By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
MREIT, INC., the true estate investment trust (REIT) arm of listed Megaworld Corp., is about to accumulate P16.22 billion price of nine Grade A office buildings in Taguig City through a property-for-share swap transaction, a move expected to expand its income-generating asset base.
The infusion will add 165,477 square meters (sq.m.) of gross leasable area (GLA) to MREIT’s portfolio, bringing its total office GLA to 646,891 sq.m., the corporate said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday.
As a part of the transaction, Megaworld subscribed to 996.87 million MREIT shares, with payment settled through the transfer of the nine office buildings and a money component of P187.5 million.
“This latest infusion reflects MREIT’s continued give attention to scaling up with high-quality, income-generating assets in prime locations,” MREIT President and Chief Executive Officer Jose Arnulfo C. Batac said.
Assets covered within the transaction include Science Hub Towers 1, 3, and 4; 8 Campus Place Buildings A, B, and C; One Campus Place Buildings A and B; and the South East Asian Campus (SEAC), all positioned inside McKinley Hill in Taguig City.
All of the properties are Grade A office buildings situated in Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)-registered zones.
Megaworld said it’s going to assign to MREIT the present leases covering portions of the properties leased to 3rd parties, including the rights to receive and collect rentals, taxes, utilities, association dues, other assessments, and security deposits.
“We expect these asset infusions to be dividend-accretive in nature as office assets established inside Taguig City typically logs the next occupancy rate relative to other cities throughout the capital,” AP Securities, Inc. Equity Research Analyst Shawn Ray R. Atienza said in a Viber message.
“The kicker, though, is their office-heavy portfolio which subjects them to a much larger concentration risk relative to their peers — especially with their huge exposure to IT-BPM tenants,” he said, adding that Megaworld’s planned retail asset infusions should help improve portfolio diversification.
For 2026, Megaworld Investor Relations Head Andy Dela Cruz earlier told reporters that the corporate plans to infuse around 250,000 sq.m. of office and mall assets into MREIT.
These planned infusions are expected to extend MREIT’s portfolio to about 750,000 sq.m. of GLA next yr, in step with the corporate’s goal to achieve a million sq.m. of GLA by 2027.
“As previously disclosed, the subsequent tranche is anticipated to incorporate select mall assets, further diversifying MREIT’s income base,” the corporate said.
MREIT’s portfolio currently includes mall and office assets inside Megaworld’s townships, comparable to Eastwood City, McKinley Hill, McKinley West, Iloilo Business Park, and Davao Park District.
Megaworld reported a 16% increase in its nine-month net income to P15.9 billion, while MREIT’s distributable income rose by 27% to P2.8 billion over the identical period.