ETON Properties Philippines Inc., a company owned by Lucio Tan, said it plans to spend P7 billion this year, double its 2015 capital expenditure (capex), as the company plans to diversify its property portfolio to include hospitality, leisure and larger-district and mixed-use developments.
Josefino Lucas, Eton chief operating officer, said the amount is part of the P30-billion capital spending the company has set aside for developments seen happening in the next five years.
“We are confident we can expand our footprint in the next five years to further optimize our gains. With economic prospects remaining bright and with demand for business space still strong from BPOs [business-process outsourcing companies], we will continue to build and expand our market. Our goal is to not just expand Eton Properties’s footprint, but to make it more visible and more entrenched in the markets that truly count,” the company said.
Eton is in the middle of adding four new office buildings in its portfolio, the first one already on primary groundworks in the company’s Eton Centris in Quezon City. Three are in the pipeline, set for construction in Ortigas Center.
Total construction cost for the four buildings is at P9 billion.
Under construction is the 25-story Centris Cyberpod Five, its fifth BPO facility in Eton Centris, eWest Pod in Makati, Sunrise Ortigas and Emerald Ruby Project.
Wilfredo Pineda, Eton chief finance officer, said the current pipeline projects will boost Eton’s 115,000-square-meter office space portfolio by another 200,000 in the next five years, or more than double its current space for the BPO sector by 2020.
Rental income, which accounted for 47 percent of Eton’s 2015 revenues, largely from its seven fully leased-out BPO buildings. Eton’s BPO office buildings are currently leased to top global outsourcing companies.
On its hotel venture, Lucas said Eton already signed the agreement where it is paying the Philippine National Bank for 20 percent of the property as down payment. Planning for the project, located in Mactan, Cebu, including market research, is seen to run for the next one-and-a-half years, Lucas said. The Mactan property marks Eton’s first venture outside Luzon, which will have a hotel.