ALI joins bid for Mla Bay reclamation

MANILA, Philippines -  Real estate giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is joining the auction for the reclamation of a 300-hectare lot along Manila Bay in Pasay City, setting into motion a battle between the country’s top property firms.

The property arm of the Ayala conglomerate expressed its interest in the project, with the company also asking for an extension of the bid submission deadline.

“This will confirm our interest to submit a counter-proposal...We are the Philippines’ leading real estate developer and we are committed to be a strong partner in nation building,” ALI said in a letter to Pasay Mayor Antonino Calixto.

ALI said it also requested the Pasay City government for at least 60 more working days to study and submit a competing bid to reclaim 300 hectares in Manila Bay.

This as the property firm expressed its qualms with the current timeline.

ALI said it learned of the unsolicited proposal from SM Land Inc. only last week when it was published as required to notify the public.

The deadline to submit a counter proposal by Nov. 4 was “too short to develop a master plan, study its financial and environmental impact, and how to maximize the benefits to Pasay, the National Government, and the public at large, among other things,” ALI said.

The terms also required bidders to have a minimum net worth of P50 billion by the time of the action.

ALI said interested parties are also required to have “undertaken and completed a similar reclamation project with an area of not less than 120 hectares preferably within the Manila Bay area.”

Mall and banking conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), through SM Land, earlier submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Pasay City government to reclaim the property along Manila Bay in the next seven years for P54.5 billion.

The Henry Sy-owned firm offered to fully finance the project including the costs of all necessary permits and clearances from government agencies as well as other expenses to comply with all government and legal requirements.

SM Land owns and operates the Mall of Asia complex that is composed of several residential towers, office buildings, a shopping mall, a hotel, a convention center and a sports arena.

SM Land recently merged with SM Prime Holdings Inc., with the latter as the surviving entity.

Late in May, SMIC consolidated shopping mall developer SM Prime, residential builder SM Development Corp., private firm SM Land and upscale developer Highlands Prime Inc. in a P279-billion transaction that created Southeast Asia’s largest integrated property firm.