State firm seeks to boost pension fund
By Michelle V. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
7:30 am | Monday, November 18th, 2013
The Jai Alai building that has now been totally demolished. The former Jai Alai property at the corner of TM Kalaw Street and Taft Avenue in Manila (6,470 square meters) is one of the assets that will be auctioned off by the Government Service Insurance System.
MANILA, Philippines—The Government Service Insurance System will auction off six property assets worth over P1 billion next month to further boost liquidity of the state-run pension fund.
The GSIS considers it prudent to monetize some of its real properties and use the proceeds for investments, GSIS President and General Manager Robert Vergara said.
In a public notice published Saturday, the GSIS invited potential buyers to a sealed bidding on Dec. 16.
The assets to be auctioned off include the Philcomcen property in Ortigas, Pasig City (2,411 square meters); the former Jai Alai property at the corner of TM Kalaw Street and Taft Avenue in Manila (6,470 square meters); and the LA’O property in Ermita, Manila (821 square meters). The assets were assigned minimum bid prices of P464.42 million, P455.36 million, and P72.25 million, respectively.
Three other properties up for grabs are the CUL Transit property on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City (2,076 square meters); the Polymedic 1 property on Edsa in Mandaluyong City (495 square meters); and the Polymedic 2 property on Cordillera Street, Mandaluyong City (300 square meters). The properties were assigned minimum bid prices of P62.28 million, P42.57 million, and P10.5 million, respectively.
According to the GSIS, registration for bidding is scheduled from Nov. 18 to Dec. 6. A prebid conference for interested parties will be held on Nov. 25.
Bidding for the six properties next month will be the first in a series of auctions to be held by the GSIS.
Vergara said in an earlier interview that the GSIS has an estimated P30 billion worth of property assets that may be disposed of to beef up the fund’s liquidity.
As of the end of September, total assets of the GSIS amounted to P770 billion, he said. This was up by about 6 percent from the nearly P728 billion recorded at the end of 2012.
The GSIS will closely study the domestic capital market to determine the instruments in which to invest, Vergara said.
Of the GSIS’ total assets, some P120 billion are currently placed in local stocks.
It has been reported earlier that the pension fund plans to make investments abroad. But according to Vergara, the state firm has temporarily shelved that plan due to the weakness of the global economy, which has been affecting the performance of foreign investment instruments.
The domestic capital market at the moment, Vergara said, looks much more promising than those abroad due to the Philippines’ favorable macroeconomic fundamentals.
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Tags: auction , Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) , Philippines , property , Real Estate
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