Pactia’s Colombia, U.S. Real-Estate Development Fund Sees 2017 Profits Jump 41.8%

Private real estate development fund Pactia – administered by Medellin-based Fiduciaria Bancolombia – on March 14 announced that full-year 2017 net income jumped 41.8% year-on-year, hitting COP$132 billion (US$46 million).

Gross income also rose 25% year-on-year, to COP$224 billion (US$78.7 million), while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) hit COP$107 billion (US$37.6 million), according to the company.

Year-on-year results aren’t fully comparable as 2017 was the first full year in operation of Pactia’s “Fondo de Capital Privado” (private capital fund), the company noted.

Pactia has real-estate investments in Colombia, Panama and the U.S.

During 2017, Pactia expanded its U.S. market holdings, taking a 45% stake in a portfolio of 14 commercial properties in Virginia, in which it invested COP$115 billion (US$40 million). Pactia also bought a commercial lot in Miami for a future mixed-use building project, according to the company.

As for 2018 plans, Pactia aims to invest an estimated COP$400 billion (US$140 million) this year in new projects, according to the company.

“We closed the year [2017] with very good results and we have the satisfaction of achieving our strategic goal of internationalization and diversification of our real-estate portfolio,” added Pactia president Nicolas Jaramillo.

Among Pactia’s recent flagship projects: the “Gran Plaza” commercial center in Bogota and another “Gran Plaza” in Bosa, Colombia.

The company added that it has obtained licenses to develop a new distribution center for Colgate Palmolive in Valle del Cauca (near Cali), as well as a new Hilton Hotel adjacent to the Corferias convention center in Bogota.

Estimated value of the current backlog of pending projects now totals COP$1 trillion (US$351 million), which when completed would yield another 281,000 square meters of leased space, according to the company.