Anchor Land Holdings, Inc.

HENRY Sy Sr.-controlled Sybase Equity Investments Corp. further increased its stake in listed property developer Anchor Land Holdings Inc. to almost 30 percent, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show.

Sybase, a private investment firm, bought an additional 30.47 million shares or 9 percent of Anchor Land on September 23 for P8.33 apiece in two separate transactions. In an overseas text message, Anchor Land vice chairman Steve Li said the sellers  from the new transactions were “not from our group.”

In addition to shares bought in the open market throughout the month, Sybase now owns 29.06 percent in the real-estate developer which owes much of its success to its strong customer base in the niche Chinese-Filipino community.

On September 16, Sybase raised its stake to 20 percent from a previous 10.17 percent acquired during Anchor Land’s initial public offering two years ago. As part of the deal, Sybase purchased 21.5 million and 13.17 million common shares from Anchor Land’s president Imelda Taneda Sze, and stockholder Rena Obo, respectively, for P6.50 apiece.

Li earlier said that purchases by the Sy family are a sign of confidence in the firm’s business strategy and direction. For now, the developer continues expansion moves as it prepares to launch a new condominium complex in San Juan City. The project, dubbed Clairemont Hills, features a 15-story twin tower condominium geared toward the high end market. Included in the plan are eight single-detached houses.

The company is also bullish on the commercial segment as it plans to launch Two Shopping Center in Pasay City. Anchor Land’s first foray into this business, the P300-million One Shopping Center which was patterned after the wholesale mall concept, is already 80 percent leased out, noted Li.

In June, Anchor Land paid P360 million for the Admiral Hotel and an adjacent property located in Roxas Boulevard in Manila City. Li said the firm is scheduled to start by next year the initial stages of development which will include a 48-story residential condominium.

For the first six months of the year, Anchor Land said its profits rose 67.3 percent to P185.7 million. Revenues also rose over 70 percent to P973.42 million, the bulk of which came from real-estate sales.