Cebu Landmasters share price up 3.2% on debut

Property developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. rose on its stock market debut yesterday, signaling that investors were optimistic on the company’s prospects in Visayas and Mindanao, the growth areas seen to benefit under President Duterte.

The company, which listed under the ticker “CLI,” closed 3.2 percent higher to P5.16 per share on its first day of trading, after gaining as much as 7.8 percent earlier in the session. BDO Capital & Investment Corp. served as issue manager.

The Friday listing came amid a cloud of unexpected tragic news: A shooting incident in Resorts World Manila overnight. It was unrelated to CLI’s business, but the event hurt investor sentiments, with the benchmark index ending lower by 0.25 percent.

In a briefing after CLI’s listing ceremonies, company founder and CEO Jose Soberano III shared his satisfaction with the company’s P2.9-billion initial public offering, the third to list in 2017.

“We are happy to be here,” Soberano said, adding that they had big growth plans. “This is the time to roll-up our sleeves and really work hard.”

Started 12 years ago, CLI is considered the biggest homegrown real estate developer in Cebu, with a wide footprint in the residential market.

But Soberano said its edge in the industry was its focus in Visayas and Mindanao and its ambition to become a full-range builder, with assets spanning homes, commercial and office buildings as well as hotels.

It has already taken initial steps toward this goal. IPO funds will help finance its next expansion phase, including a plan for recurring income to contribute about a fifth of revenues in five years, from the current 5 percent, he said.

He said the company’s landbank spanned about 60 hectares.
About 11 projects will be launched in 2017, he added. Among these was an almost one-hectare mixed-use project in Metro Cebu to be called AS Fortuna Center Mandaue. Residential projects are also being eyed for its popular economic housing brand, Casa Mira, in Dumaguete and Bacolod.

Among its most ambitious projects is a proposed 100-hectare reclamation project in the Municipality of Minglanilla. CLI has about 20 percent stake in the venture. It would still require a Swiss challenge, but once completed, the company said the project would be a massive business park employing some 75,000 people in a location just 30 minutes away from Cebu City.