CLI to spend P15 billion for expansion this year

MANILA, Philippines — Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI), a listed property developer focused in the Visayas and Mindanao, plans to continue its aggressive capital spending this year to support its ongoing expansion, including the company’s planned entry into the Luzon market.

CLI chief finance officer Grant Cheng said the company has allocated about P15 billion for its capital expenditures (capex) budget this year.

“That includes ongoing capex for ongoing projects and those that are launched. So we’re building up all the projects we’ve launched in the recent past, potential land acquisitions and as well as projects that we are newly launching like the one in Cagayan de Oro,” Cheng said.

“Right now, we have a lot of projects. We launched in General Santos. We have ongoing projects in Iloilo, Bacolod, Ormoc and of course, Cebu,” he said.

CLI last week raised P5 billion from its first sustainability-linked bond issuance. The company is considering raising another P5 billion later this year from another sustainability-linked bond issuance.

After cementing its leadership in Visayas and Mindanao, CLI is also gearing up for expansion in Luzon.

The company plans to spend P12 billion for its maiden projects that include a horizontal project and a vertical project.

CLI intends to launch its first Luzon-based project in 2026, which is likely to be the horizontal development that will span anywhere between 50 and 100 hectares consisting of 5,000 to 10,000 homes.

The company, meanwhile, is looking at a strategic partner for its planned vertical project, which is intended to be developed into a mixed-used project.

“So P12 billion was our approximate capex spending for two projects we plan to do in Manila. But that’s over a four-year period of construction,” CLI chief operating officer Jose Franco Soberano said.

“We’re still about to acquire those two properties here in Metro Manila. We did not disclose the location yet, but I think in a few months we’ll be able to do so. We’re very close to announcing the specific details of the projects,” he said.

CLI recently reinforced its entry in the Luzon market with the establishment of a new entity that will handle its projects in the region.

The company was able to secure approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the registration of a wholly owned subsidiary called CLI Luzon Ventures Inc.

Soberano said that CLI Luzon Ventures would serve as the company’s corporate vehicle for its projects in Manila.

“Cebu Landmasters from a regional player, we now want to be a national player so it is our entity that will expand here in Manila,” he said.

CLI Luzon Ventures’ primary purpose is “to acquire by purchase, exchange, assignment, gift or otherwise and to manage and hold, sell, assign, transfer, exchange, lease, develop, mortgage, pledge, traffic, deal in and with and otherwise operate, enjoy, and dispose of, all real properties of every kind and description and wherever situated, and to the extent permitted by law, real estate whether improved or unimproved and any interest or rights therein, as well as buildings, tenements, factories, edifices and structures, and other improvements.”