By Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine
Star) | Updated October 15, 2015 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Mass housing
giant Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. will enter into partnerships for its foray
into healthcare.
On the sidelines of the 2015 Forbes
Global CEO Conference, Vista Land founder and chairman Manuel B. Villar said
the company is pursuing plans to go into the healthcare business via joint
ventures.
“Our share will be the land so there
wouldn’t be much cash out. We’re continuously open (to expand in other
businesses). The group has been quite active for the last five years. We’re
going into healthcare and hotel and we have been expanding our mall business,”
Villar said.
Villar said the company would continue
to beef up its land bank to ensure its steady growth.
“We have to keep on buying. There are
places where we have a lot of land. There are areas we have just enough and
when we’ve utilized (the land), we will expand some more and buy the adjacent
properties,” Villar said.
To date, Vista Land has a land bank of
at least 2,500 hectares nationwide.
Villar said the firm remains unfazed
by the uncertainties in the global economy.
“We’re not affected by any significant
changes. Our market is the end-user market and they don’t depend on economic
indicators for their decisions,” he said.
The former senator said Vista Land
would continue to embark on its share buy-back program to take advantage of the
stock’s low price.
“The price is low and we do not want to miss
out on this opportunity,” he said.
“You will not have this opportunity
again and people who do not buy at these prices will regret not having done
so,” he added.
In a recent research report, Regina
Capital Development Corp. said the 19.17 percent drop in Vista Land’s share
price this year has placed it well below its net book value of P6.61 per share
and fair value of P8.55 a share.
Vista Land has allotted P1.5 billion for
the share buyback program.
“We have a lot of options. We can use
it as part of a follow on offering or sell these to investors,” he said.
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