Fil-Estate gets P500-M property infusion

Holding firm Fil-Estate Corp. will get a P500-million property infusion from upscale memorial park developer Mt. Zion Memorial Inc. in line with the Sobrepeña-led firm’s search for fresh opportunities in the property sector.

The company’s board approved the property infusion by Mt. Zion, a wholly owned unit of FEC’s controlling stockholder Fil-Estate Management Inc. (Femi). Likewise approved was the conversion into equity of FEC’s P200-million debt to Femi.

Femi, which owns about 76 percent of FEC, will accept additional 200 million common shares of the latter at par value of P1 per share.  The P500 million worth of property to be infused by Mt. Zion represents about a fifth of the value of the memorial lots available for sale based on FEC’s 2010 annual report.

Organized in 1999, Mt. Zion has 12 memorial parks nationwide with 50 hectares of memorial lots available for sale, with an estimated value of P2.5 billion, according to the firm’s latest regulatory filing.

The infusion had long been planned but the details were firmed up by the board only recently. Doris C. Dumlao