Januarius acquires stake in Laguna developer
Jan uario Jesus Gregorio Atencio III, a former housing executive who has been in the industry for more than two decades, on Thursday said he is buying a minority stake in a Laguna-based property developer. Atencio’s Januarius Holdings Inc. is taking in 13 percent in Ovialand Inc., signaling his return to the industry. He, however, declined to disclose the amount of his investment.
Atencio, who remained active in the association of mass housing developers, a group that he helped established, said he has the option to increase the size of his stake in Ovialand to 20 percent within 3 years.
Atencio said he will not be in charge of the day-to-day activities in the company and that this will be handled by the company's officials led by its chairman Giovanni J. Olivares and his daughter Pammy Olivares-vital, the company's president.
“It’s time for me to have a strategic mentoring role, allowing other younger people to push the mass housing company forward,” he said.
“I never stopped being involved in real estate. Aside from pursuing my own pocket developments, I opened my doors to developers who seek mentoring and advisory about the business,” Atencio said, noting that Ovialand's owners have a solid realestate foundation.
Ovialand is expecting some P4 billion in revenues between 2020 and 2023 from a current land bank of 32 hectares. Its projects are concentrated in southern Luzon with projects such as Sannera and Savana in San Pablo, Laguna as well as Cailya in Candelaria, Quezon.
Vital said the entry of the former president and CEO of 8990 Holdings in the company was a “welcome surprise.”
“We believed in quality developments and giving added value to the communities we build. One of the things that really surprised me is when [Atencio] shared that he is open to be contacted by their clients anytime because he wants to know about their concerns. This really surprised me and at that moment, I knew that we shared the same idea when it comes to building quality developments,” Vital said.
Ovialand said it was able to secure two additional properties to be used for development. These are the 5.1 hectares of land in Brgy. Soledad in San Pablo, Laguna, and 6.7 hectares of land in Brgy. Malabanban in Candelaria in Quezon.