MREIT, Inc. is looking to acquire four assets with 55,700 square meters (sq.m.) of gross leasable area (GLA) by December this year, the real estate investment trust (REIT) sponsored by Megaworld Corp. said in a statement on Tuesday.
The company plans to inject Iloilo Business Park’s Two Techno Place, Three Techno Place, and One Global Center, as well as World Finance Plaza in McKinley Hill into its REIT portfolio.
“We remain steadfast in our vision of making MREIT one of the largest office REITs not only in the Philippines, but in the Southeast Asian region as well, and this acquisition is but the first to realizing the significant growth potential of the company,” said Kevin Andrew L. Tan, president and chief executive officer of MREIT and chief strategy officer of Megaworld.
MREIT said the acquisition will boost MREIT’s GLA by 25% to 280,131 sq.m. from its current 224,431 sq.m. The company previously said it plans to infuse an additional 100,000 sq.m. of office GLA into its portfolio before the end of 2022.
The properties are said to “benefit from a very stable tenant base” with an average occupancy rate of 99%. The company said tenants are comprised of business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, such as Transcom, WNS, and Nearsol.
MREIT noted that despite the pandemic, it saw continued demand for office spaces, especially from BPO locators, in Iloilo Business Park and McKinley Hill.
“The quality of growth is also important to us. That is why we are very deliberate in choosing which properties to acquire. This way, we not only ensure the sustainability of our income generation but also provide a clear path towards capital appreciation,” Mr. Tan said.
The acquisition, which will be financed through new borrowings “to further enhance returns,” is still subject to final approvals.
“We look to close the deal by December this year and expect that these assets will start to contribute revenues to MREIT starting January 2022,” Mr. Tan said.
Shares of MREIT at the stock exchange went up by 0.33% or six centavos on Tuesday to close at P18.30 apiece. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte