Sta. Lucia Land Inc. plans to double its capital expenditures in 2016 to as much as P4 billion from a P2-billion programmed spending in 2015 to finance land banking activities and the construction of new subdivision projects.
Sta Lucia chief finance officer David dela Cruz said in an interview at the sidelines of a forum in Intercontinental Hotel in Makati funding for next year’s capital spending would primarily come from the company’s planned P5-billion bond offering scheduled in December.
Sta. Lucia earlier filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue P3 billion worth of bonds with a P2 billion an over allotment option. The bonds have a tenor of three and five years.
Dela Cruz said the company was aggressively expanding its horizontal developments, targeting emerging urban districts like Cavite, Tagaytay, Laguna, Batangas, Cebu, Rizal, Tarlac, Iloilo, Davao, Pampanga, Bulacan and Baguio.
It plans to expand commercial portfolio and replicate its expertise in retail development in the company’s existing projects. It will develop retail strips and mini-malls within the company’s residential projects.
The property company owns a a 120,000 square-meter Sta Lucia East Grand Mall along Marcos Highway in Rizal.
While the company focused on selling lots within its horizontal developments, Dela Cruz said Sta Lucia recently formed a wholly-owned unit—Sta. Lucia Homes Inc.—whose sole purpose is to offer construction services to the group’s over 120,000 lot buyers over the last 40 years.
The company estimated that over 60,000 lots buyer nationwide had not build their houses. Dela Cruz said the company aims to build 3,000 houses for lots buyers over the next three to five years.
He said the company might also consider issuing equity in the coming years after the bond issue.
Sta. Lucia is on track to register a net income of P800 million in 2015.
Sta Lucia, owned by the Robles Group, has 43 ongoing projects to date and concentrates on building large scale master planned subdivision communities in nearby provinces and emerging cities.