Philrealty exits rehabilitation

Property developer Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp. (Philrealty) has officially exited court-assisted corporate rehabilitation, becoming the first publicly listed company battered by the Asian financial crisis to graduate from court receivership.

In a recent disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philrealty said it had received from the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City the certificate of finality that approved the termination of its rehabilitation program.

“As recommended by the rehabilitation receiver, for its successful implementation of the court-approved rehabilitation plan, the petitioner’s motion to terminate rehabilitation proceeding on account of the successful implementation of the rehabilitation is hereby granted,” said the RTC certificate dated Jan. 4.

The court also thanked Philrealty’s rehabilitation receiver, Ricardo Ysmael, for leading the property developer to a successful rehabilitation.

Consequently, the PSE has agreed to remove Philrealty from its list of companies under corporate rehabilitation effective Feb. 3.

Philrealty has made plans for a big comeback to the property market after its exit from court-assisted rehabilitation.

It earlier announced diversification into energy, healthcare, education and financial services businesses to hedge against any potential downturn in the real estate cycle. While property will still be the company’s main business moving forward, the entry into these new businesses is seen to unlock new sources of recurring revenues seen to keep the company afloat if and when the real estate downturn happens.

The Lanuza family-led property company is valued by the stock market at around P1.99 billion.

As of end-September last year, Philrealty had about P3.34 billion in assets.

Net loss attributable to equity holders of parent company declined to P72 million in the first nine months from P93.37 million in the same period in 2015. Nine-month revenues surged by 86 percent year-on-year to P297.62 million.

“The company remains confident it will post positive results throughout the year,” Philrealty said in its management discussion on the nine-month results.