Filinvest taps Landbank to fund water, hotel projects

MANILA, Philippines — Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) is tapping the Land Bank of the Philippines to finance its projects, particularly in the water and hospitality sectors.

In a statement, Landbank said it recently met with FDC executives led by its president and CEO Lourdes Josephine Gotianun-Yap to discuss various potential projects in the pipeline of the conglomerate.

Landbank president and CEO Cecilia Borromeo said the exploratory meeting tackled projects in real estate, power and energy, hospitality and sugar production.

In particular, Landbank and FDC discussed funding requirements for the latter’s water desalination project in Cebu.

It was in 2021 when Filinvest’s utility arm, FDC Utilities Inc., secured a 25-year bulk water supply deal with Metro Cebu Water District.

The company planned to put up desalination plants to supply potable water to the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay.

The desalination facilities, which are FDC Water’s flagship projects, will utilize seawater to be processed using the high recovery seawater desalination technology of its technical partner, Hitachi Ltd. of Japan.

Further, Landbank and FDC discussed the expansion of the listed firm’s hotel operations, as well as its real estate businesses under Filinvest Land Inc (FLI).

It was also in 2021 when Landbank last granted a P2-billion loan to FLI to partially finance its expansion programs.

FDC is involved in the construction and sale of low-cost and medium-cost housing units, as well as the development of commercial districts, leisure projects such as farm estates and sports clubs, and construction of residential and office condominiums.

It is also involved in mall, theater, and resort hotel operations, banking and financial services, sugar farming and milling, and power generation.

Among FDC’s operating hospitality projects are the Crimson Resort and Spa in Mactan and Boracay, Crimson Hotel in Alabang, Quest Hotel and Conference Centers in Cebu and Clark, and Mimosa Golf in Clark.