The SM Group is ramping up its warehousing facilities as part of its logistics push across its ecosystem and for third-party logistics providers, as the conglomerate sees logistics as one of its growth engines.
Alexis L. Ortiga, Vice President and Head of SM Offices, said, “We see the logistics industry as one of our growth engines.” As head of SM Offices, Ortiga oversees the development of industrial-ready warehouse facilities, focusing on accessibility and operational efficiency.
At present, the group has six warehouses under the SM Offices group.
Ortiga said they recently closed a 40,000-square-meter warehouse deal—the SPX, Shopee’s logistics facility located in Pasig. “We refurbished it, we renovated it, and then we leased it out to Shopee,” explained Ortiga, noting it is “not a typical deal.” The facility started operations last April 15, he added.
They also completed last year a deal for the Silangan Warehouse complex in Laguna, which has a gross leasable area of 130,000 square meters. Under this model, they offer capacity to third-party tenants.
“We definitely have more time to add more warehouses to the SM Offices,” said Ortiga, noting their expansion across the country, supported by SM Prime’s nationwide landbank.
In terms of investments in logistics, he said this will depend on the size of the facility.
“We have we have a few properties in the market right now that we’re entertaining with various third party logistics providers because they want to put up a warehouse with us,” he said.
SM Offices has been actively marketing and developing build-to-suit warehouses, as well as offering land for lease to third-party tenants, he added.
