Filinvest REIT eyes acquisitions to bolster portfolio

THE GOTIANUN family’s Filinvest REIT Corp. on Wednesday announced plans for potential property acquisitions.

“Our sponsor, Filinvest Land, Inc. (FLI) alone, has about 532,000 square meters (sq.m.) of office and retail gross leasable area (GLA) in key central business districts that are potential acquisitions for Filinvest REIT in the near to medium term,” Filinvest REIT President and Chief Executive Officer Maricel Brion-Lirio said during the company’s virtual annual stockholders meeting.

“Potential acquisitions can also come from the pipeline of assets that are owned by our sponsor’s parent company, Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC),” she added.

Filinvest REIT is the real estate investment trust of FLI.

Ms. Lirio said that Filinvest REIT will focus both on increasing the occupancy of its current portfolio as well as acquiring assets from other Filinvest companies via property-for-share swap deals.

“There are several identified assets but are dependent on a favorable exchange price to enable a property-for-share swap that is dividend-accretive for Filinvest REIT investors,” she added.

She also noted that six properties have secured Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiency certifications. These include Vector One, Vector Two, Plaza A, Plaza D, Filinvest One, Filinvest Two, and Filinvest Three.

“We will continue to step up our efforts to reduce Filinvest REIT’s environmental footprint. We believe that it’s an important commitment on our part to contribute to the conservation of the environment…,” she said.

In 2023, Filinvest REIT logged a P1.74 billion net income, a turnaround from the P660.75 million net loss the prior year. Its revenues fell by 7.7% to P2.99 billion.

The company ended 2023 with an average occupancy rate of 83%. New leases reached 20,139 sq.m. including 4,512 sq.m. of new traditional tenants.

Filinvest REIT has 17 fully operational Grade A office buildings and over 330,400 sq.m. of GLA.

“In terms of tenant retention, 31,835 sq.m. or 77% of 41,110 sq.m. of expiring leases in 2023 were renewed,” she said.

“This led to a significant improvement in weighted average lease expiry to 6.91 years as renewals and new leases for the year have set in, plus the addition of Crimson Boracay to the portfolio. The Crimson Boracay lot, which comprises 9% of the total gross leasable area, has a 40-year lease,” she added.

On Wednesday, Filinvest REIT shares fell by 1.72% or five centavos to P2.85 apiece. FLI stocks were unchanged at 67 centavos each. FDC shares were also unchanged at P5.67 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave