LISTED Empire East Land Holdings Inc., the affordable housing arm controlled by businessman Andrew Tan, expects to end the 2007 with a net income of P271.26 million, up 10 percent from P247 million a year earlier.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the company said the estimate was based on a number of assumptions, such as P601 million more in sales to be booked this quarter.

“The company’s in-house financing is also seen to generate interest income of P202.5 million,” it added. Real-estate sales this year, on the other hand, are estimated at P1.43 billion.

For 2008, the company is looking at further raising its net profit to P302.9 million as it is expected to book real-estate sales of P1.6 billion.

Next year, the company is allotting P1.5 billion to fund the development of new and existing projects and another P900 million for landbanking. The requirement will be funded by the P2.7-billion proceeds Empire East expects to generate from the rights offering of up to 2.719 billion common shares next January.

The company said it will continue to be aggressive in the succeeding years by spending P7 to P8 billion to bankroll acquisition of lands and continued development of various residential projects.

President Anthony Charlemagne Yu said earlier the capex would be covered by internally generated cash up to P7 billion in sales from projects that are yet to be booked by Empire East.

The properties that would be acquired are in Metro Manila and suburbs, where existing developments are situated.

This year, Empire East allocated P1 billion to finance the development of new and ongoing projects.

“We are committed to fast track the construction of the remaining residential units at Laguna Bel Air and Cambridge Village to welcome a new batch of homeowners each year,” Yu said.

In the pipeline are two large-scale communities designed for middle-income clientele, namely, Pioneer Woodlands and Little Baguio Terraces. Pioneer Woodlands, located along Pioneer Avenue, Mandaluyong City, is the company’s first transit-oriented development. The nine-tower project will link directly to the Boni station of MRT-3.

On the other hand, the six-tower Little Baguio Terraces in San Juan is a natural offshoot to the company’s projects in the area such as The Xavier Hills, Greenhills Garden Square and San Francisco Gardens.

MAJOR film and entertainment firm Viva Communications Inc. said Tuesday a chunk of the proceeds its initial public offering (IPO) next year will go to content creation and acquisition as well as pay for loans.

Empire East sees ’07 income up 10%

LISTED Empire East Land Holdings Inc., the affordable housing arm controlled by businessman Andrew Tan, expects to end the 2007 with a net income of P271.26 million, up 10 percent from P247 million a year earlier.

INSULAR Life, the largest Filipino life insurance company, said its gross premium income (GPI) from January to October this year reached P6.8 billion up 28 percent from a year earlier.

HONG KONG—Philippine stocks rose, pushing the benchmark index to a two-week high.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) and Megaworld Corp. advanced on continued speculation the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, helping avert a recession in the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest overseas market for labor and goods.

CHINA Banking Corp. (China Bank), plus other local banks signed a notes facility agreement with power producer Quezon Power Phils. Ltd. Co. to participate in the $100-million, seven-year, fixed-rate note facility arranged and underwritten by local-investment house BDO Capital and Investment Corp., a wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary of Banco de Oro Universal Bank (BDO).

WITH current globalization trend, it is timely to discuss the legal implications foreign equity of a corporation as regards ownership of private lands in our jurisdiction. Section 7, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution provides that save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands in the public domain.