August 5, 2019 | 12:05 am [ bworldonline.com ]
MASS HOUSING developer 8990 Holdings, Inc. is in talks to acquire up to 200 hectares of land in Pampanga for more than P1 billion.
8990 Holdings President and Chief Executive Officer Willibaldo J. Uy said they are in “very close acquisition mode” for a 180 to 200-hectare property in the province.
“We’re talking to about four to five people (to sell the property), it’s contiguous… There are several places in Pampanga that we’re talking about, all within the same area,” Mr. Uy told reporters after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Makati last week.
The listed firm plans to transform the property into a socialized and low-cost housing project, as part of its effort to expand to second-tier cities. Once it closes the acquisition, Mr. Uy is hoping they can start developing the land by 2020, should they secure all the necessary permits.
“We’re looking now at second-tier cities, the provinces. But our priority is always in highly populated areas,” Mr. Uy said.
8990 Holdings ended the first quarter of 2019 with 701 hectares in its land bank, up from the 478 hectares it had by end-2018. The company earlier said it can generate P154 billion in sales across all geographic locations from its 2018 land bank.
To date, the company’s largest project is the 13-hectare Urban Deca Homes Ortigas along Ortigas Avenue Extension. The development consists of 22 buildings with 19,000 units sized anywhere from 27-40 square meters (sq.m.). It is expected to generate at least P30 billion in sales for the next four to five years.
Mr. Uy said they have already sold 652 Urban Deca Homes Ortigas units worth about P1.2 billion, seeing strong demand from workers near the area.
The top executive also noted that they are seeing strong sales from its Urban Deca Homes Manila project in Tondo, Manila which houses 13 towers offering over 13,000 units.
“What we noticed this quarter is the sales of our Tondo project have really gone up…We’ve already sold about 5,000 units,” Mr. Uy said.
Meanwhile, the condominium manager of the Tondo project is currently facing a case from the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) over its exclusive deal with an internet service provider and its alleged “abuse of dominance.”
Mr. Uy said they are already settling the case with the PCC.
“We think the settlement is fair. The discussion that we’ve had is a learning experience from both sides, we saw our mistake…from now on we have to be careful about these things, we have to check,” he explained.
8990 Holdings’ net income attributable to the parent went up by 17% to P1.18 billion in the first quarter of 2019, following a 20% uptick in gross revenues to P3.01 billion. — Arra B. Francia
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