SM expects to close Ortigas deal in H1

MANILA, Philippines - The SM Group owned by the family of the country’s wealthiest man Henry Sy, said it hopes to finalize a deal to take over the property holding firm of the Ortigas family in the first half this year.

“Negotiations are ongoing but talks are getting nearer and nearer to finalizing a deal, hopefully in the first half. Financing is ready. We’re just waiting for further instructions,” said Sy’s eldest son and namesake, Henry Sy Jr.

The SM Group is in talks with the Ortigas family and British banking giant HSBC, the single biggest shareholder in OCLP Holdings with a 34 percent stake.

SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) executive vice-president Jose T. Sio said the amount and details of the transaction are still under discussion and subject to finalization.

Organized in 2010, OCLP Holdings’s crown jewel is the 16-hectare Greenhills shopping complex.

The deal, when completed, will allow the SM Group to corner the lion’s share of the retail market in the burgeoning Ortigas-Pasig-Mandaluyong area.

The acquisition of a controlling stake in OCLP will also allow the SM Group to tap into the Ortigas family’s vast land in Mandaluyong, San Juan and Quezon City, further broadening its reach in Metro Manila.

The Ortigas district, which encompasses at least 100 hectares, is home to many shopping malls like Robinsons Galleria, Shangri-La, SM Megamall, Podium and St. Francis Square.

Megamall, developed and operated by shopping mall giant SM Prime Holdings Inc., sits on 18 hectares of prime land with a total floor area of about 348,000 square meters. It is currently undergoing renovation and expansion with the three-hectare parking lot in front of EDSA being converted into a commercial and office space for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.

The expansion will give Megamall an additional 100,000 sqm of gross leasable area and will make it the largest shopping mall in the country, surpassing SM City North Edsa.

The Greenhills shopping center, on the other hand, has become a popular destination for buying gadgets and affordable imported clothes and merchandise. Its main mall, V-Mall (formerly known as Virra Mall), houses five franchises from the SM Group – Toy Kingdom, SM Appliance Center, Our Home, Watsons and Ace Hardware.

The Ortigases, whose historic roots date back to the 300-year Spanish colonial rule, are among the largest landowners in the country. They developed upscale residential subdivisions Valle Verde and Wack-Wack as well as the 77-unit Luntala townhouse project within Valle Verde 6.

Aside from the Greenhills shopping center, the group’s retail portfolio also includes the 18-hectare Tiendesitas in Pasig.

Ongoing projects by the Ortigas Group include Circulo Verde, a 15-tower residential development located on a 12-hectare property in Calle Industria in Bagumbayan in Quezon City, and the P25-billion Capitol Commons, which will rise on a 10-hectare property previously occupied by the Rizal Provincial Capitol.

Capital Commons will include the development a high-end shopping mall to be called Estancia, slated for completion in 2013. Plans also include the development of a hotel and cinema complex.