Global Estate eyes 5-fold hike in reservation sales

MANILA, Philippines - Global Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI), 60 percent-owned by Andrew Tan’s holding firm Alliance Global Group Inc., is eyeing reservation sales of P6 billion this year or more than five times the P1.1 billion generated in 2011, a top company official said.

At the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday, GERI president Ferdinand T. Santos said the firm remains bullish on its prospects this year with profit seen growing at least 20 percent to P264 million.

“ With our focus and expertise, GERI will truly seal its place as the leading developer of world-class integrated tourism estates in the country,” said Santos.

He said the company is on track to meet its financial targets this year given its strong performance in the first five months which saw reservation sales hitting P3 billion.

He said the company is ready to tap the capital market this year to fund its massive tourism-oriented projects – the 140-hectare Boracay Newcoast, the first and only master-planned integrated tourism estate in Boracay, and the 1,149 hectare Twin Lakes located in Laurel, Batangas.

The P15-billion Boracay Newcoast will house four world-class hotels with a total of 1,500 rooms, private villas, specialty and boutique beachfront hotels, as well as a variety of health and wellness centers.

The project, which encompasses 14 percent of the tourist island, will include an 18-hole championship-grade golf course, which is seen to attract 350,000 more visitors to Boracay each year.

With all these projects in place, the company is seen to post a net income of P1 billion in two to three years, Santos said.

The group is currently building Savoy Hotel which is seen to transform Boracay Newcoast as the Ibiza of Asia through various electronic dance music festivals. Part of the hotel complex is a row of retail establishments with a 400 square meter dance roof deck overlooking the pool and bar area.

Twin Lakes, on the other hand, will feature the first vineyard resort community overlooking the famous Taal Volcano and Taal Lake. It will offer themed residential living beginning with Domaine Le Jardin, which will rise on a 50-hectare area.

Twin Lakes is envisioned to become a premier medical and educational tourism destination in the country.

The project will also offer distinct themed phases from residential villages and golf course villas to a plantation community and lakeshore enclave with a view of Taal Lake.

Also in the pipeline is Sta. Barbara Heights in Iloilo, a 165-hectare mixed use estate which will showcase an international business park, a sports complex, with a world-class football field, and several offices and shops.

GERI assistant vice-president Alain A. Sebastian said the fund-raising activity could be done via a private placement, follow-on offering or rights issue.

 He said the company has doubled its capitalization to P20 billion to ensure it has enough shares available for issue should it opt to undertake an equity offering.