Megaworld Corp. booked 415,000 square meters of office leases since the start of the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic early last year.
“Around 60 percent of these lease contracts booked since last year were renewals while the remaining 40 percent were new leases, mostly from the information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors,” the company said in a statement, Megaworld is in the mid of a real estate investment trust (REIT) application said in statement.
“During the first half of this year alone, new leases and renewals were booked in Eastwood City, McKinley Hill, Uptown Bonifacio, The Mactan Newtown in Cebu, Southwoods City in Biñan, Laguna, and Davao Park District in Davao City,” it added.
Megaworld REIT unit MREIT Inc. eyes to issue an initial 1.08 billion secondary shares and another 161.7 million covering the greenshoe option, at an offer price of up to P22, which could raise for the company P27.32 billion. MREIT’s initial public offering is set to run Sept. 14 to 20, 2021 after a price-setting on Sept. 9, 2021.
Kevin. Tan, Megaworld chief strategy officer, said around 80 percent of these leases in the first half of the year were renewals. “This means, BPO companies opted to stay and held on to their spaces. This also clearly indicates the strength and resilience of the office market within our pioneering townships,” he said.
Earlier this year, Megaworld fully leased its Southwoods Office Towers inside the 561-hectare Southwoods City after an American renewable energy company and a BPO company specializing in customer care solutions took the remaining spaces.
In Davao City, four levels of the Davao Finance Center inside the 11-hectare Davao Park District have also been leased to one of the largest BPO companies in the country during the first half of this year, Megaworld said.
