RLC eyes REIT offering for malls, logistics units

By Jenniffer B. Austria

PROPERTY developer Robinsons Land Corp., the country’s second largest shopping mall operator, is studying the possibility of conducting a real estate investment trust offering for its malls and logistics businesses.

“At the strategic corporate level, we will closely monitor REIT opportunities for our malls and logistics businesses,” RLC president and chief executive Frederick Go said during the company’s annual stockholders meeting.

RLC has an REIT firm for its office business under RL Commercial REIT Inc. RCR is now one of the largest REIT companies in the coun- try with a market capitalization of P62.22 billion and with the widest geographical reach. It has 16 assets spread across 10 key cities all over the country. RLC was operating 53 malls with total gross leasable area of 1.6 million square meters as of end-March 2023. Eight of these malls are located in Metro Manila and 45 in other key cities across the country.

RLC plans to open two new shopping malls-the Opus Mall in Pasig City and Robinsons Mall Pagadian between 2023 and 2024. These new malls will increase the company’s gross leasable area to 1.689 sq. m.

RLC’s malls generated rental revenues of P8.95 billion in 2022, up 74 percent year-on-year.