AREIT Inc., the country’s first real estate investment trust (REIT) firm owned by Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), said Friday it is acquiring 276 hectares of industrial land in Zambales province worth P6.77 billion from affiliate ACEN Corp.
AREIT said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it would acquire the property from Buendia Christiana Holdings Corp. (BCHC), a wholly owned subsidiary of ACEN, via a share swap agreement.
Under the deal, AREIT will issue 199,109,438 AREIT primary common shares to BCHC in exchange for the land valued at P6.77 billion, as validated by a third-party fairness opinion.
Upon issuance of AREIT shares in exchange for the land, Giga Ace 8 Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ACEN engaged in the business of developing and operating a solar plant, will lease the land from AREIT for 25 years at a guaranteed fixed rent escalating every year, and with the option to renew for another 25 years.
AREIT said the acquisition would strengthen its position as the Philippines’ largest and most diversified REIT firm with 861,000 thousand square meters of building gross leasable area (GLA).
After the acquisition, AREIT will own 286 hectares of industrial land, which includes 9.8 hectares currently owned in Laguna Technopark.
This will increase AREIT’s assets under management to P94 billion from P87 billion.
It said that aside from significant asset expansion, the addition of the Zambales land would complement AREIT’s sustainability objectives.
It has 18 properties that shifted from coal to clean renewable energy, reducing its carbon emissions significantly.
ALI and AREIT signed an agreement with the International Finance Corp. (IFC) in September to secure EDGE zero carbon certification for 1.5 million square meters of office buildings and establish the largest EDGE zero carbon portfolio in the country.
AREIT also reported that its board declared cash dividends of P0.55 per outstanding common share for the third quarter of 2023.
The dividends are payable on Dec. 15, 2023 to shareholders on record as of Dec. 1, 2023.
The dividend declaration represents a 96-percent increase from the company’s first quarterly payout of P0.28 per share in 2020.