FLI seeks partners for Clark project

Property giant Filinvest Land Inc. wants to lure foreign locators, particularly Japanese companies, to invest in its massive Clark Green City project in Pampanga province.

Joseph Yap, president of FLI subsidiary Cyberzone Properties Inc., said the group was in talks with various foreign groups for a possible partnership covering certain portions of the 288-hectare mixed-use project, a venture with state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

“For the moment, the Japanese are seriously looking at the Philippines,” Yap said in an interview last week.

He said Japanese firms were looking to diversify, after “investing so much” in China and Thailand.

“The growth story of the Philippines is good,” Yap said.

Also, Yap noted that his group had received a “steady stream” of partnership proposals from Taiwanese and Chinese groups.

Yap said Filinvest would consider a tie-up only if the partner could add value to the project beyond financial resources.

“Major developers don’t need money, [we] are not going around looking for investments. But there is a lot of interest in the Philippines now,” Yap said.

“For the industrial park section [ of Clark Green City], we might be open to an investor who can add value, meaning if we can bring in a partner and they can bring in locators, it will make sense,” he added.

Clark Green City is a key part of the government’s goal to build a new urban hub outside Metro Manila.

The venture, bagged by Filinvest Land in 2015, would benefit from commerce in nearby Clark Freeport Zone, the Clark International airport and the planned construction of a railway line that would link Clark to Metro Manila before President Duterte’s term ends in 2022.

Yap said the group was currently finalizing the detailed master plan for Clark Green City.

The project would provide a new area of growth for Filinvest Land, which has invested heavily in southern Metro Manila and Cebu.

Growth in these areas, meanwhile, would continue in 2017. The builder had set aside about P20 billion in capital spending for the year, higher than the P14.4 billion it spent in 2016. The funds would be used to expand its residential, commercial and office leasing businesses.

Cyberzone, which builds and leases out office space, would play a key part in Filinvest Land’s expansion. FLi said earlier that by 2019, its office and retail gross leasable area would hit 1 million square meters, providing 50 percent of revenues. This segment already accounted for 40 percent of revenues in 2016.