CPVDC to acquire property to support IT park operations

CEBU, Philippines - The developer of the 24-hectare Cebu Asiatown IT Park, the Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation (CPVDC) is acquiring an additional property adjacent to the development to accommodate the strong demand for BPO offices in the area.

CPVDC president Francis O. Monera announced during the recent stockholders meeting that the company is about to seal the acquisition of a 2.1 hectare property adjacent to the cyberpark, and that development project may be done in a joint-venture deal.

This expansion, on top of the Phase II project in Asiatown, the five-hectare development where the Avida Towers are located, will be used for the developments of more residential and office spaces at the Park.

CPVDC, a subsidiary of the Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI) is going to start the horizontal development of the 2.1-hectare property before the end of this year, Monera said.

The company’s financial position remained strong with total assets standing at P1.5 billion as of December 2010. Current assets stood at P694 million, P463 million of which is cash, while total liabilities stood only at P155.9 million.

With last year’s performance, CPVDC declared cash dividends in December 31 amounting to a total of 112.8 million. At P0.12 per share this is higher than the P0.10 dividend per share declared the previous year. Stock price increased by 10 percent to P2.00 per share in 2010.

According to Monera the 2010 revenue was derived from the sale of commercial lots in Asia Town I.T. Park, income from the lease of retail and office spaces, equity in net earnings of an associate and interest and other income.

“The sale of a commercial lot at Asia Town IT Park contributed P92 million in revenues. As part of our strategy, we re-invested the proceeds of the sale of projects that will increase our leasing portfolio as we take advantage of the continuing demand for office and residential space. Modular office building, eOffice, contributed P49.4 million to revenue,” Monera reported.

Equity take-up if CPVDC in associate Asian i-Office Property or AiO contributed P11.8 million to the Company’s bottomline. AiO derives income primarily from the leasing of eBloc Tower, a mid-rise office building.

The eBloc Tower is fully leased-out to two giant multi-national companies—NCR Cebu Development Center, Inc., and JP Morgan Chase and Co.

The retail component in the cyber-park called “The Walk” has also contributed P19.5 million to the company’s total revenue. This is a 15 percent higher than that of previous year.

Last year, CPVDC through AiO, partnered with Avida Land Corporation to develop the Avida Towers Cebu. Avida Land, the affordable residential developer of Ayala Land Inc.(ALI).

According to Monera the dynamic growth of the BPO industry in Cebu has also paved the way for more investments in real estate. This is shown in the continued build-up at Asia Town IT Park.

Three office buildings started construction last year. Upon completion, these will bring in additional 71,000 square meters in leasable space within the IT Park.

Also under construction are four residential towers which will bring the total area up to more than 143,000 square meters for office, residential and commercial purposes. (FREEMAN)