Philrealty seeks exit from rehab plan

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Realty Corp. is seeking to exit from a court-assisted rehabilitation program following the completion of its Andrea North Skyline project, a P2-billion, 32-story high-end residential tower in New Manila, Quezon City.

Philrealty president Amador C. Bacani told the Philippine Stock Exchange that their lawyer has filed before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court a motion to terminate rehabilitation proceeding on account of the successful implementation of the court-approved recovery plan.

Andrea North Skyline is the second major component of Philrealty’s court approved rehabilitation plan and is the first of the planned five luxury towers to rise on the former site of the Pepsi Cola plant. It houses 340 units, consisting of one-to four-bedrooms with sizes ranging from 45 to 220 square meters. Unit prices are in the range of P3 million to P12 million each.

Philrealty filed for rehabilitation with the courts after being saddled with losses since the slump of the real estate industry in 1997.

Once a high-profile real estate company, Philrealty is primarily known for its projects in the Ortigas Center, foremost of which is the Tektite Towers – the original headquarters of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

Philrealty’s other projects and landbank include the Alexandra, a luxury mid-rise residential condominium in Ortigas and La Isla, an exclusive high-end condominium with 28 units on a 20-story building.

Company officials earlier said they were hoping to trim the firm’s debts to just P60 million by end-2010 through dacion en pago agreements.

From P829.5 million in 2006, Philrealty has managed to bring down its debt to just P532 million at the end of 2007 with cash generated from the sale of a lot in Fort Bonifacio and proceeds of a joint venture of another lot in the former military complex dubbed Icon Residences, a two 34-story luxury residential condominium building.

In the nine months ending in September 2010, Philrealty reported a 31.9-percent growth in net income to P35.66 million, due to the increase in dividend income from A.Brown Co. Inc. of P19.1 million, a reversal of the allowance for the decline in value of a lot in Bonifacio Global City.

Revenues rose more than three-fold to P387.19 million on strong sales of condominium lots. The company booked new sales of P141.22 million from its Andrea North Skyline tower last year.