While still waiting for regulatory approval for its fifth wave of asset infusions from sponsor, Andrew Tan-led Megaworld Corp., real estate investment trust (REIT) MREIT Inc. is already eyeing prime assets from Uptown BGC and hotels from Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) for Wave 6, which will propel it past the firm’s one-million-square-meter (sqm) target.

During the first day of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Strengthening Access and Reach (STAR) investor briefing on Monday, Aug. 17, MREIT Investor Relations Head Andy Willing Dela Cruz Jr. said they expect Wave 5 to be approved later this year and are already looking at filling their shopping cart with more fresh assets from Megaworld and other AGI units.

“Wave 6 will already include some of our crown jewel assets here in Uptown Bonifacio… That’s for next year,” he said, adding that MREIT diversified into mall assets in Wave 5 and “We still have a few mall assets that are not yet infused including the Uptown Mall in Uptown Bonifacio.”

Dela Cruz also noted that MREIT still has a large pipeline for future portfolio growth in hotel assets owned by both Megaworld and AGI’s Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.

“Mostly we’re still looking at the hotels. I think that is where we want to study our near-term acquisitions. Near-term meaning in three to five years. There’s still substantial hotel assets from the AGI group. Not only from Megaworld, from the local branded hotels that we have, but also from Travellers. We have Marriott, we have Sheraton, we have Hotel Okura, we have Hilton,” he explained.

MREIT is already acquiring one hotel, Holiday Inn, in Wave 5. Aside from hotel assets, Dela Cruz said there is also the Newport Mall and other parts of Newport World Resorts, which is the biggest meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) venue in the Philippines.

“For example, Marriott’s Grand Ballroom that can sit up to 3,000 to 4,000 people. That can also be potentially folded into MREIT. Actually, there’s a lot of assets under Travellers and, potentially, in other companies under Alliance Global,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wave 6 is also seen to further expand MREIT’s geographic reach with the inclusion of assets from other Megaworld townships. MREIT’s assets are currently from nine of Megaworld’s 37 townships.

MREIT is also targeting inclusion in the 30-stock basket of the PSE main index (PSEi) after the Wave 5 infusion, which will expand the company’s market capitalization to about ₱90 billion.