ALI sells AREIT shares to local, foreign investors

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has sold 205 million shares of AREIT Inc. to local and foreign institutional investors.

In a disclosure, ALI said it sold the AREIT shares at a P32.10 per share for a total of P6.58 billion.

This is in relation to ALI’s P22.5 billion property-for-share swap transaction with AREIT.

ALI will submit the required reinvestment plan detailing the use of proceeds from the share sale transaction.

ALI and AREIT’s property for share swap, which is estimated to be completed this year, covers P22.5-billion worth of assets, in exchange for 607.5 million AREIT primary common shares.

The assets are mainly located in the Makati CBD, specifically, the newest One Ayala Avenue East and West BPO Towers at the corner of Ayala Avenue and EDSA, as well as the Glorietta 1 and 2 mall wing and BPO buildings at Ayala Center.

Aside from these, the MarQuee mall in Angeles, Pampanga, located close to the Angeles exit of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), will also be added to AREIT’s portfolio.

These assets have a combined GLA of 190,000 sqm, an overall occupancy rate of 99 percent, and a weighted average lease expiry of 14.5 years.

The property-for-shares swap brought AREIT’s assets under management to P87 billion or nearly thrice the P30 billion AUM or 153,000 square meters of assets it had in 2020.

Since its IPO, AREIT has exceeded its growth plans, resulting in a 52 percent total shareholder return.  At present, AREIT’s portfolio stands at 673,000 sqm, equivalent to P64 billion.