GOKONGWEI-LED Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) expects regulatory approval for its mall and office infusions to its investment trust unit RL Commercial REIT Corp. (RCR) within the year.
In an analyst briefing held this month, RLC chief finance officer Kerwin Tan said, "We have submitted all pertinent documents to various regulators for approval, hopefully... by the second half of 2024."
Tan also confirmed the cash dividend payout from RCR will be higher due to the property infusion.
"As for the dividends... accrued to RCR beginning April 2024... will be naturally higher due to the infusions... As for the retroactive revenues, once approved, this is subject to a special board approval, for which we would declare special dividends," he said.
In June 2024, RLC entered into a property-for-share swap with RCR consisting of 11 malls and two office assets valued at P33.9 billion in exchange for nearly 5 million primary common shares at an exchange price of P6.80 apiece.
RCR President and Chief Executive Officer Jericho Go said the agreement will diversify RCR's portfolio and help grow the company.
The deal involves 10 Robinsons Malls in Novaliches, Cainta, Luisita, Cabanatuan, Lipa, Santa Rosa, Imus, Los Baños, Palawan, Ormoc, and a Cybergate in Davao, with a total leasable space of 278,526 square meters (sqm).
The two office assets are Giga Tower in Quezon City and Cybergate Delta 2 in Davao City, with an accumulated leasable space of 68,803 sqm.
"Last April 5, we had a successful block placement of our RCR stake of 1.7 billion shares to institutional investors amounting to P8.5 billion at P4.92 per share.... It holds the record as [the] single biggest block placement of a Philippine REIT-sponsored company," Tan said.
RLC reported a first-half net profit of P7.25 billion, a 25-percent jump attributed to its investment properties, while RCR reported a first-half net income of P2.99 billion, nearly breakeven or 0.6 percent lower than P2.31 billion in the same period in 2023.
Shares of RLC were last traded on Thursday at P14.42 apiece, while RCR shares stood at P5.83 apiece.