GSIS expects P1.7B from auction of 3 lots
Roberto Vergara, GSIS president and general manager (Photo from gsis.gov.ph)
MANILA, Philippines—The state-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) expects to generate at least P1.7 billion from next week’s auction of three prime properties in the cities of Muntinlupa and Taguig, according to its top executive.
GSIS president and general manager Robert G. Vergara told a press conference on Wednesday that the state pension fund has scheduled a bidding of the following assets for Sept. 23: two adjacent lots at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) located at the corner of 25th Street and 6th Avenue and the corner of the 25th Street and 7th Avenue, with a combined area of 3,200 square meters; and the two-hectare former Water Fun resort property in Sucat.
The minimum bid price for both BGC properties is P325,000 per square meters, while the Sucat lot costs P35,000 per sqm, according to Vergara.
The three properties are expected to generate a total of P1.712 billion in revenues for GSIS—P520 million each from the two BGC lots, and P672 million from the Sucat property.
Those who would offer the most cash for these properties would be declared the winning bidders, Vergara said.
The executive disclosed that this auction cycle attracted the “most number” of interested bidders, with eight parties having already expressed interest in buying bid documents ahead of the September 19 deadline for purchase.
Among the interested parties were companies controlled by conglomerates led by the Ayala and Gokongwei families, he added.
The GSIS board would meet to determine if the agency could dispose some more assets in the next three months, the executive said.
As of the end of June, the total resources of GSIS stood at P871 billion, up from P786 billion as of the end of 2013.
In the same six-month period, its net income grew to P41 billion from P33 billion in 2013. The higher profit reflected the gains booked from the reclassification of held to maturity portfolio into available for sale, Vergara said.
Total revenues in the first half rose to P83 billion from P67 billion during the first six months of last year. Over half of revenues or P43-billion worth came from social insurance contributions.
The total investment portfolio as of the end of August, meanwhile, reached P837 billion, of which almost half were contributed by fixed income investments, and over a fourth from loans to members. Investments in equities comprised 17 percent.
In Iine with its plans to increase equities, GSIS early this year added three more external fund managers—First Metro, Philequity and RCBC—to its earlier five, namely BDO, BPI, Maybank, Metrobank and Philam Asset Management, Vergara said.
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