Real estate investment trust (REITs) will continue to dominate the Philippine stock market with at least four companies still readying to list in the second half of the year.
The Filinvest Group’s FILREIT successfully debuted in the market last week, raising P12.6 billion as the third REIT to list in the local bourse following the Ayala Group’s pioneering AREIT Inc. and Double Dragon’s DDMP REIT.
Moving forward, Filinvest Land Inc. president Josephine Gotianun-Yap said FILREIT will see more asset infusion in the future coming from Filinvest Group’s portfolio of different asset classes including hospitality and retail.
The Gokongwei Group’s RL Commercial REIT Inc. (RCR) will be the next to list on September 14 after obtaining the approval of the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE).
RCR aims to raise up to P26.7 billion and upon its target listing, RCR is poised to be the largest REIT by portfolio valuation and asset size, longest in land lease tenure, and most geographically diversified office REIT in the country.
It proposed to offer up to 3.34 billion common shares at a maximum offer price of P7.31 per share, with an over-allotment option of up to 305 million common shares.
After RCR will come the REIT offering of Andrew Tan’s MREIT Inc., which is looking to list on September 30. It has already been given the greenlight
Megaworld’s MREIT plans to offer secondary shares of up to 1.2 billion common shares at an offer price of up to P22.00 per share, with proceeds of up to P27.3 billion to be reinvested to further expand its office portfolio.
Aside from the two soon-to-list REITs, the Villar Group’s Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. and Megawide’s Citicore Power Inc. are also looking to do REITs.
Vista Land plans to do an office REIT while Citicore is targeting to become the first energy REIT offering in the country.
The company is considering the REIT listing as part of its bold plan to add 1,500 megawatts in its solar power capacity. The REIT could raise as much as P10 billion in proceeds.
In all, a total of nine companies are looking to do a REIT offering as early as this year, riding on the huge potential of REITs to realize the value of a company’s real estate assets, David Leechiu, president and CEO of Leechiu Property Consultants said in a recent forum.
Companies with income-generating real estate assets are considered REITs. These companies include offices, apartment buildings, hotels and warehouses.
The PSE is also hoping that more companies will join the REIT bandwagon, saying that it unlocks the value of property assets and enables companies to recycle capital.