GSIS raises stake in Gokongwei-led REIT

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — State-run pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has increased its stake in Gokongwei-led RL Commercial REIT Inc. (RCR) by more than 900 percent over the last two months, acquiring more than 8 percent of the company’s shares.

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, RCR said GSIS now owned 877.43 million of its shares, equivalent to an 8.18-percent stake. The filing also showed that GSIS acquired 790.22 million shares in the past 60 days alone.

There was no pricing indicated in the report but based on RCR’s share price of P4.95 on Tuesday, GSIS’ total acquisition is valued at around P4.34 billion.

Earlier this month, Robinsons Land sold 1.73 billion of its shares in RCR at P4.92 each via an overnight block placement.

READ: Robinsons Land raises P8.5B from REIT selldown

This raised RCR’s public ownership level to 49.95 percent from 33.86 percent.

According to Robinsons Land, the sale will allow it to infuse up to P25 billion worth of assets—offices, malls, hotels, and warehouses—into RCR. This will increase the REIT’s gross leasable area by around 60 percent within the year.

RCR currently has 16 premium assets in 10 cities, totaling 480,000 square meters (sq m) of gross leasable space.

Robinsons Land, meanwhile, has 1.6 million sq m of leasable mall spaces, 270,000 sq m of leasable office spaces, and 227,000 sq m of leasable logistics facilities.

Its earnings last year rose by 24 percent to P12.06 billion on the stronger performance of its malls, hotels, and joint ventures. —Meg J. Adonis INQ