Alphaland plans leisure estate, airport projects

Property developer Alphaland Corp. plans to refinance debt, bankroll a new international airport near the island-resort Balesin and develop a leisure estate in Baguio using proceeds from a P5.5-billion term loan facility obtained from the country’s leading lender BDO Unibank.

Alphaland recently signed a loan agreement with BDO for the seven-year financing facility. Of the total, about P4 billion would be used to refinance all of Alphaland’s existing loans and the balance of P1.5 billion would be to jumpstart Alphaland’s new projects, the property developer said in a statement.

Alphaland chair Roberto V. Ongpin said in an e-mail to the Inquirer that the new projects were the Baguio Mountain Lodges and the Balesin Gateway on Patnanungan Island, 23 nautical miles from Balesin.

“The Baguio project is on an 80-hectare property, only nine kilometers from Pacdal Circle in Baguio City, where we will be constructing a total of 300 log homes over a period of three years,” Ongpin said.

“The Balesin Gateway project consists of 750 hectares on Patnanungan Island where we intend to build an international airport so that overseas guests and members of Balesin can bypass the mess in Manila and be able to enjoy Balesin Island much more easily,” Ongpin added.

Ongpin said he would announce more details of the new projects in the coming weeks.

On the debt-refinancing program, Alphaland has existing bank loans maturing in the next two to three years. The seven-year term loan from BDO, with a one-year grace period, is seen to stretch out maturities and greatly improve the property firm’s financial position.

Additionally, the interest rates from the BDO loan are more favorable than those of its existing loans with other banks. “We very much welcome this vote of confidence from the largest bank in the country, and Alphaland looks forward to many years of having BDO as its principal financier,” Ongpin said. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA