Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) on Tuesday said the dividend yield of its real estate investment trust (REIT) issuance will hover around 5 percent, which is on a par with that of its peers.
Josephine Gotianun-Yap, president of Filinvest Land, said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines’ (EJAP) forum Tuesday that “the dividend will be definitely a competitive dividend rate similar to the other REITs that are around the mid-5 percent area.”
“And we’re looking at [declaring] a dividend of 100 percent of the REIT NOI [net operating income].”
Yap said the assets that are infused into the group’s REIT entity are on lease for 75 years. Filinvest REIT will be the financial platform for the commercial assets of the group, she said.
The company’s REIT vehicle Filinvest REIT Corp. is currently in the thick of preparations for its initial public offering and listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The company is selling 1.63 billion in secondary offer shares and an overallotment option of 163.41 million for an indicative price of P8.30 per share or proceeds of P14.88 billion in fresh funds.
FLI is the lone selling shareholder and sponsor of Filinvest REIT. It will be listed for trading under the symbol “FILRT”.
The share sale will be handled by BPI Capital Corp., and UBS as joint global coordinator and bookrunner.
Yap said assets that are folded into the REIT vehicle are commercial properties that attract prime commercial clients like multinational business process outsourcing firms.
“In addition to the initial portfolio, we have another 350,000 [square meters] of office portfolio that will be infused when it has attained the investment criteria of the REIT [reinvestment] guidelines. We have many, many other assets of retail that are still under construction as well, as well as industrial warehousing that we’re working on, given the depth and the extent of the land bank that we have,” she said.
“Aside from the office portfolio which is the main focus, we’re also looking at opportunistic assets, such as retail and retail and hospitality.”
Filinvest REIT is registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority as an economic zone facilities enterprise that owns and operates the IT buildings in Northgate Cyberzone, located within Filinvest City. It was incorporated on January 14, 2000 and began commercial operations on May 1, 2001.
Filinvest REIT also owns office buildings in Filinvest Cyberzone Cebu in Cebu City.
Its portfolio consists of 16 office towers, including one with a retail component, in Northgate Cyberzone in Alabang, and one office tower with a retail component in Cebu City.
It has a total gross leasable space (GLA) of 299,158 square meters in office space, and 2,204 sq.m., in GLA of retail spaces.
Yap said multinational BPO companies account for 88.4 percent of the occupied gross leasable area while POGO tenants occupy 2.2 percent.
“The remaining 9 percent are non-BPO offices, and some retail tenants as of the first quarter of 2021.”