PSE board approves transfer to Bonifacio Global City

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Stock Exchange board has approved the relocation of its unified trading floor and corporate headquarters to Bonifacio Global City under a revised property deal with Ayala Land Inc.

The agreement with ALI paves the way for the construction of the PSE’s future headquarters and unified trading floor in BGC after a nine-year wait.

The PSE disclosed on Thursday that its board had approved the relocation of its offices and trading floor to a unified office in BGC to be developed by ALI and/or its affiliates.  The framework is expected to be discussed for final approval by the stockholders of the demutualized PSE during their annual meeting on May 5.

A spokesperson from ALI confirmed that under the framework, the PSE will get about 6,000 square meters of office space in the new complex within BGC’s West Super Block, right in the middle of BGC’s central business district, to be developed by ALI. The spokesperson said there was as yet no specific target date for completion. It was earlier reported that this project would take five years to complete but the PSE hopes it will be sooner.

The PSE will have the right to name the building, which is envisioned to be similar to the IFC complex in Hong Kong.

This office space is in exchange for the 2,000-square meter parcel of land originally donated to the PSE by the Fort Bonifacio developers as the site for its future headquarters.

Ayala plans to redevelop the old site and turn it into a residential complex.

The PSE was originally promised to have a new building in BGC by 2004, but the local bourse agreed to waive this after much haggling nine years ago. ALI, which took over the Fort Bonifacio project from the Metro Pacific group in 2002, further deferred the construction of the future PSE headquarters given the previous slump in the high-end property market.

The stock exchange currently operates two trading floors—one at Tower One on Ayala Avenue, Makati, and another at Tektike building in Ortigas. It has already put up for sale its office property in Ortigas and centralized corporate headquarters in Makati.