Philippine Billynaire Andrew Tan’s Megawaord to Inject $255M assets into subsidy

The divestment of 10 office buildings valued at 15 billion pesos will be completed in the first half of the year, followed by retail assets in the second half, according to Andy Dela Cruz, head of investor relations at Megaworld, as reported by Forbes Asia.

The offices will expand MREIT’s leasing portfolio by 41% to 680,000 square meters, Dela Cruz said.

Up to 70,000 square meters of retail assets will also be injected into the Manila-listed REIT later in the year, he added, noting that the value of these assets is still being determined.

Megaworld is preparing the next wave of asset infusions into MREIT, which aims to reach one million square meters of gross leasable area by 2027.

“These offices are highly occupied and located in prime areas. Our malls also have high occupancy rates backed by strong foot traffic,” Cruz said.

Nine of the 10 offices are located in McKinley Hill, one of Megaworld’s townships in the bustling Bonifacio Global City near the Makati central business district, while the remaining building is in Eastwood City in the northern Metro Manila suburb of Quezon City.

Megaworld will still hold 900,000 square meters of office and retail assets after selling the 10 offices, providing a solid runway for future infusions into MREIT.

With an estimated net worth of US$1.4 billion, Tan is among the country’s wealthiest, according to Forbes’ real-time data.

Tan has interests in Emperador, the world’s largest brandy maker, and the Philippine franchise of McDonald’s.

In June, Megaworld intensified its focus on tourism by developing a PHP5 billion leisure complex, according to The Manila Times.

Known as Nascala Coast, the project spans 116 hectares in Batangas province, south of Manila, and is expected to be a “thriving coastal address.”

It is set to be the 36th township of Megaworld. Two-thirds of them are situated outside Metro Manila in tourist hotspots such as Bacolod, Boracay, Cebu, and Ilocos.