Wongchuking ventures into industrial leasing

MANILA, Philippines — The Wongchuking family, erstwhile owners of the Mighty cigarette brands, has joined the industrial leasing estate band wagon.

The group recently launched T12 Polo Land Inc. industrial leasing estate in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

In a recent interview, businessman Caesar Wongchuking, who co-owns the industrial leasing estate with his brother Alex, said T12 Polo Land Inc. will house various light industries.

These include companies engaged in the distribution of consumers goods, manufacture of distribution of furniture, and production of selected construction materials.

Furthermore, it is also ready to cater to logistics companies which require cold storage and ice plans.

T12 Polo Land has a capital expenditures of P2 billion and is slated for full opening in the second quarter of next year, Caesar said.

A provincial ordinance passed by the provincial government of Guiguinto in October 2017 approved the conversion of the land owned by Cackam Realty and Trading Corp., T12 Polo Land and Czark Mak Corp.

The ordinance covered an area of roughly 117,000 square meters.

Japan Tobacco Inc., the Japan cigarette multinational giant which bought Mighty, is among the first tenants in the Bulacan industrial estate.

With its foray into the sector, the Wongchuking group joins the likes of Ayala Land Inc. and Double Dragon which are now venturing into industrial estate leasing.

DoubleDragon for instance aims to have at least 100,000 square meters of leasable industrial warehouse space across eight sites completed by 2020.

The company noted that there has been rising demand for warehouse space for logistics, commissary, cold storage, distribution, manufacturing, consumer-related and e-commerce companies alike.

ALI, likewise, aims to become a prime builder of industrial parks and warehouse facilities through its subsidiary Ayala Land Logistics Holdings Corp., formerly Prime Orion Philippines Inc. (POPI).

Many companies are venturing into the industrial leasing space following the strong growth of logistics and online retail in the Philippines.