SHAREHOLDERS of property developer Empire East Land Holdings Inc. approved a plan Friday to issue more shares, owing to expectations of further growth in the Philippines’ real-estate sector.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the company’s stockholders approved a plan to increase the authorized capital stock—the maximum number of shares that a corporation is allowed to issue—by P10.495 billion to P23.495 billion.

The stock hike will be divided into some 21.495 billion common shares and 2 billion preferred shares.

“The subscribed portion of the increase in capital stock will be funded by proceeds of a pre-emptive rights offer to be undertaken by the company,” Empire East said in its disclosure.

The company is also preparing a proposal which will exclusively allow shareholders to acquire more stocks during the first quarter next year.

Expected to reach P2.7 billion, proceeds from the planned stock rights offering will be used to develop the company’s projects, settle debts and acquire more land.

Empire East, which is 45.9-percent owned by Megaworld Corp. of businessman Andrew Tan, caters to the low- to middle-income markets.

Over the next five years, the company is spending P7 billion to P8 billion to bankroll acquisition of lands and continued development of various residential projects.

Earlier, president Anthony Charlemagne Yu said the proposed capital expenditure will be covered by internally generated cash and the P6 billion to P7 billion sales from projects which has yet to be booked by the company.

The properties that will be acquired are still located in Metro Manila and the suburbs, where all its existing developments are located.

For this year alone, Empire East allocated P1 billion to finance the development of both new and ongoing projects.

“We are committed to fast-track the construction of the remaining residential units at Laguna Bel Air and Cambridge Village to welcome a new batch of homeowners each year,” Yu said.

In the pipeline are two large-scale communities designed for middle-income clientele, namely, Pioneer Woodlands and Little Baguio Terraces. Pioneer Woodlands, located along Pioneer Avenue, Mandaluyong City, is the company’s first transit oriented development. The nine-tower project will link directly to the Boni station of the MRT-3.

Meanwhile, the six-tower Little Baguio Terraces in San Juan is a follow-up to the company’s projects in the area such as The Xavier Hills, Greenhills Garden Square and San Francisco Gardens.

PHILIPPINE stocks rose close to a record with metal producers led by Philex Mining Corp. climbing after gold and copper prices increased.

Developer issues additional shares

SHAREHOLDERS of property developer Empire East Land Holdings Inc. approved a plan Friday to issue more shares, owing to expectations of further growth in the Philippines’ real-estate sector.

SOUTHEAST Asian Airlines (Seair) may fly to Bangkok, Incheon and Taipei as soon as plans to mount flights to Singapore and Macau push through, possibly early next year.

BAYAN Telecommunications Inc. (Bayan) will likely secure this year the consent of the remaining creditors of its subsidiary Radio Communications Philippines Inc. (RCPI) for an out-of-court debt settlement.

MILAN—Burberry Group Plc., the luxury-goods maker whose founder created gabardine fabric, may say Tuesday first-half sales advanced after the company opened stores to stoke purchases of higher-priced products.

ABOUT two years ago, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, now chairman of Ayala Corp., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Globe Telecom, told BusinessMirror that more than a thousand hectares near Laguna Technopark located at Sta. Rosa City were available for development.