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Her next guest just raised 4.3 billion pesos from its preferred shares offering its first fundraising activity since its stock market debut in June 2017 to help bankroll upcoming projects.

Visman developer, Cebulan Masters COO, Franco Soberano joins us live. Franco, hi! Long time no see!

Long time no see! Always a pleasure to be here, Mimi. And good morning to all our viewers today.

Alright, good morning. So, 4.3 billion pesos, how far will that money go before you find the need to raise money again?

Well, it will definitely accelerate our projects or at the very least help us stay on track with our program for the year.

These are going into our housing projects in Butuan, a few in Cebu, and Davao and Palawan.

So, we're very thankful.

To our underwriters and the whole team who made this possible for us.

We did hear it was 1.4 times oversubscribed.

So, what are your priority projects in the pipeline?

You're known mostly as a Visman developer, one of the biggest in the country.

But about two, three weeks ago, we did speak to your CFO, Grant, and he did say that you guys are looking to enter the Luzon market.

Yes. In fact, we are putting up our office in Makati.

I should be...

there more often.

Luzon is our natural progression for us.

The Visman market is still very ripe.

It's still undertapped.

But we feel like we want to create more awareness about Cebu Landmasters and the great things we're doing in Luzon.

We have a very generous type of housing development and we want our friends in Luzon to experience that as well.

Okay. Can you give us more details on what project in Luzon you're going to be working on, what we can expect from you soon?

Yes.

You did say Palawan earlier.

Yes. We consider Palawan as really part of Calabar Zone.

But mainland Luzon, we're looking at Cavite.

We've been looking at Kamsur.

And even some key areas in Metro Manila are being considered.

I cannot disclose too much but we'll definitely be there soon.

And by soon, is that going to happen within the year?

Yes. Within the year, we've been disclosing to the public that

we intend to acquire some properties in Luzon this year.

So I've been flying to Manila a lot the past few months so it's definitely going to happen.

And what can we expect from your Luzon foray?

Is this mostly going to be high-rise residential projects or more of your mixed use with retail and hotel?

We want to start with our housing.

Housing is our bread and butter.

We've been doing housing since 2003.

So our entry point would be, I would say,

Islamic to mid-market housing.

However, there's a lot of interest in CLI.

There are several land owners in Manila asking us to look at their prime Metro Manila property.

So we are also not closing our doors to vertical development in Metro Manila.

As you know, in BISMIN, we've done everything from vertical to offices to hotels.

So we're ready. We're ready to take on the challenge in Luzon.

It seems like you are going to be very, very busy.

But when you think about the industry in general, the real estate market, what are you seeing?

What's the experience on the ground when it comes to...

You know, everybody's talking about higher interest rates, soaring inflation, very sticky.

So the cost of goods, even, you know, the minimum wage increase that we're all talking about,

it's going to impact your industry, huh?

Well, there have always been heads-up.

There have always been headwinds, Mimi.

In real estate, there are a lot of challenges thrown at the developer.

But if you look at our numbers, we've grown every year since our IPO before then.

Because fundamentally, really, I keep repeating this, there is a lack of supply in residential development

and there's increasing demand.

I would say, if you let the numbers settle down, right?

We actually have a very strong employment rate.

There is really low unemployment, meaning you have a workforce that's earning,

that workforce that's emerging into the middle class and ready to purchase their first home.

And you still have a very strong overseas Filipino market that's really looking to invest in the Philippines.

I would say residential market, especially in the middle market and affordable segment,

is really our silver lining.

In the market.

In the first quarter, we sold more than 5 billion of real estate in the first quarter alone.

More than the previous year.

So, for us, at least in CLI, we see a lot of positive indicators for us.

And that is going to push us forward up to the rest of the year.

Have you had to raise prices significantly just to cope with higher cost of raw materials,

higher cost of labor, higher cost of financing?

I would say, from before pandemic to today, let's say prices have increased at least 10% to at most 20%.

So, it's the job of the developer to make sure how can my unit still be accessible and attainable.

Now, we give really nice terms.

We allow them to pay down payment over four years, sometimes at five years.

So, it's about the developer also finding a way to make it easier for the buyer.

And I think that's where CLI is so natural for us to make adjustments right away.

We don't sit on it for a few months.

We tackle it overnight, these adjustments.

That's how we try to do things at Cebu Landmasters.

And it helps that you're very close to the big boss, your dad.

I wonder, you did say that Cebu Landmasters started back in 2003.

Which makes the company 21 years old this year, legal.

And you guys listed in 2017, which means you're about seven, eight years listed company already.

What is Franco Soberano's CLI story?

Do you remember how this all started with your dad?

On a more personal note.

Yeah, I was actually working in a multinational.

And I saw how real estate was really good.

And it was really impacting lives in a very positive way.

We were about to launch our first condominium in 2009.

And I saw, wow, in a condo project, we can hire 500 to 1,000 construction workers at the very least.

We support more than 30 suppliers.

And then I was sold.

I was not really heavily recruited by my father.

But I was very impressed with the way he handled things.

And I joined him back then.

And my story, really a story of...

I would say a second generation real estate developer that wanted to professionalize the business.

And saw eye to eye with the founder.

And it's really like that.

It's us working as a second generation, staying humble, staying hungry at the same time.

And seeing eye to eye with our first generation of the business.

And we have a very united family.

We're only five family members in the business.

But we are 900 employees already.

So we're very thankful that it's worked out so far very well.

And what do you say to shareholders who are still waiting for the share price to pop?

I would say we're very due.

We reported record results.

We're on track to have another banner year on our 21st year or our legal year as Mimi has put it.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to be excited about.

We're due.

Our value is getting more obvious as each day passes by.

So I'd like to thank you for your loyalty.

Thank you for your patience.

But we're definitely due for that pop.

All right.

We're looking forward to celebrate that pop with you.

Thank you so much, Franco, for joining us.

Always a pleasure to speak with you.

And thank you for sharing some inside stories about CLI.

Thank you.

See you soon.

Thank you always for the support.

See you. Bye.

All right.

Thank you.