Lucio Tan Group not keen on selling Coral Reef resort

CEBU, Philippines - Although the idle 36-hectare Coral Reef Resort property on Mactan Island is now apt for redevelopment, Tourism secretary Joseph Ace Durano believes that any interested investor will find it difficult to close deal with the Lucio Tan Group.

According to Durano, the Philippine National Bank (PNB), which is the owner of the foreclosed property is not “desperate” to dispose Coral Reef, as the Lucio Tan Group is also interested to redevelop the resort because of its huge potential for tourism related businesses.

“I know that the Lucio Tan Group is on its advance stage in the planning of redeveloping Coral Reef. It is a single prime property [of that size] in Mactan Island,” said Durano in an interview.

Because of this, Durano encouraged the Philippine-Russian Inc. (PRI), which recently expressed its interest to redevelop the Coral Reef property and pour in US$80 million investments, to look for other areas aside from Coral Reef.

PRI could also opt to immediately submit its proposal to PNB “maybe they can arrive with an agreement.”

However, Durano said investors should not only look at Mactan Island for tourism investments, as there are a lot of areas around the Cebu province that have huge potential for development.

The secretary mentioned the Argao Beach Club, which is also up for sale by the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), and other areas like Moalboal, Bantayan Island which properties are of huge potentials and ripe for big ticket developments.

“Investment opportunities in Cebu for tourism are not only in Mactan Island. There are areas in the province which properties are also ripe for developments.

Also, Durano said the Coral Reef property is already free from any legal impediments saying “the Supreme Court decided with finality and as far as I am concerned Coral Reef is already owned by PNB.”

This prime property has become one of the hottest interests for investors in the last few years, as the 36-hectare property is the last remaining prime property on Mactan Island.

In the last few years, there were already a number of foreign investors which proposed to rehabilitate the Resort, a China-based and a Korean investor, and now the Russian-led company, but PNB remained un-interested of their proposal as the priority of the Group is to have it developed by its real estate arm.

PRI president Alexander Zusik, in an earlier interview, said that the company is planning to build a 600-room resort, 300 department buildings, business centers, 20 small villas, and develop Coral Reef coast line, to maximize the potential of the idle property in two years, after it clinches a deal with Lucio Tan Group, which is now the owner of the property.

PRI is closely working with the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) to help the company fasten its developmental projects in the Philippines, including a multi-billion-peso project in Subic Bay, and the Coral Reef re-construction plan.