Investors bet on MREIT future amid BPO growth

Shares of Megaworld Corp.-backed MREIT Inc. firmed up on its stock trading debut on Friday, bucking the overall stock market downturn, as investors priced in the future growth potential of this business process outsourcing (BPO)-focused real estate investment trust (REIT).

MREIT’s share price rose by 3.73 percent to close at P16.70 per share, from the initial public offering (IPO) price of P16.10 per share. It hit an intraday high of P17.16 per share.

This was while the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 29.28 points or 0.42 percent to close at 6,923.60.

This marked the fifth REIT to list on the local stock market since last year, when this new asset class finally took off and long after the legislation of the enabling law in 2009.

With MREIT’s listing, sponsor Megaworld can recycle at least P13.6 billion in new capital and channel the money to new projects. The equity deal can increase to P15.3 billion if the overallotment shares would be taken up within 30 days from listing.

The offering was oversubscribed by two times the base offer, said Eduardo Francisco, president of BDO Capital, the domestic lead underwriter for the IPO.

MREIT president and chief executive Kevin Andrew Tan said that after Megaworld’s infusion of around 100,000 square meters of prime office assets from Eastwood City, McKinley Hill and Iloilo Business Park by end of 2022, the REIT sponsor would inject some more of its prime office and commercial assets in Uptown Bonifacio into MREIT by 2023.