for the construction of an integrated leisure, sports and entertainment facility.

“Our initial foray in the Subic Freeport zone signals the extreme confidence of various highly funded multinationals with respect to both the near and long- term economic and investment prospects in the Philippines,” Seung Guk Yang, chairman of Subic Neocove Corp. said.

Neocove is a wholly owned subsidiary of HAPG, formed to oversee and manage the project while the Trump Organization will be the lead and master developer of the Subic project.

The billion dollar investment will be built in 457 hectare beachfront facility in Subic. The master plan includes several hotels, residential villas, retail shops, casinos, educational and medical facilities, a convention center, a water park and a spa anchored on a 54-hole golf course.

The entire project will be done in three stages.

The first stage is expected to start in the first quarter of 2009. First to be constructed are the golf course and infrastructure projects like roads. Neocove said they will be spending $250 million for this and will be completed by 2011.

Also expected to be competed first are the basic accommodations like the hotels, the school and the convention center.

The second phase will cost $500 million.

The whole project will take 10 years to complete.

Youn Jae Lee, chairman of HAPG said the slowdown in the world economy will have no impact on their plan because not only are they adequately capitalized, their target market are high end clients.

The target, he said, are long staying and community tenants mostly coming from the US and Korea.

“We hope to maximize the long-term opportunities provided by the various growth areas in this region tapping the future growth of lifestyle, health and real estate investment spending,” Lee added.