RLC sells P8.5 billion shares in REIT unit

MANILA, Philippines — Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the diversified real estate firm of the Gokongwei family, has sold P8.49 billion worth of shares in RL Commercial REIT Inc. (RCR), increasing the listed REIT’s public float to 49.95 percent.

RLC sold 1.73 billion RCR shares at P4.92 apiece in an overnight block placement, anchored by high-quality long-only institutional investors, RLC said.

“The oversubscribed book is a testament to the strength of RLC’s brand. We are thankful to the institutional investors for their continued trust and confidence in RLC’s reputation,” RLC chairman, president and CEO Lance Gokongwei said.

RLC intends to invest the net proceeds on various projects under construction and land acquisition in compliance with the reinvesting policies of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Act of 2009.

The placement enables RCR to acquire accretive assets from RLC’s diverse pipeline of investment properties.

RLC is eyeing to infuse about P25 billion worth of assets into RCR this year, subject to prevailing market conditions and necessary approvals.

Aside from offices, RLC intends to infuse other asset classes into RCR such as its malls, hotels and warehouses as long as it meets RCR’s investment criteria.

RLC also intends to expand by approximately 60 percent the total gross leasable area of RCR this year.

Further, the company said it remains committed in growing RCR by evaluating its existing portfolio for distribution per share-accretive assets that will maximize capital recycling efforts in support of its various local real estate projects.

“Being the majority shareholder of RCR, RLC shall continuously fuel the growth of RCR by infusing yield-accretive and high-quality assets that will complement the existing predominantly-office asset portfolio of RCR in order to maximize both RLC and RCR’s shareholder value,” Gokongwei said.

The potential infusion of various asset classes in several key cities across the country is expected to maximize RCR’s revenue streams to ensure its continuous growth.

“We envision RCR to be the bellwether REIT in the Philippine real estate landscape,” Gokongwei said.

RLC’s investment portfolio currently spans 1.6 million square meters of leasable mall spaces, 270,000 square meters of remaining leasable office spaces, 26 hotels with a total of 4,243 room keys and 227,000 sqm of leasable logistics facilities.

On the other hand, RCR’s current portfolio consists of 16 premium assets in10 major cities totaling 480,000 sqm of gross leasable space.