Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) is banking on the energy of a younger management to steer the group in the next decade, as it continues to invest for growth moving forward.
Filinvest intends to spend P35 billion as capital expenditure this year, of which about half is slated for the real estate and hospitality businesses.
“The balance will include investments in new ventures particularly in renewables, water and other urban solutions,” the company said.
Josephine Gotianun-Yap, FDC chief executive officer (CEO), said the next decade will be “one of transformation.”
“And that change led by younger leadership, formed by new mindsets inspired by ESG (environmental, social and governance) goals, and facilitated by the new digital world,” she said.
“We welcome key executives to occupy the most senior post in our subsidiaries in 2022, as a signal of change. In EastWest Bank, a new leadership team was formed, with the appointment of Jerry Ngo as CEO and the promotion of Jacqueline Fernandez, the president. Their joint task is to bring EastWest Bank financing products to the next level,” Yap added.
“In FLI (Filinvest Land Inc.), the position of president was handed over to Tristan Las Marias, an organic and veteran talent who steered FLI to greater heights with his contribution to FLI’s growth in Visayas and Mindanao, and later in Luzon,” Yap also said.
Antonio Moncupa Jr., former EastWest Bank president and CEO, has been elected to FDC’s board of directors.
Yap said the last decade was a foundational and capacity building period for FDC, which witnessed a decade of “strong growth” between 2009 and 2019, with compounded annual growth rate recorded at 19 percent and 21 percent in terms of revenues and net income, respectively.
“This was unfortunately interrupted by a crisis of unexpected proportions. But the COVID-19 pandemic proved, once again, our survival instinct. History will show that we used the time of the pandemic to our advantage. It gave us a breather to stop, rethink and reorganize,” Yap said.
“This new leadership supported by Filinvest’s wide ranging capacities and resources lay solid ground for growth in the coming decades,” she added.
Yap said among the engines of growth for the company moving forward is its residential land bank of almost 1,900 hectares and the commercial land bank which can produce 1.2 million square meters of gross leasable area.
“This will provide the fuel to grow and ensure the continuity of the property business or investment in the Clark corridor, where we have first mover advantage, have regained traction,” she said. – Ruelle Castro
