MREIT SEEKS SEC NOD ON P 13.15-BILLION BINGE

The real estate investment trust (REIT) arm of billionaire Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corp. expects to get near its 500,000-square-meter (sqm) target portfolio size this year once it acquires P13.15 billion worth of office properties via share-for-asset swaps.

MREIT Inc. is set to take over six office properties across the cities of Taguig, Iloilo and Davao, spanning an aggregate 157,000 sqm upon the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The REIT landlord said over the weekend that the transactions involved Two West Campus, Ten West Campus and One Le Grand at McKinley West; One Fintech and Two Fintech at Iloilo Business Park; and Davao Finance Center at Davao Park District.

These will be swapped for 926.16 million of MREIT’s secondary shares at P14.20 apiece. This is a 10-percent premium over MREIT’s closing price of P12.94 per share on Friday, May 10.

“The acquisition of these properties moves us closer to our target portfolio of 500,000 sqm by the end of 2024,” MREIT president and

CEO Kevin Tan said in a statement.

“This transaction not only supports the sustained growth of MREIT but is also dividend accretive to our shareholders,” Tan said. “We are immediately working on the next set of acquisitions to reach our target assets under management before the year concludes.”

According to MREIT, the pricing is based on appraisal reports validated by third parties, and approved by the company’s board of directors.

MREIT currently has 18 office properties across four Megaworld townships in Quezon City, Taguig City and Iloilo City.

The company declared cash dividends of 24.6 centavos per share, equivalent to a dividend yield of 7.6 percent.

Last month, Megaworld raised P500 million from the sale of its shares in MREIT, intended to bankroll the REIT sponsor’s expansion pipeline.

Megaworld sold 40.65 million of its shares for P12.30 each via a block sale. These represented 1.5 percent of MREIT’s total outstanding shares.

The developer remained the majority shareholder with a 54.2-percent stake.