Vista Land offshore unit raises $100M

MANILA, Philippines - The holding firm for the real estate businesses of the Villar family, through its offshore unit, has secured $100 million in fresh capital through the sale of dollar-denominated notes.

Thus, Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the country’s most geographically diverse property firm, is now ready for more expansion programs, its top executive said.

Vista Land president and CEO Manuel Paolo Villar said the property firm’s subsidiary, VLL International Inc., recently completed the notes sales.

He said coupon rate of the notes, which will mature in five years, is pegged at 6.75 percent.

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

Late last month, Vista Land’s board of directors approved several measures in line with the company’s fundraising through corporate notes.

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

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 housing developer 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 to 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.