Vista Land to tap capital markets

MANILA, Philippines - The real estate unit of the Villar family is looking to tap the capital markets to finance its expansion program.

In a regulatory filing, Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. said its board of directors approved several measures in line with the company’s fundraising through corporate notes.

Specifically, the board approved “the issuance, offer and sale by VLL International Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, of US dollar-denominated notes in such amount, with interest rate and under such other terms and conditions as the management of the company may subsequently approve or ratify.”

The board also allowed parent firm Vista Land to guarantee the corporate notes of VLL International.

“The proceeds of the offer will be used to partially finance the company’s capital expenditures and for general corporate purposes,” Vista Land said.

“The final terms and conditions of the offer and guarantee, including the amount, interest rate, and maturity date of the notes, shall be determined and confirmed in the coming week,” it added.

The property developer appointed UBS AG, CLSA Ltd. and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.

It also hired BDO Capital & Investment Corp. as the domestic lead manager, Citicorp International Ltd. as trustee, Citibank N.A. (London branch) as principal paying agent and transfer agent, and Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland AG as registrar.

Vista Land allotted P18.6 billion in capital expenditures this year for its aggressive expansion that will involve the development of more residential condominium buildings and commercial projects as wells as launch of more projects in new markets.

For this year, the country’s largest house and lot builder committed to launch P30 billion worth of projects offering 15,000 residential units, up from P25 billion and 12,000 units last year.

Vista Land targets to grow its reservation sales by 15-20 percent to as much as P50 billion this year from P40.09 billion in 2012. In the first three months of the year, reservation sales rose 16 percent to P11.76 billion.

In the first half, Vista Land posted an 18-percent uptick in net income to P2.6 billion from P2.2 billion last year while revenues rose 20 percent to P9.7 billion from P8.1 billion a year ago.

Vista Land is the holding company of five business units: Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines and Vista Residences.

In the past 38 years, the property firm has completed more than 250,000 housing units in 31 provinces and 64 cities and municipalities around the country.