Batac named new MREIT CEO; Tan to become chair by June 1
The real estate investment trust arm of developer Megaworld Corp. is undergoing a major leadership shift as it seeks to reach its 1-million-square-meter (sq m) expansion goal by the end of the decade.
MREIT Inc. on Friday announced that Kevin Tan, who had been its president and CEO since its launch in 2021, was appointed as chair effective on June 1.
Jose Batac, MREIT’s incumbent chief operating officer, will succeed him as president and CEO.
He has been with Megaworld for a decade. He had led the company’s estate management group and then the corporate ventures and partnership arm before his appointment as COO and head of sustainability.
Before joining Megaworld, Batac was director for facilities management at the Ateneo de Manila University and director for estate management at Ayala Land Inc.
Second-generation tycoon Tan concurrently sits as president and CEO of Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), the parent firm of Megaworld, where he is also an executive director. He is likewise the chair of Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., the operator of Newport World Resorts, and director of other companies under AGI, including Emperador Inc. and Global-Estate Resorts Inc.
Portfolio expansion
Under Tan’s leadership, MREIT grew its gross leasable area to 482,000 sq m across 24 prime office properties at Megaworld’s townships: Eastwood City, McKinley Hill West, Iloilo Business Park and Davao Park District.
This year, MREIT plans to expand its portfolio by 24.5 percent to 600,000 sq m to inch closer to its goal of 1 million sq m by 2030.
Once achieved, MREIT will have one of the largest portfolios among the country’s REITs. Ayala-led AREIT Inc. currently has a GLA of 4.2 million sq m, composed of 1.3 million sq m of buildings and 2.9 million sq m of industrial land.
MREIT posted a 26-percent surge in its first-quarter distributable income to P932 million on gains from its new asset acquisitions.
Last October, MREIT bought six office properties of Megaworld valued at P13.15 billion.
