Villar pours P1-B into retail business

MANILA, Philippines – Businessman and former senator Manuel B. Villar Jr is expanding his real estate and retail portfolio.

Echoing the business model of other real estate groups that offer retail and commercial offerings as part of their residential developments, Villar announced over the weekend the establishment of MBV Retail Holdings, which carries his initials.

Villar, the country’s 16th richest based on Forbes list, is the chairman of the new company, which was established with a P1 billion capital. Villar said the family is ready to pour in more capital in tranches of P250 million to support MBV Retail.

READ: How Vista Land edges out competition – Villar

READ: Ex-senator Villar returns to Vista Land as chair

The following are the brands that MBV will pursue and carry:

All Day, a convenience store

All Day stores will replace the existing 80 Finds convenience store chain nationwide earlier established by Vista Land. New branches carrying the rebranded store will be put up in new areas.

The target is to have 100 new stores by the end of this year, and to double the number by 2014.

All Day will cater to the Filipino preference as it aims to become a major player in a sector dominated by foreign chains like 7-Eleven and Ministop, Villar added. 

All Home, a home appliance and furnishings outlet

Villar said the store will provide good synergy with its residential developments of Vista Land, with furnishing packages to be offered to residents in installment.

Target is to have 5 small outlets this 2013 — one in Antipolo, Muntinlupa, Metropolis Alabang, San Fernando in Pampanga and San Jose in Bulacan. A small All Home branch will have 3,000 square meters (sqm) area.

Another 4 bigger outlets will be put up in 2014 with formats that will require 10,000 sqm.

All Group, a department store business that will eventually be rebranded

For the department store business, Villar said the expansion would largely depend on the construction of Vista Malls and Starmalls.

Vista Land has so far built 250,000 homes in 33 provinces, 65 cities and municipalities nationwide.

Villar said MBV Retail is also planning to venture into development of office buildings catering to the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, add more formats to its portfolio like drugstores, and list in the Philippine Stock Exchange in 5 years, depending on expansion projects. – Rappler.com

Note: An earlier version of this story plagiarized portions from a Philippine Star report. We have taken down those portions. We apologize to the Star, its writer, and our readers. We are investigating this case to determine liabilities and appropriate penalties. Rappler takes this plagiarism offense seriously and will make public our findings once our probe is complete.