Ongpin group ends row with Ashmore over Alphaland Corp.

ALPHALAND Tower on Ayala Avenue. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The group of former Trade Minister Roberto V. Ongpin has ended its squabble with British fund Ashmore by giving up some assets in exchange for its exit as shareholder in local property firm Alphaland Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Alphaland said it had settled its disputes with Ashmore-led Alphaland Holdings (Singapore) Pte. (AH) and Masrickstar Corp. (MC) by transferring the following assets to a newly incorporated company owned by these two companies:

* 100 percent of Alphaland Makati Tower Inc., which owns The Alphaland Tower along Ayala Avenue in Makati;

* 100 percent of each of Alpahaland Marina Club Inc. and Alphaland Marina Corp., which is developing a marina project along the Manila Bay reclamation area in Paranaque;

* 50 percent ownership of the Alphaland group in Alphaland Bay City Corp., the joint venture with the Wenceslao group to develop the 32-hectare Alphaland Bay City project at the Aseana Business Park in Paranaque; and,

* 60 percent interest owned by the company in the Boracay Gateway project, the unincorporated joint venture between the company and Akean Resorts Corp. to develop the latter’s 500 hectares of land in Caticlan and Nabas, Aklan.

In return, AH and MC will transfer all of their interest in Alphaland Corp. back to the company. AH and MC will also pay Alphaland P2.5 billion in cash in two tranches.

“As a result of these transactions, AH and MC will no longer be shareholders of the company and the company will no longer have any stake in the transferred interests,” the disclosure said.

Alphaland will then remain majority-owned and controlled by Ongpin’s group and keep the following assets: Alphaland Southgate Tower and Mall, Makati Place (including The City Club), Balesin Island Club and Baguio Mountain Lodge Homes.

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