Filinvest upbeat on Cebu SRP project

MANILA, Philippines - Gotianun-led property firm Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) is upbeat on a planned mixed-use development within a 19.2-hectare reclaimed land at South Road Properties in Cebu City.

FLI president and CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap said the company is bullish on the SRP area given the booming economy of Cebu City, which is considered the country’s most important urban area next to Metro Manila.

She said 70 percent of the area would comprise the commercial component of the project.

“The requirement is 70 percent commercial and 30 percent residential.  So it will be a masterplanned community, she said on the sidelines of the listing of the company’s bonds yesterday.

Last month, FLI won the bidding for the 19.2-hectare SRP, enabling the property developer to expand its footprint in the reclaimed property, which is envisioned to be a new central business district in the province.

The commercial component includes the construction of office buildings by subsidiaries Cyberzone Properties., Filinvest Alabang Inc. and other possible strategic partners.

The project would complement FLI’s City di Mare, a P25 billion mixed-use estate which is also located at the SRP.

The whole SRP is a 300-hectare reclamation project of the Cebu City government. So far, roughly more than 200 hectares have already been reclaimed.

Separately, the SM Group and Ayala Land have teamed up to develop a new 26-hectare project in the SRP reclamation project.

Gotianun-Yap said FLI is going full blast with the expansion of its office and retail developments.

“We are tripling our office and retail rental portfolio to hit close to one million square meters of gross leasable areas in the next five years. We tap the long term bond market to match our funding sources with our project horizons,” she said.

FLI just raised P8 billion from the sale of seven and 10-year peso fixed-rate bonds.

Strong demand for the bonds due 2022 and 2025 enabled the company to exercise the oversubscription option.

To date, FLI has over 2,400 hectares of land and more than 600,000 sqm of prime office, retail and residential spaces. It launched P6 billion worth of projects in the first half of the year and is targeting a total of P16 billion for the entire year.