ALI, RLC, 6 others eye GSIS assets

MANILA, Philippines - The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will bid out P1.7 billion worth of real estate assets.

Ayala Land Inc. and Robinsons Land Inc., two of the country’s biggest property developers and six others have expressed interest to acquire the assets.

In a briefing yesterday, GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara said the sale would be one of the fund’s largest in years  with eight groups signifying their intention to bid for two prime properties located in the burgeoning Bonifacio Global City.

Up for sale are two parcels of land situated on 6th and 7th Avenue corner 25th and 26th streets with a lot size of 1,600 square meters each, and with a minimum bid price of P520 million or P325,000 per square meter each.

ALI, which claims to be the biggest landlord in Fort Bonifacio, has been on a buying binge in the past four years to further strengthen its leading position in the fiercely competitive property market.

RLC, on the other hand, is now actively beefing up its landbank after slowing down on residential construction.  

Another property on the auction block is a two-hectare lot in Sucat, Parañaque which used to be the site of amusement park Water

Fun. The GSIS has set a minimum bid price of P672 million for the property.

Bids will be opened on Sept. 23, Vergara said.

Vergara said the fund may put one more property for sale before the end of the year to take advantage of the current high land values in Metro Manila.

Proceeds from the sale would be used to further boost the fund’s liquidity.

The state pension fund posted a net income of P41 billion in the first half, up 24.2 percent from the P33 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.  Total revenues rose 6.75 percent to P42.7 billion on strong gains on investments.

Revenues from financial assets, which include equities and fixed-income instruments, jumped 76 percent to P28.2 billion from only P16 billion.

Vergara said the fund’s total investment portfolio as of August reached P837 billion, of which 47 percent is  parked in fixed-income markets and 17 percent in equities.

About 27.8 percent of total investible funds was allocated for loans to members.

Property, meanwhile, accounted for 3.8 percent of total investible funds.