Posted on October 30, 2013 10:19:03 PM
[ BusinessWorld Online ]
PROPERTY DEVELOPER Ayala Land, Inc. is
preparing its counter proposal to SM Group’s P54.5-billion reclamation plan in
Pasay City, the listed firm said in a statement yesterday, adding that it has
been in talks with a foreign company on the venture.
“We have spoken to a leading international engineering company with vast
experience in reclamation all over the world, and they said that it will take a
minimum of two months to come up with a well thought-out development plan,”
Bernard Vincent O. Dy, Ayala Land executive vice-president, said in the
statement.
Ayala Land last week wrote Pasay City
Mayor Antonio G. Calixto that it was keen on challenging SM Land, Inc.’s
unsolicited proposal for a joint venture with the city government “to undertake
the raw land reclamation and horizontal development of 300 hectares.”
Ayala Land asked for additional 60
days from the Nov. 4 deadline set for submission of competing proposals, as
well as for the city government to reduce the P5 million bid document fee.
In its own proposal, SM Land said it
would complete the project within seven years from issuance of the notice to
proceed. SM Land will also reserve 153 hectares or 51% of the area to the Pasay
City government or the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
The Pasay City public-private
partnership office, in a notice published early this month, said interested
entities should have undertaken a similar reclamation project with an area
measuring at least 120 hectares, “preferably within the Manila Bay area,” and
should have a minimum capital of P50 billion.
Officials of the city government were
not immediately available for updates on Ayala Land’s requests.
Mr. Dy said reclamation project will
give Ayala Land a presence in the Manila Bay area, where 60-hectare SM Mall of
Asia Complex is located.
“This project is important to the
company as it presents an opportunity for us to have significant presence in
the Manila Bay area, contribute to the growth and progress of the city of
Pasay, and make the reclaimed area the country’s model of urban and sustainable
development,” Mr. Dy said.
SM Group, in a brief statement
yesterday, said: “If SM will be developing [the area], it will work together
with Pasay City to implement what will be good for Pasay and its community.”
Ayala Land ended the first half with a
net income of P6.62 billion, up 23.28% from P5.37 billion a year ago.
This as revenues rose 35.67% to P36.63
billion from P27.0 billion, while cost and expenses increased by 39.00% to
P27.51 billion from P19.79 billion.
SM Land, meanwhile, is a privately
held company of the Sy family that early this month merged with SM Prime
Holdings, Inc. as part of a consolidation effort that will leave the listed
mall developer as surviving entity.
Shares of Ayala Land climbed P1 or
3.45% to close P30.00 apiece yesterday from P29.00 on Tuesday, while those of
SM Prime rose 18 centavos or 0.97% to P18.68 each from P18.50. -- C. H. C.
Venzon
________________________________________________________
