FDC starts P10-B bond offer

MANILA, Philippines - Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the investment holding company of the Gotianun family, has started raising P10 billion through a bond sale.

In a statement, FDC said the bond offering period is scheduled on Jan. 13 to Jan. 17, while issuance date is on Jan. 24.

FDC is selling P7 billion bonds, with an oversubscription option of up to P3 billion. Philippine Rating Services Corp. rated the bonds as PRS Aaa, the highest in its rating system.

The holding firm said it hired BPI Capital Corp. as the issue manager and joint lead underwriter, together with BDO Capital & Investment Corp., First Metro Investment Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank. China Bank is  the transaction’s co-lead underwriter while East West Banking Corp. is the selling agent.

Proceeds of the fixed-rate, 10-year retail bonds will finance various investments, the conglomerate said.

“The net proceeds of the bonds will be utilized to partially finance projects that are being targeted to be undertaken by the company in the first quarter of 2014, the total capital expenditures of which amounts to P12.1 billion,” FDC earlier said.

Specifically, the firm committed to repay P5.37 billion worth of loans, spend P3.49 billion to build Hotel Crimson in Boracay, and invest P3.25 billion to put up a 405-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental.

FDC Hotels Corp. is in the planning and design stage for a five-star, 192-room Crimson Resort and Spa in Boracay Island slated to operations in 2016.

For its part, subsidiary FDC Utilities Inc. is developing a 405-MW clean coal thermal power plant. The first two units of the power plant will start operations in 2016 while the remaining 135 MW is projected to be online in 2017.

For this year, FDC allotted roughly P33 billion for its capital expenditures to bankroll property development, hotel as well as power projects and at the same time fund the expansion of its banking business. It is way above the P20 billion spent last year.

The bond sale will mark the return of FDC to the capital markets. In March last year, the investment company raised $300 million after its offshore unit Filinvest Development Cayman Islands sold seven-year bonds, the first international bond offering of the holding firm since the late 1990s.