ALI ups stake in POPI to 63.9%

Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has raised its stake in Prime Orion Philippines Inc. (POPI) to 63.9 percent from 54.91 percent.

The purchase of additional stake in POPI will be done through an exchange of ALI’s 75 percent equity interest in Laguna Technopark Inc. (LTI).

“The value of the transaction is P3 billion where POPI will issue 1.2 billion common shares to ALI in exchange for 30,186 LTI common shares and bring ALI’s direct ownership in POPI to 63.9 percent from 54.91 percent,” said Augusto Bengzon, ALI senior vicepresident, CFO, treasurer and chief compliance officer.

ALI first acquired an initial 51.36 percent interest in the Tutuban operator in 2015.

The property firm is repositioning POPI, operator of Tutuban Center in Manila, as a leading real estate logistics and industrial estate developer and operator in the Philippines.

ALI first acquired an initial 51.36 percent interest in the Tutuban operator in 2015.

POPI is the owner of Tutuban Center in Manila City through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tutuban Properties, Inc.

The popular Tutuban Center is a retail complex in the shopping district of Divisoria in Tondo, Manila, with a gross leasable area of about 60,000 square meters.

It sits on a 20-hectare property, which will be the location of the North South Railway Project Transfer Station.

ALI is engaged in the development of large-scale, integrated estates, having a mix of use for the sale of residential lots and buildings, office buildings, and commercial and industrial lots, leasing of commercial and office spaces. It is also into hotel and resort development.

The property giant posted a net income of P25.3 billion last year, up 21 percent.

Laguna Technopark, meanwhile, is a privately-owned industrial park which covers 460 hectares and caters to light and medium, non-polluting enterprises, from both global and local markets.