GT Capital divests stake in Pro-Friends

MANILA, Philippines — GT Capital Holdings Inc. (GT Capital) and  Property Company of Friends (Pro-Friends) have amicably parted ways to focus on their respective areas of expertise.

GT Capital vice chairman Alfred Ty told The STAR that GT Capital has ceded its equity ownership in Pro-Friends and decided to redeem its shares equivalent to a 51 percent stake in the property company in exchange for P20 billion of selected assets in Lancaster New City  (LNC) in Cavite.

While they are no longer equity partners, GT Capital and Pro-Friends will still be working together to develop LNC, GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said.

“If and when approved, we will no longer be equity partners but we will still be working very closely together since our properties will need close coordination in the master planning,” Bautista said.

Under the plan, GT Capital will receive approximately 702 hectares of selected assets within LNC that are in close proximity to big-ticket roads including Daang Hari Extension and the future Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX).

 “This amicable proposed redemption allows both parties to focus on our respective areas of expertise. I look forward to a masterplanned community that will integrate the needs of existing residents, as well as those of the development’s future population, for many generations to come,” Ty said.

For his part, Pro-Friends president Guillermo Choa said existing residents of LNC would benefit from the planned development.

“Given the scale of future redevelopment being considered, the existing residents within LNC will stand to gain significantly from the adjacent areas,” Choa said.

In 2018, Pro-Friends registered P10.4 billion in revenue, up 50 percent year on year.

GT Capital first acquired an initial 22.7 percent stake in Pro-Friends in 2015. The following year, it increased its stake in the company to 51 percent pursuant to the agreement.

Established in 1999, Pro-Friends focuses on the low-cost and economic housing segments, and retail and office space leasing.

It has built and sold over 36,000 affordable homes in the provinces of Cavite and Iloilo with LNC as its flagship and largest project spanning the areas of Kawit, Imus and General Trias in Cavite.