ALI seeks more landed partners

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. is firming up several joint venture projects with some of the biggest landed clans across the country on expectations that the real estate sector will remain robust as confidence in the country’s economic prospects grow.

ALI president Antonino Aquino shared with reporters updates on ALI’s ongoing discussions with Palilio-led Boulevard Holdings Inc., which is developing the Puerto Azul resort complex in Cavite, and on the plans with the Aboitiz and Gaisano families in Cebu.

Talks with Boulevard Holdings are still in the pre-due diligence phase but Aquino said the actual process, also meant to determine which portions of the 3,000-hectare property can be developed, should be done in four months.

“We just came out with an agreement to talk and we will come around with the various requisites you have to do prior to official due diligence work.  The due diligence should take about 100 days,” Aquino told reporters at the launch of Solstice, a high-rise residential tower in Circuit, a mixed-use leisure and entertainment complex in Makati City.

“We are talking about leisure-type communities. Similar to what we have in Anvaya and El Nido,” Aquino said, referring to ALI’s resort complex in Morong, Bataan and its beach resorts in Palawan, respectively.

The company is also ramping up its presence in Cebu. ALI, in partnership with Aboitiz Land Inc., is looking to develop a third business district in Cebu City.

Cebu Holdings Inc., a 49.8-percent owned unit of ALI, has so far developed two sites in Cebu: The 50-hectare Cebu Business Park and the 27-hectare Cebu I.T. Park. Aquino says there may be room for one more similar business hub in the province.

“With Aboitiz Land, we will acquire something together. This will effectively be the third business district-oriented development in Cebu,” Aquino said.

Moreover, ALI earlier agreed to take a 55- percent stake in a joint venture with Gaisano-led Vicsal Group to develop a 12-hectare property in Mactan Island near Shangri-La Hotel.

“It is more of a leisure type of development,” Aquino said.

ALI’s broader goal is to find partners to replicate across the country its successful mixed-use developments like Makati City and Bonifacio Global City. In Mindanao, ALI has already partnered with the Floirendo family to build the mixed-use Abreeza project in Davao.

In March, the builder tapped the Alcantara family to develop a 25-hectare mixed-use community in Lanang, Davao.

Standard and Poor’s last week raised the Philippines’s debt rating to investment grade, a month after a similar move by Fitch Ratings.

The local unit of property consultancy and brokerage firm Colliers International said last week that the outlook for the Philippine real estate sector remained buoyant. This was further bolstered by the affirmation of a ratings upgrade.