Office assets of Megaworld to expand portfolio of Mreit

MREIT Inc., the real estate investment trust (REIT) of Megaworld Corp., said it will acquire six office properties with a total value of P13.15 billion from its sponsor firm.

Upon the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the acquisition will increase Mreit’s portfolio by close to half or 157,000 square meters to to 482,000 square meters.

The acquisition includes Two West Campus, Ten West Campus and One Le Grand in Mckinley West in Taguig, One Fintech and Two Fintech in Iloilo Business Park and Davao Finance Center in Davao Park District.

The properties will be exchanged for 926.16 million Mreit’s secondary shares at P14.20 apiece, a premium of 10 percent from Mreit’s closing price of P12.94 per share on May 10.

The purchase price of the properties is based on appraisal reports and validated by a third-party fairness opinion, which were presented to and approved by the company’s RPT Committee and its board.

“The acquisition of these properties moves us closer to our target portfolio of 500,000 square meters by the end of 2024. This transaction not only supports the sustained growth of Mreit but is also dividend accretive to our shareholders.

We are immediately working on the next set of acquisitions to reach our target assets under management before the year concludes,” Kevin Andrew L. Tan, the company’s president and CEO, said.

Mreit also declared cash dividends of P0.246 per share to its shareholders based on its distributable income in the first quarter. The dividends will be payable on June 14 to shareholders on record as of May 24.

Annualized, this brings Mreit’s dividend yield to 7.6 percent, as of the closing share price of P12.94 per share on May 10, 2024.

Mreit’s portfolio covers 18 office properties located in four Megaworld townships.

Megaworld reported that its net income expanded by 10 percent to P5.02 billion, from the previous year’s P4.55 billion as its core businesses of real estate and shopping mall rentals performed well.

Revenues rose 16 percent to P18.87 billion from the previous year’s P16.23 billion.

Core revenues reached P17.89 billion, resulting from strong property sales and sustained growth in leasing and hotel income. The said figure is 22 percent higher than the P14.59 billion recorded last year.