Cebu Landmasters sets P15-B capex for 2025

LISTED Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) is allocating approximately P15 billion for capital expenditures (capex) this year as it seeks to expand its portfolio. 

“Around P15 billion,” CLI Chief Operating Officer Jose Franco B. Soberano said during a media briefing in Makati City on Friday last week.

This year’s capex is slightly higher than the P14.5 billion allocated in 2024.

CLI Chief Financial Officer Beauregard Grant L. Cheng said the budget covers ongoing capex for existing projects. 

“This includes all the projects we’re building up, all the projects we have launched in the recent past, potential land acquisitions, as well as projects that we are newly launching,” he said.

The VisMin real estate developer previously announced a P12-billion budget for two initial projects — a horizontal development and a condominium — as part of its planned entry into the Luzon market. 

“The P12 billion was our approximate capex spending for two projects we plan to do in Manila. But that’s over a four-year period of construction. So far, it’s still the same amount,” Mr. Soberano said.

On Friday, CLI raised P5 billion from a sustainability-linked bond issuance to fund the construction of 16,000 affordable housing units by March 2029, contributing to efforts to address the housing backlog in the Visayas and Mindanao. 

The issuance consisted of Series D bonds, totaling P2.86 billion, with an interest rate of 6.6348%, and Series E bonds, worth P2.14 billion, with an interest rate of 6.9157%. 

CLI’s issuance is the country’s second sustainability-linked bond, a financial instrument tied to environmental, social, and governance objectives. The company must build 8,500 affordable housing units by February 2027 and a total of 16,000 units by February 2029. 

Failure to meet the target will result in a 7.5-basis-point increase in interest rates.

“Right now, we have a lot of projects. We launched in General Santos. We have ongoing projects in Iloilo, Bacolod, Ormoc, and Cebu. As we finish all these projects, they’re going to count toward our compliance with these measures. They’re already in progress,” Mr. Cheng said.

The recent bond issuance is the second tranche of CLI’s P15-billion shelf-registered bond program, with the third tranche planned for the third or fourth quarter of this year.

CLI shares were last traded on March 21 at P2.57 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave