Arthaland injects P18 million into Bhavya

Arthaland Century Pacific Tower Facade | PHOTO: Official website of Arthaland / arthaland.com

Arthaland Corp. will inject an additional P18 million into one of its businesses to fund the development of a residential project in Makati City as it sees heightened demand for the segment.

Arthaland on Thursday said the capital infusion would be done via its subscription to 180,000 of the unissued preferred shares of Bhavya Properties Inc. for P100 each.

The Po family-led developer currently owns 60 percent of Bhavya after it sold in 2021 a 40-percent stake to Singapore-based Narra Investment Properties Pte. Ltd.

The additional capital will be used to develop Bhavya’s 32-story Eluria condominium complex in Makati that is described as a “low-density, multi-certified, ultra-luxury development.”

“Once completed, its future residents will enjoy exceptional white glove butler services,” the company said in a stock exchange filing.

READ: Arthaland’s vision for sustainable growth: A blueprint for 2024 and beyond

This follows Arthaland’s earlier investment of P45 million into Bhavya after buying 450,000 of the latter’s preferred shares in March. It was also meant to help fund Eluria, which broke ground last year.

In June, Arthaland vice chair and president Jaime Gonzalez said they would shift their focus toward residential projects due to the apparent decline in office space occupancy as more companies favored remote work arrangements post-pandemic.

Earlier, real estate investment management firm Colliers Philippines reported that office vacancy rate in Metro Manila stood at 18.3 percent as of the first six months of 2024.

READ: Arthaland recalibrates as office demand dwindles

Gonzalez noted that they were seeing stronger demand for residential developments, “consistent with the continued economic growth and the fundamental need for housing among Filipinos.”

Apart from Eluria, Arthaland’s other residential developments are Lucima in Cebu City and Una Apartments in Biñan, Laguna province.

The first-semester net income of Arthaland, whose flagship projects include office buildings such as Arthaland Century Pacific Tower and Cebu Exchange, fell by 61 percent to P273.05 million.

This was due to a one-time gain from the sale of an asset recognized in the second quarter of 2023, the company’s financial filing showed.