Alphaland sells Shangri-La at The Fort stake

MANILA, Philippines - Upscale property developer Alphaland Corp. has unloaded its minority stake in the Shangri-La at The Fort hotel and luxury residential project, giving it much-needed cash to continue operations.

The asset disposal comes on the heels of several fundraising programs by the property firm of former trade minister Roberto V. Ongpin.

In a disclosure, Alphaland said it completed yesterday the sale of a 20-percent stake in the Shangri-La at The Fort project.

“The stake was sold to subsidiaries of Shang Properties Inc. for a total cash consideration of P1.7 billion,” Alphaland said.

The 60-storey Shangri-La at The Fort is composed of 576 hotel guest rooms, 97 hotel residences and 96 exclusive Horizon Homes. It is scheduled to open in early 2015.

The hotel features over 4,600 square meters of meeting and banqueting facilities including ballrooms, function rooms, a business center, a teleconferencing room, and a 350 square meter high-end outdoor events area.

The divestment in Shangri-La at The Fort marks the latest fundraising initiative of Alphaland.

Despite facing a delisting process, Alphaland raised almost P300 million from the sale of 109 million new common shares to private foreign investors early last month to comply with the minimum public ownership requirement.

“The subscriptions have resulted in a cash inflow of more than P272 million to the company, which it sorely needs in order to maintain operations,” the property firm earlier said.

In March, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) announced that it initiated the delisting process for Alphaland as a maximum penalty for violating disclosure requirements. Delisting is the maximum penalty imposed by the PSE on an erring company.

PSE earlier said the violations were committed in the course of the disclosure of the alleged simulated sale of Alphaland shares between Ashmore Investment Management Ltd./Alphaland Holdings (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd; cases involving the company and its state of financial distress; and its representation of its conduct of a stock rights offering which it later admitted as a minority offering.