By Richmond S. Mercurio (The
Philippine Star) | Updated January 19, 2015 - 12:00am
Recently forged alliance starts making
presence felt
MANILA, Philippines - The
recently-forged business alliance between the Sy family and the Ayalas has
started making its presence felt in OCLP Holdings Inc., infusing its expertise
in mall and mixed-use developments to the owners of strategic land bank areas
in the Ortigas Business District.
In an interview, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI)
chief finance officer Jimmy Ysmael said both ALI and the SM Group are
revisiting master plans of ongoing OCLP developments to identify areas where
the two property giants can contribute.
“We will try to optimize the development
potential of the properties they are currently developing and also review the
master plans and see where we can contribute. Hopefully the expertise of ALI
and SM can actually be put together,” said Ysmael, who holds one of the two ALI
seats in the OCLP board.
Specifically, Ysmael said ALI is
looking to assist more on the mixed-use residential and office side of OCLP’s
projects while SM is eyeing to share its know-how in the development of
shopping centers.
The Sy family is behind the country’s
largest chain of shopping centers known as SM while the Ayalas have been at the
forefront of masterplanned townships such as Nuvali in Laguna and Bonifacio
Global City in Taguig.
“So that’s really how both of us are
effectively playing our roles in terms of how we’d like the company to move
forward,” Ysmael said.
Aside from injecting its respective
expertise, Ysmael said ALI and SM are also helping OCLP restructure its loans
as well as fix the company’s balance sheet.
SM and ALI in November last year ended
a two-year-long feud over OCLP after announcing that they will be partnering
instead with the Francisco Ortigas Group and the Rafael Ortigas Group.
OCLP’s existing developments include
the Greenhills Shopping Center, financial district Ortigas Center, value
regional shopping destination Tiendesitas in the mixed-use Frontera Verde,
residential areas Valle Verde subdivisions, Green Meadows, Greenhills
subdivisions, Luntala, Circulo Verde, Viridian in Greenhills, and Capitol
Commons.
“Ortigas now is working based on what we have
signed where all parties are working together for Ortigas. It is smooth sailing
so far,” said SM Investment Corp. chief finance officer Jeffrey C. Lim in a
separate interview.
