By Jenniffer
B. Austria | Jun. 28, 2015 at 10:40pm
Ayala Land
Inc. said it is still undecided if it will make a bid for the property or not,
despite purchasing auction documents for the Clark Green City project.
Ayala Land
chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said in an interview at the sidelines of a
recentforum sponsored by the Shareholders Association of the Philippines the
company had not made a decision on the master-planned new metropolis in Central
Luzon because of the “lease-hold” strategy of the project.
“We looked at
it and we are looking at it. But I don’t know exactly if we are going to bid
for that. We are still studying it,” Ysmael said.
He said there
was no development potential for Clark Green City project because of its
lease-hold feature.
“Lease-hold
has very limited or no development potential. But it is still an interesting project. We will just have to
figure it out how we will develop it considering that it is lease-hold,” Ysmael
said.
The amended
term of reference issued by state-owned Bases Conversion Development Authority
for the bidding of the phase 1 of the Clark Green City stated that the winning
property firm should enter into a 50-year long term lease agreement, renewable
for another 25 years, with the government.
Another
factor that is holding back Ayala Land from bidding in the project is the huge mixed-use township development it is
developing in Porac, Pampanga called Alviera.
Alviera is a
1,100-hectare development, where Ayala Land plans to invest P90 billion over
the next 20 years. “We plan to focus on that first,” Ysmael said.
Phase 1 of
the Alviera involves 207 hectares comprising of the new industrial park, the
country club, two academic institutions and three Ayala Land residential
communities.
Robinsons
Land Corp. earlier said its interest level in the rebidding of Clark Green City
was not high because it involves a long term lease on the property and not an
actual sale.
Other
companies looking to Clark Green City is Megaworld Corp. of tycoon Andrew Tan
and Filinvest Land Inc. of the Gotianun family.
The BCDA last
week said it extended for two months the bidding of phase 1 of Clark Green City development to give property
developers more time to study the project.
Meanwhile,
Ysmael said it would defer to next year its planned issue of up to P2-billion
Homestarter Bonds.
Homestarter
Bonds is an interest-earning financial instrument that primarily targets retail
investors who plan to invest funds that may be used as full or partial
downpayment in the purchase of an Ayala Land property.
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