The Dot-Com-ing of Philippine Real Estate: Megaworld Bares Transition to 'meg@world'

March 13, 2000 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 643-00 The Dot-Com-ing of Philippine Real Estate: Megaworld Bares Transition to 'meg@world' Megaworld Corp., developer of the country's first-ever information technology (IT) park, the Eastwood City CyberPark, has rolled out a strategic, technology-driven initiative called "meg@world "in a bid to establish itself as a leading real estate solutions provider in the Philippines. cdll Under the initiative, the company is working towards creating a "wired" community of meg@world stakeholders including employees, present and prospective customers, property analysts, suppliers, investors and partners. Megaworld has committed P500 million for investments in technology-related businesses. It will use the capital to provide IT firms locating at the CyberPark with incentives that will make their infrastructure costs more affordable. In return, Megaworld will acquire a stake in the locator-firms to participate in their growth. Megaworld will also contribute capital, assets and people to a new joint-venture technology fund to be professionally managed by a dedicated team. Its partners will include well-known venture capital/private equity groups and technology investment companies. "We'll be announcing the details of the technology fund and the names of our joint-venture partners shortly," said Kingson Sian, senior vice president of Megaworld. We look at these partnerships as drivers of the company's growth, and our policy is to choose those who are the best in their class as partners," he added. prcd Sian said Megaworld is embracing new technology as a tool to grow its business and enhance shareholder value. "Our commitment will expand beyond Eastwood City. We're aiming for complete technology application within all aspects of our business to become the premier provider of real estate solutions to companies in hyper-growth businesses such as technology, software and Internet business," he said. Sian disclosed that a dedicated team has; been formed to aggressively focus on information technology "We have formed a tech think tank called 'Meg@T 3 ' that will regularly advise our Board and senior management on all technology-related matters. Meg@T 3 will comprise smart, tech-savvy employees as well as industry leaders. Our strategic shareholder and investor Colony Capital will also be a part of it " "In all of our ongoing technology efforts, we have received tremendous support and guidance from Colony Capital," he said. "Megaworld's business focus will not change. We will continue to focus on our core business of real estate development. But we will place an added emphasis on developing those assets that cater to the fastest-growing businesses such as technology, software services and Internet companies," he said. LibLex