ALI, SM revisit Ortigas plans

Recently forged alliance starts making presence felt

MANILA, Philippines - The recently-forged business alliance between the Sy family and the Ayalas has started making its presence felt in OCLP Holdings Inc., infusing its expertise in mall and mixed-use developments to the owners of strategic land bank areas in the Ortigas Business District.

In an interview, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) chief finance officer Jimmy Ysmael said both ALI and the SM Group are revisiting master plans of ongoing OCLP developments to identify areas where the two property giants can contribute.

“We will try to optimize the development potential of the properties they are currently developing and also review the master plans and see where we can contribute. Hopefully the expertise of ALI and SM can actually be put together,” said Ysmael, who holds one of the two ALI seats in the OCLP board.

Specifically, Ysmael said ALI is looking to assist more on the mixed-use residential and office side of OCLP’s projects while SM is eyeing to share its know-how in the development of shopping centers.

The Sy family is behind the country’s largest chain of shopping centers known as SM while the Ayalas have been at the forefront of masterplanned townships such as Nuvali in Laguna and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

“So that’s really how both of us are effectively playing our roles in terms of how we’d like the company to move forward,” Ysmael said.

Aside from injecting its respective expertise, Ysmael said ALI and SM are also helping OCLP restructure its loans as well as fix the company’s balance sheet.

SM and ALI in November last year ended a two-year-long feud over OCLP after announcing that they will be partnering instead with the Francisco Ortigas Group and the Rafael Ortigas Group.

OCLP’s existing developments include the Greenhills Shopping Center, financial district Ortigas Center, value regional shopping destination Tiendesitas in the mixed-use Frontera Verde, residential areas Valle Verde subdivisions, Green Meadows, Greenhills subdivisions, Luntala, Circulo Verde, Viridian in Greenhills, and Capitol Commons.

 “Ortigas now is working based on what we have signed where all parties are working together for Ortigas. It is smooth sailing so far,” said SM Investment Corp. chief finance officer Jeffrey C. Lim in a separate interview.