Originally Posted by mr. blood
Rockwell Land may expand in provinces
ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 05/11/2012 12:30 PM | Updated as of 05/11/2012 12:30 PM
MANILA, Philippines - High-end property developer Rockwell Land Corp. listed P9.1 billion worth of common shares by way of introduction in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Friday. This was the result of a property dividend declaration by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) of its 51% stake in the property firm.
Rockwell Land listed 6.22 million common shares at a listing price of P1.46 per common share.
Rockwell officials said the company has not yet decided on a follow-on offering, but with the strong stock market Rockwell Land president Nestor Padilla said "it should be in the cards."
The developer of the upscale development Rockwell Center in Makati City is also looking expand in the provinces in the future.
"We are looking at maintaining our competence which is the high-end. But if the opportunity presents itself, why not? We are also looking at the provincial market via interesting opportunities in Cebu and maybe even Davao. We will probably go into the provinces," Ambassador Manuel M. Lopez, chairman of Rockwell Land, told ANC.
"I think the opportunities in the provinces like Cebu and Davao would be an ideal place to promote tourism so once we go to these 2 provinces, you can be sure the tourism component would be very much active there," he added.
Rockwell is allocating P8 billion in capital expenditures for 2012. Padilla said at least 30% of the capex will be used to buy "a few prime properties."
In 2011, Rockwell Land posted a net income of P915 million, a 14% increase from P801 million in 2010.
Padilla attributed the 2011 results to strong development income from its condominium sales (60%) and from its retail and office buildings (40%). Both segments have been averaging 20% growth every year.
"We definitely want to expand not just the high-rise development income but also retail portion but it will always be led by our development income. It would go from 60-40, 65-35, but definitely we want to make sure that the retail and commercial portion of recurring income of Rockwell continues to be growing," he said.
Rockwell has several projects underway, including The Grove by Rockwell, a 5.4 hectare residential development in Pasig catering to the upper mid-market; The Edades Tower and Garden Villas, a 50-storey development in Rockwell Center.
The company also made its first foray into townhouse development with 205 Santolan in Quezon City. The exclusive community has 105 units and only began selling last April 27, but it is already more than 50% sold out.
"We liked the name. Our chairman was very intrigued why we wanted to call it Santolan. But it is what Rockwell does best, transforming areas which people have long neglected, like the Power Plant which is now the Rockwell Center. You have pockets of beautiful properties in Metro Manila and Santolan is one of those. It's a 2 hectare site. Nobody really paid attention to that property for a while and now that we have put together a nice plan, instead of high-rise we are going townhouse. The market is excited by that," Padilla said.
Rockwell will start constructing The Lopez Tower and Museum in Block 9 in Rockwell Center by mid-2012. The 20-storey tower will be the new headquarters of the Lopez Group of Companies and a new home for the Lopez art and literature collection.
Another project that will be launched is The Proscenium, whose design team is headed by renowned Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott. A 3.6 hectare prime property on the northeast of Rockwell Center will be developed with additional 5 residential towers, 15,000 sqm of retail, 10,000 sqm of office and a 700-seater performing arts theater.
|
May 11th, 2012, 11:52 AM
Threaded Mode