Robinsons retail arm mulls $800-M IPO

MANILA, Philippines - Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the property development arm of tycoon John Gokongwei, is reportedly planning to conduct an $800-million listing for its retail group.

Robinsons Retail Group, the company behind Robinsons supermarkets and department stores, might list in the local bourse this year, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

However, officials of Securities and Exchange Commission were not immediately available to confirm if Robinsons Retail Group already filed for an initial public offering (IPO).

“We cannot comment,” Bach Johann Sebastian, senior vice-president of RLC’s parent firm JG Summit Holdings Inc., also said in a text message.

In October 2010, JG Summit’s Cebu Air Inc., which operates budget carrier Cebu Pacific, conducted a $539-million IPO, the largest share sale in the local bourse in dollar terms.

It was also the largest IPO of a low cost carrier globally, beating Tiger Airways’ $175.94 million and Air Asia’s $220.32 million.

JG Summit is also into banking (Robinsons Bank Corp.), petrochemicals (JG Summit Petrochemicals Corp.), and snacks and beverage (Universal Robina Corp.).

Meanwhile, RLC reported that its net income hit P1.24 billion in January to March period, up 14 percent from P1.09 billion in the same period last year.

Revenues, derived from real estate sales and hotel operations, jumped nearly a quarter to P4.19 billion from P3.37 billion a year ago.

“Total real estate revenues were up by 17.3 percent to P7.14 billion against last year’s P6.09 billion, while hotel revenues went up by 14.5 percent to P777.8 million,” RLC said.

RLC increased its capital spending to P13 billion in the fiscal year ending September to take advantage of the property boom.

Of the capital allotment, two-thirds will be spent for the development of malls, office buildings and hotels while the remaining 33 percent will be taken up by residential condominium projects and housing units.

RLC’s capital spending dropped to P9.5 billion in the fiscal year 2012 from P13.9 billion in 2011 but was higher than the P6.5 billion in 2010.

The company, one of the top property firms in the country, has built 32 malls, 33 residential projects and eight office buildings to date.

Aside from its core property businesses, RLC is entering the gaming business. Late last year, it sealed a deal with Japanese gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada to jointly develop a $2-billion hotel and casino complex in the 100-hectare Entertainment City along Roxas Boulevard.

Okada’s Tiger Resorts & Leisure Corp. is one of four groups that were granted a license by the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp. to operate a casino on a reclaimed land along Manila Bay, which the government expects to turn into the world’s number two gaming destination ahead of Singapore and Las Vegas and behind only Macau.