IFC provides additional $12.5-M loan to Eastwood Cyberzone

Eastwood Cyber One Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Megaworld Corp., has secured a $12.5-million long-term loan facility from the International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Megaworld said the loan, payable in 10 years inclusive of a three year-grace period on principal payment, will be used to fund the development of a new office building at the Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City. Principal and interest amortizations of the loan will be sourced from internally-generated funds.

Collaterals for the loan will consist of a first ranking mortgage over Eastwood’s real estate properties and a full guarantee from parent company Megaworld.

The new office building, estimated to cost P3 billion, shall cater to business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology firms.

Megaworld chairman and president Andrew Tan said this project, geared to cash in on an escalating demand for made-for-BPO office space, will assure the company of long-term leadership in the BPO-oriented segment of the market.

Megaworld has transformed its pioneering Eastwood City CyberPark into the country’s premier IT hub. To date, BPO tenants occupy around 80,000 square meters of office space at the Eastwood City CyberPark, making Megaworld the industry’s number one landlord.

Among these companies include e-Telecare, the world’s most awarded and largest Asia-based call center; Sitel Corp., one of the world’s top five call centers in terms or revenue and a provider of outsourced customer interaction solutions; and Globalstride.

Megaworld expects its net profit to grow by more than 20 percent this year, mainly coming from the rentals of office space by outsourcing companies and higher sales from middle-income projects. Revenues are likewise seen to go up by more than 30 percent this year because of escalating rentals in the office sector.

Last year, Megaworld posted a net income of P759.72 million or 32.3 percent higher than the P574.21 million reported in 2003. Revenues, on the other hand, went up 21 percent to P4.21 billion from only P3.48 billion.