SBMA, CDC plan to offer asset-backed securities

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) are jointly planning to offer an asset-backed security which is expected to generate from $3 billion to $5 billion over a five-year period for projects in Subic and Clark.

The SBMA and CDC have agreed to call the fund-raising project the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development or SCAD superfund.

The assets to be pooled include the $10 billion infra-assets of Subic and the $5-billion infra-assets of Clark.

The SCAD superfund would include future revenues, leasehold rights, masterplan, value appreciation, investment income, development income and sales proceeds of the securities/certificates.

SBMA chairman Felicito Payumo said the planned asset-backed securitization has already been passed and upheld by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).

"Similar securitization plans were adopted for other big government projects such as the Heritage Memorial Park, the Smokey Mountain project, the Commonwealth Enterprise Zone project and the Old Bilibid Compound project," Payumo said.

A financial advisor will be engaged and a business plan will also be drawn to outline the details of the projects in which the superfund will be used," he said.

Payumo said the SCAD will be more of a cooperative endeavor.

A managerial group will be formed to take care of such things as inventory of assets and resources of Subic and Clark and establish procedures in the valuation of all assets, according to Payumo.

Payumo admitted, however, that creating the SCAD superfund would require the issuance of an executive order. – Marianne Go