Rockwell Land board OKs Metrobank loan

REAL estate developer Rockwell Land Corp. said Wednesday that its board of directors had authorized a P5.0-billion, seven-year term loan facility with Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank).

Loan proceeds will be used to bankroll the company’s capital expenditures, land acquisitions, and investments, the Lopez-led property developer told the stock exchange.

Rockwell Land, developer of the Rockwell Center complex in Makati, gave no further details about the transaction.

In June of last year, the listed firm announced expansion plans that would utilize nearly 200 hectares of development in Cebu, Bulacan and Batangas.

Rockwell Land said it was planning to launch a 2.85-hectare mixed-use development in Cebu — its third project in the province — featuring a “unique retail concept.”

“We’ll first offer residential units … and (these) will soon be complemented by a retail area that we envision will excite the market,” Nestor Padilla, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The property developer also bared its plan to build a 100-hectare horizontal neighborhood in Bulacan, and an 85-hectare beach community in Lian, Batangas, with the first phase of residential lots expected to be launched this year.

Rockwell Land President Valerie Soliven earlier said the expansion in these key geographic areas was in line with the company’s diversification strategy.

The company’s net income improved to P2.7 billion in the first nine months of 2023 from P2.2 billion the year before, while consolidated revenues increased to P13.3 billion from P12.5 billion.

Rockwell Land’s share price was steady at P1.44 on Wednesday.