Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC), the investment arm of the Gotianun Group, is allotting P20 billion to P25 billion for capital expenditures this year as it expands its property, renewable energy and hospitality businesses.
In an interview, FDC President and CEO Rhoda A. Huang said the lion’s share of 60 percent of the capex will be for Filinvest Land Inc.; 15 percent for the power business; 15 percent for hospitality business; and the remaining 10 percent for other businesses as well as the firm’s digitalization program.
She added that the capex will be funded by a combination of debt and internally-generated funds, noting that the bulk will be sourced from internally-generated funds. FDC had raised P10 billion from a bond offering earlier this year.
FDC will be pushing for the expansion of its renewable energy portfolio by developing new power generation capacity from both solar and hydroelectric plants with solar energy taking the lead.
“What’s underway is solar. We are developing 20MW in Misamis Oriental and 12 MW in Cebu. These are targeted for completion in 10 to 12 months,” said Huang, adding that the hydro-electric plant will be in Pangasinan but they have yet to start the project.
Meanwhile, FDC will be building additional hotels nationwide, including in municipalities.
“We’re already constructing Grafik in Baguio. That’s a new premium brand. It’s in the John Hay area and construction has started last year. It will open in the first quarter of 2025,” said Huang.
She added that they are also developing a hotel in Clark under the Crimson brand while Crimson Hotel in Mactan is undergoing renovation and expansion, recalling that, “Mactan was hard hit by Typhoon Odette. We refurbished and then we’re looking at expansion.”
FDC Chief Operating Officer Ysmael Baysa said that, for the firm’s digitalization program, they have projects to change FDC’s enterprise resource plan (ERP) as they currently have several ERP systems.
“We want to convert into just one and we’re also enhancing our purchasing segment, project management system and the management report and analysis and planning system. It’s a very big project which will affect practically all or most legal entities, that’s the biggest investment there,” he said.
Baysa noted that “it takes several years but the biggest investments are taking place this year. The project started as early as 2021, the conceptualization. So the projects have been ongoing. But the most intense activities actually took place last year. Then we accelerated the development, but the biggest implementation is actually this year.”