Filinvest completes Cebu property purchase

A consortium led by Filinvest Land, Inc. (FLI) has completed buying a 19.2-hectare property in South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City yesterday, which it plans to develop into a mixed-use development project.

In a statement to the stock exchange Wednesday, the Gotianun-led property developer said it had signed the deed of absolute sale with the city government of Cebu yesterday indicating a price of P6.7 billion for the parcel of land.

Apart from FLI, the consortium is joined by Filinvest Alabang, Inc.; Cyberzone Properties, Inc.; Sytengco-owned Anesy Holding Corp.; Betterfield Phils. Corp. and Igold Holdings Corp.

“We were the first investor in SRP, the first to see its high growth potentials, and the first to believe in it. We are very happy with the fulfillment of this acquisition,” Josephine Gotianun-Yap, president and chief executive officer of FLI parent Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), said in the statement.

The consortium is looking at building a mixed-use development with residential, office, commercial and retail elements in the piece of land. This project is eyed to fit FLI’s existing 40-hectare City di Mare township and 10-hectare Il Corso commercial development in SRP.

“We now have a total developable land size of around 70 hectares which is the biggest share owned by any developer in the SRP. We are excited about what we can develop given the large size of land we have and influence the trend and development directions in SRP to maximize its growth potentials,” Ms. Gotianun-Yap added.

The signing of the deed of sale yesterday follows the consortium’s full payment of P6.7 billion to the Cebu City government last Dec. 19. It had earned the right to buy the 19.2-hectare land when it won a public bidding by the local government in July 2015.

FLI currently has more than 200 residential developments spread across the country, some of which are the 60-hectare Manna East in Rizal, Ciudad de Calamba, 50-hectare City di Mare in Cebu and 51-hectare Palm Estates in Talisay City.

It is also the developer behind the 288-hectare industrial and logistics park at the New Clark City and 201-hectare Filinvest Mimosa+Leisure City in the Clark Special Economic Zone.

FLI reported its earnings in the first three quarters of 2019 rose 7% to P4.44 billion amid a 15% increase in revenues to P18.43 billion.

Its shares at the stock exchange showed a 3-centavo or 1.97% uptick to P1.55 apiece on Wednesday. Shares in FLI parent FDC, meanwhile, slipped 10 centavos or 0.75% to P13.20 each. — Denise A. Valdez