Ayala Land raises $65M from sale of pref shares

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has raised $65 million from the sale of shares in Astoria Investment Ventures Inc. (AIVI) the company which holds ALI’s stake in the Metro Rail Transit-3 project.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ALI senior vice-president and chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the company and Goldman Sachs (Asia) Finance effected the closing yesterday of a securitization agreement involving the sale of ALI’s interest in preferred redeemable shares of AIVI.

ALI formed AIVI to hold a 15.79-percent interest in the first phase of the MRT-3 project.

ALI remains a stockholder of AIVI despite the sale of its interest in AIVI’s preferred redeemable shares to Goldman Sachs.

Apart from this, ALI has retained its equity interest in North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp. (NTDCC), the owner of the shopping center to be put up in the depot of the MRT-3 project.

Last December, ALI increased its interest in NTDCC to 49 percent, making it the single biggest shareholder in the mall developer. This was made possible through the acquisition of the Fil-Estate Group’s 31-percent stake in NTDCC in exchange for the assignment to Fil-Estate of all its interests in certain companies.

The mall will rise on a 200,000-square meter property at the MRT depot. The railway system runs 17 kilometers overhead along EDSA, one of Manila’s major thoroughfares.

ALI has mall operations in Makati, Alabang, and in Cebu. Its malls basically cater to the upscale market.

ALI has earmarked P13.6 billion for its capital expenditures this year, significantly higher than the money spent last year.

In 2004, ALI spent P8.1 billion for the construction of residential buildings and townhouse projects, primarily Serendra, Montgomery Place, One Legazpi Park and The Residences at Greenbelt. Nearly 30 percent of this amount was used for buildings for lease including Market! Market! And People Support Center.

For this year, ALI has lined up new projects that will allow it to capitalize on emerging opportunities given the anticipated recovery of the property sector.