By Jenniffer
B. Austria | Posted on Aug. 12, 2013 at 12:01am | manilastandardtoday.com
Ayala Land
Inc., the country’s biggest property developer, said it will accelerate capital
spending and project launchings in the second half of the year amid a favorable
outlook on the industry and the overall economy.
Ayala Land
chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the company was committed to spend the
balance of P42.5 billion in capital expenditures in the second half of the year
as part of an aggressive program.
Ayala Land in
the first six months of the year spent P23.2 billion in project and capital
expenditures, up 24 percent from P18.7 billion year-on-year. It spent the bulk
of the capital spending budget for residential development (33 percent), land
acquisition (23 percent), offices (17 percent), shopping centers (16 percent)
and hotels and resorts (3 percent).
The first
half-budget accounted for just 35 percent of the P65.7-billion programmed
spending for 2013.
“The economy
remains favorable, driven by strong remittances, consumer spending and low
interest rates. We will accelerate spending for the remainder of the year,”
Ysmael said.
Ysmael said the
company would also focus on boosting office development and mixed-use
communities.
Ayala Land is
close to acquiring five office buildings in Bonifacio Global City owned by
Apollo Global Real Estate of US billionaire Leon Black.
A
highly-placed source earlier said Ayala Land submitted the highest bid to
acquire Apollo’s stake in the five office buildings with a total gross leasable
area of 147,000 square meters.
The source
said Ayala Land’s bid was P5 billion higher than the next offer, which was
submitted by Robinsons Land Corp. The
source did not specify the exact bids of Ayala Land and Robinsons Land.
Apollo Global
Real Estate, which has about $9 billion of assets, is the property investment
arm of New York-based Apollo Global Management LLC, a global alternative
investment manager with $113 billion in assets run by Black, who was a
co-founder of the company.
The towers on
sale include the Net Plaza, Net Quad, Net Cube, Net Square and Net One Center
which are fully leased. The tenants include Accenture Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc,
Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Ayala Land
last week reported that first-half net income grew 30 percent to P5.62 billion
from P4.33 billion on year, fueled by the strong performance of its property
development, commercial leasing and construction businesses.
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