SEC okays P15-B ALI bonds

MANILA, Philippines - Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has obtained the Securities and Exchange Commission’s nod to raise as much as P15 billion from the sale of seven and 10-year bonds.

Based on its registration statement filed with the SEC, ALI will issue fixed rate callable bonds at 100 percent face value though joint issue managers BPI Capital Corp. and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.

Net proceeds from the issue will be used to partly support capital spending this year.

The offer will run from April 16 to 20. The company intends to list the bonds at the Philippine Dealing Exchange.

The aggregate amount of the issue was set at around P10 billion, with an oversubscription option of up to P5 billion.

ALI has set a record P37 billion capital spending program this year, 23.3 percent more than what it spent in 2011. Bulk of spending, or 56 percent, will go to residential projects, 13 percent (shopping centers), four percent (office buildings), 12 percent (hotels) and the balance of 15 percent (acquisition of new properties).

For this year, ALI intends to launch 24,800 units across all its major residential brands (Ayala Premier, Avida, Aveo and Amaia), significantly higher than the 20,613 units rolled out in 2011.

ALI also plans to aggressively expand its leasing portfolio as it continues to work on its programmed two million square meters and 750,000 sqm expansion of its shopping centers and business process outsourcing office (BPO) leasable area, respectively, over the next five years.

The group is currently building its first four businessman’s hotels under Kukun brand in Bonifacio Global City, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Nuvali in Laguna. The first two hotels are slated to be operational this year.

ALI grew its net income 31 percent last year to P7.14 billion on strong growth across its major business lines. Revenues rose 17 percent to P44.21 billion, of which P41.23 billion came from real estate and hotels.