Investors interested in REITs outside the Philippines can invest in UITFs from Manulife Investment Management of which there are two: Manulife Asia Pacific REIT Fund of Funds and Manulife Global REIT Feeder Fund.
For the Manulife Asia Pacific REIT Fund of Funds, its average annualized dividend yield is 4.71%, with a management fee of 1.75%. For the Manulife Global REIT Feeder Fund, its average annualized dividend yield is 4.55% with the same 1.75% management fee. Note that the above yields are already net of fees.
The workings of the market has always intrigued me and this is one of those. At its current price, buyers of VREIT will sit on more than 10% dividend yield. That means the market is discounting this REIT, by a lot. But why?
Let’s look at its rental assets: It has 256,000 sqm of GLA made up of 10 community malls and 2 office buildings. It has 97% occupancy rate and has managed to increase its dividends every year since its IPO in 2022. Although no further asset infusions have happened or plans announced, VREIT only has 20% of sponsor Vista Land’s commercial leasing portfolio of 1.6 million sqm so the potential is there.
Should I give Filinvest REIT (FILRT) a second chance? The stock has lost around -50% of its IPO price and the dividend has dropped -40% over 3 years. But I do love a turnaround story and maybe this could be it. If I buy FILRT shares now, that is a yield of around 7.75% and dividends will be going up with future asset infusions and further rebalancing of their office tenants. In fact, the infusion of Festival Mall recently received SEC approval and will be accretive to 3Q2025 dividends. I also appreciate management’s efforts and commitment towards growing and diversifying the rental assets of the REIT.
I’ve just attended the webinar hosted by COL Financial’s April Lee-Tan with Kerwin Tan, director and treasurer of Robinsons Commercial REIT (RCR). Fortunately COL uploaded it on their Youtube channel so here it is:
I always appreciate companies who reach out to their minority shareholders so kudos to RCR. The first takeaway is the recent announcement that sponsor RLC will be infusing 9 Robinsons Malls this year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Post infusion, RCR’s EBITDA will be approximately 50-50 offices and malls. I think this is great considering the challenges faced by the office sector particularly AI’s impact on the BPO industry. Malls also derive variable rent in the form of a percentage of tenants’ sales so this provides an upside to future dividends, particularly in Q4, when malls are packed with Christmas shoppers.
SIPCOR is the island province’s sole power provider and is rightfully being blamed for the blackouts in the area. Residents, who sometimes only have 2 hours of electricity a day, are calling for SIPCOR to be replaced. The problem is so bad that the provincial government had to declare a state of calamity. National government agencies also had to step in and bring in generators and no less than President Marcos Jr. has given the company 6 months to fix the problem.
SIPCOR is one of the two sponsor-tenants of Premier Island Power REIT (PREIT) and their failure to serve the people of Siquijor is a reflection of poor management. Prime Asset Ventures Inc. (PAVI), the parent company of PREIT and SIPCOR, is also being called out for failing to serve residents in various provinces in terms of water supply – this time through another subsidiary, PrimeWater.
As an investor, I will seriously question holding PREIT. Regardless of dividend yield, a poorly managed business is a terrible investment. It is also important to note that PREIT’s assets include not just the land and buildings but the diesel generators as well – yes, the ones that failed! Did PAVI infuse old and clunky machinery into the REIT? Que horror! Not that we lack options – renewable energy landlord CREIT is a much better choice.
philreitinvestor.com 