Filinvest secures PSE’s OK for P14.9-B REIT listing

The Gotianun family’s Filinvest REIT Corp. is looking to seduce investors later this month for an upcoming real estate investment trust (REIT) offer that would debut under the stock symbol “FILRT.”

The company, sponsored by property giant Filinvest Land Inc., aims to raise as much as P14.9 billion from an initial public offering that would run from July 26 to Aug. 3.

The Philippine Stock Exchange announced the approval on Monday, which would be the third REIT listing after Ayala Land Inc.’s AREIT Inc. and DoubleDragon Properties Corp.’s DDMP REIT Inc.

Filinvest REIT is selling up to 1.79 billion shares at an indicative maximum offer price of P8.50 each. This involves 1.63 billion shares owned by Filinvest Land and another 163.42 million shares to cover excess demand.

The final offer price would be set on July 19 while trading was expected to start on Aug. 12.

REITs allow businesses such as property developers and infrastructure companies to raise additional capital while offering investors an asset class with more reliable dividend payments.

Filinvest REIT would be worth as much as P40.6 billion, assuming the maximum share price and overalloments are exercised, making it larger than AREIT’s market value of P37.3 billion and DDMP REIT’s P36.65 billion.

Its initial property portfolio will consist of 17 Grade A office buildings with over 300,000 square meters in gross leasable area. Sixteen buildings are located in Northgate Cyberzone within Filinvest City in Alabang, while one is in the Cebu IT Park in Cebu City.

Its overall occupancy rate stood at around 90 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2021, its prospectus showed.

The company also warned that occupancy rates at some properties would drop this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the pretermination of leases from some Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator service providers.

Filinvest REIT still expects revenue rentals to remain “stable” for the year because most of its tenants were involved in business process outsourcing, IT and company headquarters with lease terms ranging from three to five years.