Posted on
December 27, 2012 10:34:13 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
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BUILDER Megawide Construction Corp. has carried out its planned complete
acquisition of real estate firm Altria East Land, Inc., turning the latter --
which owns the land on which Megawide’s plant is built -- into its wholly owned
subsidiary, Megawide said in a disclosure yesterday.
“Pursuant to
the memorandum of agreement executed on Dec. 17 by and between Megawide and
Altria and as disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on the same date, the
company today (Dec. 26) executed the appropriate sale and transfer documents
acquiring 100% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Altria from its
(Altria’s) existing shareholders, making Altria its (Megawide’s) wholly-owned
subsidiary,” the disclosure read.
Last Dec. 17,
Megawide announced that it signed a memorandum of agreement with Altria
acquiring all the latter’s total issued and outstanding capital stock for P53
million, in a move that finalized the acquisition that was first disclosed to
the stock exchange in November last year.
Altria owns a
12 hectare property in Taytay, Rizal, which is being leased by Megawide for its
existing pre-cast concrete manufacturing complex.
The pre-cast
plant, which is fully automated and is touted as one of the largest in the
country, enables the firm to handle larger projects and order volumes at a
shorter construction time, and expand and diversify into other infrastructure
ventures, Megawide said in its 2011 annual report.
The plant
enables Megawide to offer precast walls, columns, beams, and hollow-core slabs
for condominium buildings as well as girders for roads, bridges, and flyovers,
the same report read.
Prior to the
purchase, Michael C. Cosiquien, Megawide chairman and chief executive officer,
and Edgar B. Saavedra, Megawide chief operating officer and president, jointly
owned 40% of Altria’s issued and outstanding capital, Megawide said earlier
this month.
Megawide,
incorporated in 2004, is primarily engaged in site development, earthworks,
structural and civil works, masonry works, architectural finishes, electrical
works, plumbing and sanitary works, fire protection works, and mechanical
works.
It holds an
AAA construction license issued by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation
Board, making the firm eligible to participate in big-ticket private
infrastructure projects, according to the company’s Web site.
Megawide’s
partnership with Citicore Holdings Investment, Inc. is one of the two consortia
that bagged the contract for the P16.42-billion first phase of the government’s
Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) last
September. The project involves construction of roughly 9,300 classrooms in
Regions I, III, and IV-A. The company early this month signed a loan agreement
with PNB Capital & Investment Corp. for seven-year, fixed-rate corporate
notes worth P6.5 billion to bankroll the PSIP.
Megawide grew
its net profit by 77.36% to P633.50 million as of September from P357.18
million in the same nine months last year.
In the same comparative
periods, contract revenues climbed 23.57% to P5.61 billion from P4.54 billion,
while contract costs rose 20.88% to P4.69 billion from P3.88 billion.
“The increase
in contract revenues and its corresponding costs is mainly due to the following
new projects: Linear, Studio City and Studio Zen of Filinvest Land, Inc. and
Jazz Phase 2 and Grass Tower 2 of SM Development Corp.,” Megawide said in its
end-September financial report.
Megawide
shares were traded yesterday at P18.40 apiece, unchanged from their close on
Wednesday. -- FJGDLF
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