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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Court approves rehab petition by Gold Coast Tower developer
PRIMETOWN Property Group Inc.’s petition for rehabilitation has been approved by the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Primetown said the RTC National Capital Judicial Region, Branch 138 in Makati City had approved its petition last Jan. 28.
Primetown, developer of the unfinished Gold Coast Tower project in Cebu, also said the court had appointed Norma Angcao as Prime-town’s rehabilitation receiver, replacing Jose Absalom Jocom Jr.
Primetown was the developer of the first condotel project in the Philippines, the Century Citadel Inn Makati, which was completed in 1993.
After completing several other projects both in Makati and Cebu cities, it encountered financial difficulties due to the devaluation of the peso in 1996, leaving four projects unfinished—the Gold Coast Tower, a 28-story hotel condominium in Mactan, Cebu; the Meditel Project, a 35-story medical hotel condominium on Shaw Blvd., Ma- ndaluyong; Conservatorium Project in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig; and the Diamond Head, a resort hotel in Boracay Island, Aklan.
The suspension of the projects occurred after Primetown entered into restructuring and dacion en pago (payment in kind) arrangements to reduce its debts from over P3 billion in 1998 to just P549.9 million in principal, depleting its financial resources.
The Meditel project has since been taken over by a partner, while the land in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Metro Manila, where the Conservatorium Project was undertaken, was foreclosed, according to documents from the court.
Debt relief
Claims for refund of some P600 million by buyers in the suspended projects made matters worse for the developer, forcing Prime-town to go to the court for debt relief in mid-2003.
Judge Sixto Marella Jr. gave the new rehabilitation receiver 30 days to update the appraisal of Primetown’s assets, including its 22.6-hectare undeveloped property in Cordova, Mactan; 23-hectare beachfront property in Boracay, Aklan; 1.8-hectare beachfront property in Panglao, Bohol; and 10-hectare property in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; and property in Arabel, Sarangani.
Angcao was also given 45 days to recompute all the claims of creditors, buyers, contractors and suppliers.
According to the court papers, before it ran into trouble, Primetown was able to complete, among others, the 16-story Trinity Plaza condotel near the Cebu Business Park; and the 1.2-hectare Kiener Hills condotel consisting of six medium-sized buildings near the Mactan Economic Zone and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
The Gold Coast project in Mactan, Cebu was a joint venture with the owners of the land, Aznar Realty Brothers Co. and Aznar Enterprises Inc. (CTL)
(March 2, 2005 issue)
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