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HONG
KONG—President Arroyo returned to
Manila Tuesday
night with news of another soon-to-be member of the
country’s billion-dollar investment club: Chinese
real-estate giant Shimao Group, which has formally
submitted its proposal to develop at least $2 billion
worth of high-end property projects in the Philippines.
The
President said in a pooled interview with reporters at
her hotel suite at the Grand Hyatt Hotel that the Shimao
Group is proposing “at least” two high-end hotels,
residential and commercial property development projects
in Fort Bonifacio and the Joint US Military Advisory
Group (Jusmag) site, covering a total of 42 hectares.
“What
they want to do in the
Philippines
is a big hotel and commercial property development, like
what we see in Hong Kong where you have hotels and
arcades. They will have two towers for two five-star
hotels and a commercial center. That will be at least a
$2-billion investment. And they have submitted their
proposal for the BCDA [Bases Conversion and Development
Authority] board to consider,” she said.
The
President’s announcement may prompt the BCDA to sit down
once more on Shimao’s case, having announced some three
weeks ago that it had rejected an unsolicited offer from
the Chinese group, opting instead for a full bidding
process for the choice North Bonifacio property.
BCDA
vice president Aileen Zosa said, on being apprised of
the Hong Kong advisory, that they will issue a statement
Wednesday or Thursday on the latest developments in the
disposition of the properties that Shimao wants to
acquire.
The BCDA
had explained earlier that it rejected the proposal of
Shimao for a 7-hectare North Bonifacio lot due to the
failure of the National Economic and Development
Authority (Neda) to issue the Guidelines for Joint
Venture, which would have included a prescribed
Swiss-challenge process for unsolicited proposals. The
BCDA said it will subject it to public bidding instead.
Still,
Zosa had said then that the Chinese developer can still
get hold of the property by winning the bidding for it.
Late
Tuesday, after being informed of Malacañang’s
announcement on the Shimao deal from Hong Kong, Zosa
deferred comment. “We will come out with an official
statement on the new developments to make it very
clear,” Zosa told the BusinessMirror.
President Arroyo, on learning of the development from
Trade Secretary Peter Favila on Monday night during an
informal interaction with the Philippine media in Hong
Kong, had remarked that another foreign investor is set
to join the Philippines’ “billion-dollar investment
club.” The term applies to investors that have infused
at least $1-billion investments in the country.
“This is
purely equity. There is no loan component here
whatsoever. This is Shimao’s solid investment in a joint
venture with BCDA. So we are just completing the staff
work on the part of the Philippines and we hope to sign
soon,” Favila told reporters Monday.
Favila
said the BCDA is “working on the titles,” referring to
the Fort Bonifacio lots being eyed by Shimao for its two
projects, namely, a 7-hectare lot in North Bonifacio,
and 35 hectares in Jusmag, which are “physically
contiguous.”
Shimao
investment head William C.K. Lee, who just met with
Favila that night to transmit Shimao’s proposal, said in
a brief interview with reporters that the planned
investment is a vote of confidence in the Philippine
economy.
“We
believe the Philippine economy will keep growing....The
Shimao Group is looking for different opportunities in
the Philippines....We are looking for more and more
opportunities in the Philippines,” Lee said.
Shimao
chairman Hui Wing Mao, the second-richest man in China,
has been to the Philippines several times to check
investment possibilities in the country. He was in
Manila last year to sign a memorandum of understanding
with the BCDA for the joint development project.
In her
media interview Tuesday, the President also said that
when Gordon Wu, chairman of Hopewell Holdings Ltd., paid
a courtesy call on her Tuesday morning, Foreign Affairs
Secretary Alberto Romulo and officials of the Philippine
Reclamation Authority and the province of Cavite were
with her to “revive” Wu’s interest in developing Sangley
Point, a former US naval base in Cavite.
Mrs.
Arroyo said Wu expressed willingness to “help” in the
development of Sangley Point but stressed that investors
would consider the project only if the bidding rules are
“very clear” and transparent, and if informal settlers
around the area are relocated.
“He
doesn’t mind if he loses [in the bidding] because he has
so many ventures. He’s willing to help in any way he
can. But his advice is, first, we must handle the
relocation, so that when investors see that we are
relocating informal settlers, investors will see that we
are serious. Because if you’re going to put an airport,
it’s very dangerous to have informal settlers around the
vicinity,” she said.
She said
Wu “said he will help us whether or not he is the one
who will win the bid.”
The
President said Wu is a “very desirable investor” because
his company conducted major reclamation projects in
Hong Kong and other parts of the region.
Mrs.
Arroyo said her Hong Kong trip, primarily to keynote the
11th Asian Investment Conference (AIC) of Credit Suisse,
helped her sustain investor confidence in the
Philippines because she personally apprised investors of
Philippine efforts to sharpen its competitive edge and
its upward growth path in the last seven years.
“They
will not have confidence in the Philippines unless we
give them the story about the
Philippines.
So it’s very important because other leaders of other
countries are also very aggressive and we have a good
story to tell because our economy is the strongest in
over 30 years. And the growth is stronger than many of
the neighboring economies,” she said.
The
President noted that the AIC was expected to attract
fewer people this year because of the global economic
crunch, but 25-percent more participants reportedly
showed up compared with last year, possibly because
investors are “looking for the bright spots in the
global economy.”
“The
fund managers we met represent $3 trillion in investible
funds. So if we get only a tiny fraction of that, that’s
going to be a very welcome infusion into the
Philippines....It really underscores the interest of the
outside world in the growing stability and economic
fortunes of the
Philippines,”
she said.
Before
she left for
Manila, the President was to meet with Robert Kuok, chairman of the
Shangri-La Hotels and Resort chain, who is reportedly
interested in a large parcel of land for palm-oil
production. (With M. V. de Leon in
Manila) |
