FILINVEST Land, Inc. (FLI) will continue developing its residential projects across the country while working on increasing its gross leasable area (GLA).

“We will be in new emerging regional hubs. We want to expand geographically in areas that we are not yet present, and strengthen our foothold in areas we are already in,” FLI Chief Finance Officer Ana Venus A. Mejia said in a video call with BusinessWorld last week.

The company said it will continue its township and estate developments in Clark New City, Clark Mimosa, Ciudad de Calamba, Timberland, IL Corso in Cebu, among others.

Meanwhile, it will also continue the build-up for its GLA.

“We have laid the groundwork for our industrial and logistics segment in New Clark City. We have tapped on the co-living segment of the residential market, and we will continue to look at new trends with growth potential. In office, we are looking at co-working spaces other than the regular office leasing,” Ms. Mejia added.

FLI is also gearing up to dip into the real estate investment trust (REIT) market through its subsidiary, Cyberzone Properties, Inc. (CPI).

CPI has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering and is also seeking permission to change its name to Filinvest REIT Corp. or FILREIT. Both are still pending approval.

REIT OPPORTUNITIES
FLI has a two-fold objective in listing a REIT — it wants to provide an alternative choice for investments in the market and second, to support its expansion projects.

“A REIT offering will enable us to recycle capital to fund expansion projects,” CPI President Maricel Brion-Lirio said in the video call. “In the event any of these new developments are infused into the REIT, we believe such infusion will in turn add to the liquidity and size of REIT company going forward.”

The initial REIT portfolio includes 17 buildings, 16 of which are nestled in its 18.7-hectare development in Alabang’s Filinvest City, Northgate Cyberzone. Meanwhile, one building is located in Filinvest Cebu Cyberzone in Cebu IT Park.

Aside from its sustainability thrust and the accessibility of buildings in its portfolio, FLI offers its building tenants an “expansion option.”

“Unlike other REITs that may only have standalone buildings, our tenants have the option to expand within the vicinity since we have a pipeline of Grade A buildings inside the PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) IT park that will be more cost effective for the locators to connect,” Ms. Brion-Lirio said, adding that their leasing business has a strong history of renewals.

For its REIT listing, up to 1.63 billion CPI common shares owned by FLI will be sold at P8.30 each at most through a secondary offer, with an overallotment option of 163.42 million.

Net proceeds from the offer are estimated to amount to P13.03 billion, and up to P14.35 billion should the overallotment option be exercised.

“All proceeds from the IPO will be received by FLI, the selling shareholder,” Ms. Mejia said in a follow-up e-mail on Thursday.

“FLI will use the proceeds from the offer per its reinvestment plan. This includes the capex (capital expenditures) for largely for office buildings, residential mid-rise buildings, industrial warehouses and raw land acquisition. Some portion will also go to capex for retail malls and the expansion of the district cooling system,” she added.