Housing firm still keen on holding IPO

Low-cost housing developer ACM Homes remains keen on going public, after previous plans were shelved, but only after it has expanded its presence to new geographic locations, a company official said on Monday.

Carolina Osteria, ACM managing director and co-founder, said the company still had a substantial amount of undeveloped property in Batangas and Cavite, where it claimed to have built about 15,000 homes. She said ACM was firming up plans to expand to Iloilo and Mindanao.

She said ACM could either acquire property or team up with local players. She, however, declined  to give additional details.

ACM Homes targets the broadest segment of the Philippine real estate segment  and demand here remains “good”, Osteria said. She said the developer prices its house and lot packages at a range of P580,000 to P6 million per unit.

Based on those price points, it competes with some units of property giant Ayala Land Inc., which have also been moving into the low-cost housing segment to widen its market reach.

Because of growing competition, Osteria said the company was always looking for new ways to differentiate itself, such as holding community events for its residents and partnering with non-government organizations to give the business and underlying “social message.”

“You have to differentiate yourself, to have a certain theme,” Osteria said at the sidelines of a briefing on the upcoming The Young Women’s Entrepreneurs Boot Camp 2013.

ACM officials in 2011 announced plans to raise as much as P1 billion via an initial public offering within that year or in 2012. The builder is a niche developer founded by Osteria and Antonette de Guzman, who serves as its president.  ACM Homes had wanted to go as early as the 1990s, although the plan was derailed due to the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.