MANILA, Philippines – Megaworld Corp., the flagship property unit of tycoon Andrew L. Tan, has hiked its five-year spending program by about a quarter to embark on more township projects nationwide.
Megaworld said it is beefing up its capital expenditure (capex) to P285.8 billion until 2019 from the previously announced P230- billion budget.
“We have adjusted our capital spending to pave the way for the expansion of offerings in our existing townships and for the new additional township projects that we recently announced,” said Francisco Canuto, Megaworld senior vice president and corporate information officer.
For this year alone, Megaworld said it is earmarking P65 billion to build more residential and hotel projects, office buildings as well as malls and commercial centers inside its integrated urban townships.
The property giant is allocating 74 percent of its capex this year for township development while the remaining 26 percent is being allotted for land acquisition and property investments.
The Megaworld Group, which includes subsidiaries Suntrust Properties Inc., Empire East Land Holdings Inc. and Global-Estate Resorts Inc., is set to launch 22 residential projects in Metro Manila, Laguna, Batangas, Boracay, Iloilo and Bacolod this year.
The group also intends to launch three hotel towers in Boracay Newcoast, 10 office towers in McKinley West, McKinley Hill, Eastwood City, Woodside City, Davao Park District, and Southwoods City; and three malls and commercial centers across its townships around the country.
At the start of the year, Megaworld announced it is aggressively expanding its township footprint across the country as well, with five to be launched this year.
“Certainly, we have sufficient landbank and landholdings that will sustain our plans to further expand and grow our townships all over the Philippines. While we continue to create and expand our mixed-use communities in Metro Manila, we will also expand our presence in the provinces especially in major growth centers,” Canuto said.
The company ended 2014 with 15 township developments across the country.
The Megaworld Group also completed 16 residential projects and five BPO office towers with retail components last year.
Megaworld’s profits last year more than doubled to P21.6 billion from P9.03 billion the previous year, peaking at a new high behind robust real estate sales and rental income.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2015/04/07/1440979/megaworld-hikes-5-year-capex-p285.8-b