Philippine Billionaire Aboitiz Family, Yuchengco Group In JV To Build Business Park

Aboitiz InfraCapital—the infrastructure arm of the billionaire Aboitiz family’s Aboitiz Equity Ventures—has partnered with the Yuchengco Group of Companies to develop a business park in the province of Tarlac, north of Manila.

The project, which will be built on a 184-hectare (1.84 million-square-meter) property owned by a unit of the Yuchengco Group’s House of Investments right next to Aboitiz InfraCapital’s TARI Estate, a 200-hectare mixed used development comprising industrial, commercial and residential components, the companies said in a joint statement.

Under the deal, House of Investments will own 51% of the joint venture while Aboitiz InfraCapital will own the rest, the companies said.

While the companies didn’t disclose the value of the 184 hectares being injected by House of Investments into the joint venture, the land could be worth at least 17 billion pesos ($297 million) based on the going rate in TARI Estate, which broke ground in May. Industrial and commercial lots in TARI Estate are selling at about 9,000 pesos a square meter, according to property brokers.

“By leveraging our combined expertise, we are well-positioned to deliver a development that not only addresses the needs of businesses and communities but also strengthens the estate’s status as a premier destination for investment in Central Luzon,” Rafael Fernandez de Mesa, Aboitiz InfraCapital’s head of economic estates, said.

TARI Estate earlier this week was designated as a special economic zone by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., making it Aboitiz InfraCapital’s fourth special economic zone. It is part of the Luzon Economic Corridor that Marcos wants to develop to help boost economic growth in the country’s largest island.

Aboitiz Equity is one of the Philippines’ leading conglomerates with interests in power, banking and financial services, food, and real estate. With an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion, the Aboitiz family ranked No. 10 on the list of the Philippines’50 Richest that was published in August.

The Yuchengco family, a key shareholder of Rizal Commercial Bank, has a net worth of $370 million. The family has interests in insurance, property development, schools, car dealerships, healthcare, energy, construction and deathcare.