INQUIRER FILES

Zobel family-led property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has taken over its joint venture with the Aboitiz group after securing the Philippine Competition Commission’s approval, thus consummating a P1.81-billion share purchase deal.

In separate stock exchange disclosures on Tuesday, ALI and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) said they had signed the Deed of Assignment of Shares, which would allow the Ayala company to acquire the 50-percent ownership held by both AEV and Aboitiz Land Inc. in Cebu District Property Enterprise Inc. (CDPEI).

The transaction involves 1.81 million common shares owned by Aboitiz Land and 16.29 million series A preferred shares owned by AEV at P100 each.

READ: Ayala Land earnings up 15% to P21.2B

ALI now fully owns CDPEI, which is currently developing the 17.6-hectare Gatewalk Central mixed-use estate in Mandaue City, Cebu province.

“ALI envisions Gatewalk Central to be one of its key Cebu estates that will contribute to ALI’s growing presence in the Visayas region,” the Ayala-led developer said in its disclosure.

The respective boards of ALI and AEV approved the deal on February 29 this year.

In the January to June period, record-high revenues and strong demand due to rebounding consumer activity buoyed ALI’s earnings by 15 percent to P13.1 billion.

Revenues expanded by 28 percent to P84.3 billion as property development revenues surged by more than a third to P51.9 billion.

Residential revenues, meanwhile, soared by 40 percent to P43.7 billion, while revenues from commercial and industrial lots jumped by a fifth to P6.3 billion.

ALI launched P33.7 billion worth of projects in the first semester, 92 percent of which were from its premium brands, Ayala Land Premier and Alveo Land.

The company said more than 70 percent of its remaining project launches for the year would still be under these brands, given the prevailing weakness of the middle income and affordable segments.

Data from property investment management firm Colliers Philippines show that as of end-September, residential vacancy in Metro Manila reached 17.4 percent.

In the third quarter alone, there were 27,200 unsold condominium units in the region, 32 percent of which are in the lower mid-income segment; 25 percent, upper mid-income; and 24 percent, affordable.

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As a result, Colliers said developers were now favoring land outside Metro Manilamegapanalo, including Cebu.

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