(Source: The Philippine Star | By Richmond S. Mercurio| July 1, 2015)
Two of the country’s largest property companies, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) and SM Prime Holdings Inc., joined forces anew to take their expertise and financial muscle to Cebu for a mixed-use masterplanned development in the bustling city.
In separate disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the property giants said they have won the local government’s bidding for a 26-hectare lot located at the reclaimed South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City.
SM Prime and ALI affiliate Cebu Holdings Inc. formed a consortium which participated and eventually secured the winning bid of P10 billion for the 26-hectare Lot No. 8-B-1 at SRP.
“Dubbed as the SM-ALI Group consortium, the consortium benefits from the combined financial muscle, technical expertise and the real estate experience of SM and the ALI Group. The SM-ALI Group will co-develop the property pursuant to a joint master plan,” the companies said in their statements.
ALI said Cebu Holdings is expected to bring in its local expertise in the consortium, having already developed two of Cebu’s prime business and lifestyle districts – the Cebu Business Park and the Cebu I.T. Park.
“Its masterplanned estates are the preferred locations for traditional office, BPO office and shopping center leasing. The various residential condominiums it has launched bring in over 4,500 units upon completion, making it the biggest real estate group offering the most number of units across a wide range of market segments in Cebu,” ALI said.
SM Prime, meanwhile, already has a 30-hectare property in SRP which it is developing into a mixed-use development anchored by a Mall-of-Asia-type of shopping center expected to open by yearend.
The property arm of the Sy family is currently one of the largest integrated property developers in Southeast Asia through its empire of malls and portfolio of residences, offices, hotels and convention centers.
“With the resources and expertise of these real estate companies, this newest development at the SRP is planned as another showcase of integrated, master planned and sustainable developments that will bring in more investments and jobs for the local economy,” ALI said.
Both SM Prime and ALI have earlier individually expressed interests to acquire properties in the 240-hectare SRP owned by the Cebu City government.
The two property giants recently formed an alliance after several clashes in previous years.
In November last year, the companies entered into a partnership agreement for the Ortigas family’s holding firm.
In February this year, the two firms again teamed up to form a powerhouse consortium called Trident Infrastructure and Development Corp. with Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and Megaworld Corp. The consortium will bid for the P123-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway and Dike Project.
“Ayala Land is pleased to have been awarded the 26-hectare South Road Properties lot in Cebu which we will jointly masterplan and develop with the SM Group. We look forward to working with them on this project which will be a mixed-use development in what we believe will be a major growth area in Cebu,” ALI president and chief executive officer Bobby Dy said.
