Megawide unit mulls going public in 2025

MANILA, Philippines — Real estate firm PH1 World Developers Inc. is considering an initial public offering as early as 2025.

Edgar Saavedra, chairman of PH1 World, said the company should be ripe for an IPO by 2025 or 2026.

Megawide Construction Corp., the engineering company also led by Saavedra, acquired PH1 World from Citicore Holdings Investments Inc. for P5.2 billion last year.

PH1 World is focused on the affordable housing segment to address the gaps in the Philippine housing market.

“Our market is for the affordable segment. If ever we do the IPO, we can expand to other markets, but majority will still be for the affordable segment,” Saavedra said.

Saavedra said PH1 World currently has five projects and plans to launch two vertical projects, as well as two to three raw housing every year.

In terms of bottomline, he said the property business should be bigger than the construction segment after three years.

“Our business model is we usually do joint venture with landowners so that it will not be too capital heavy. But once we do the IPO, there might be changes since funding will be easier,” Saavedra said.

Megawide went public in 2011, while Citicore Energy REIT Corp., the country’s first renewable energy real estate investment trust, debuted in 2022.

Saavedra’s Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) is gearing up to be the first IPO this year,with the Securities and Exchange Commission giving its green light to the company’s P11.25-billion IPO.

“Hopefully, we will be the first one this year to do an IPO in the Philippine Stock Exchange,” Saavedra said.

“We know there is a shortage and at the same time, there is a push to convert to more renewable energy so the company is seeing this as very promising. Even though we know there are challenges in the market, the potential of the energy sector itself is big,” he said.