ALI pursues acquisition of IRC’s Binangonan lot

MANILA, Philippines - Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), through its low cost housing units, is pursuing the acquisition of a portion of the 2,000-hectare Binangonan lot of listed IRC Properties Inc.

The entry of ALI is seen to jumpstart the development of a new mixed-use community south of Metro Manila, company officials said.

“Before the end of the year, the local partner will come in and we will sell to them...Before the end of the year, 29 hectares will be transacted already,” IRC Properties chairman and CEO Esteban G. Peña Sy said in an interview.

“That is a very populated area so obviously we are interested in it,” Anna Bautista-Dy, ALI vice-president and chief of the Strategic Landbank Management Group, said in a separate interview.

“Right now, it’s really through our subsidiaries. At least one I would say is in the more advanced stage in negotiations,” Bautista-Dy said, adding that economic housing brand Amaia Land and socialized housing arm BellaVita are interested in IRC Properties’ landbank.

In September, parent firm ALI denied it is in discussions with IRC Properties, which owns about 2,200 hectares of land in Binangonan, Rizal. But Baustista-Dy said the subsidiaries are taking charge of the negotiations.

The deal will give the property firm of the Ayala Group a presence in Binangonan while IRC Properties stands to secure a strong partner for its large landbank.

“We are not selling everything,” Peña Sy said.

Under the plan, IRC Properties intends to sell 50-100 hectares of the Binangonan property, with the remaining landbank up for joint venture deals, Peña Sy said.

The deal is close to being finalized, with several issues already in the process of settlement, officials said.

For instance, Peña Sy said IRC Properties has started paying claimants and clearing the Binangonan property.

“We’re still working on a lot of issues around it,” Bautista-Dy said.

Listed IRC Properties earlier reclassified several parts of the property into commercial and residential lots. It also sacrified some potential commercial area to create wider roads ahead of a large development in the area.

“In our masterplan, there will be buildings for business process outsourcing. These communities can supply the manpower,” Peña Sy said.