By Denise A. Valdez, Senior Reporter
JANUARIUS Holdings, Inc., the holding company of businessman Januario Jesus Gregorio B. Atencio III, has taken a 13% stake in housing developer Ovialand, Inc. which seeks to expand its business nationwide over the next 10 years.
In a virtual media briefing Thursday, Mr. Atencio announced his agreement with Olivares family-owned Ovialand, which allows him to raise his stake in the company to up to 20% over the next three years. The deal value was not disclosed.
Ovialand seeks to expand its portfolio across the three major islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao until 2030, by which time it targets an annual capacity of 8,000 to 10,000 units from 400 to 600 units at present.
“We’re expecting to open our first regional development in the area of Visayas around 2024-2025, on which we intend to start our township communities as well. We are also intending to venture into four-story mid-rise buildings in more congested areas of Metro Manila. The vision is to bring premier family living in a vertical space. That’s where we intend to go in the next 10 years,” Marie Leonore Fatima O. Vital, president of Ovialand, said.
After Mr. Atencio’s equity investment, Ms. Vital said Ovialand will “seriously consider” doing an initial public offering to support its expansion plans.
The company is expecting to finish 600 houses by the end of the year, and targets to do 1,000 houses by next year. It expects revenues to grow to P4 billion over the next three years to be supported by its 32-hectare land bank.
“Despite the pandemic, we are still looking forward to a 30% growth this year. We were able to deliver to our clients the new houses that we were looking forward to,” Ms. Vital said.
Ovialand’s existing projects are mostly located in Southern Luzon, such as in San Pablo, Laguna and Candelaria, Quezon. These are all horizontal house and lot projects priced between P2.2 million and P2.8 million.
“I think this scale is already sufficient, proof of concept that the business model works and everything that happens from thereon is just a continuation of the basic fundamental structure of the company… (It can do a public offering) any time after COVID,” Mr. Atencio said.
Ovialand is chaired by Giovanni J. Olivares, who has been in the real estate development business since 1991 focusing on socialized and low-cost housing. Ovialand was formed in 2015 to focus on the premier housing market.
Mr. Atencio was the president and chief executive officer of listed mass housing developer 8990 Holdings, Inc., from which he retired in 2017.
