Filinvest cleared to sell P10 billion fixed bonds

MANILA, Philippines — Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) received yesterday its permit to sell up to P10 billion in fixed bonds consisting of a base offer of P7 billion and an oversubscription option of P3 billion.

The offer forms part of the first tranche of fixed rate bonds that FDC plans to issue over the next three years and which are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under its shelf-registration program.

FDC received the SEC’s green light yesterday, renderzz ing effective its registration statement for the entire P32-billion bonds.

The initial tranche of up to P10 billion will have a maturity period of 2.5 years, with interest rate of 6.3206 percent per annum.

Net proceeds will be allocated to partially finance the company’s maturing bonds amounting to P7 billion and fulfill capital expenditure requirements totaling P3 billion.

FDC tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., East West Banking Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, RCBC Capital Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as joint lead underwriters and bookrunners. It tapped RCBC Trust Corp. as trustee.

FDC plans to issue the bonds on Feb. 7, 2024.

The bonds were recently assigned an issue credit rating of PRS Aaa, the highest rating conferred by PhilRatings, which is indicative of FDC’s strong capacity to meet financial commitments. The issuance was also assigned a stable outlook with PhilRating’s view that the ratings will likely remain unchanged in the next 12 months.

According to PhilRatings, key considerations in assigning the issue credit ratings were FDC’s conservative and professional management, the proven track record and established brand names of its main contributing subsidiaries, and its stable revenue stream from its diversified business portfolio.

The Filinvest Group reported a net income of P5.9 billion for the January to September 2023 period, an increase of 57 percent from the P3.8 billion net income generated during the corresponding period the prior year.

The substantial growth was propelled by a 26 percent increase in total revenues and other income, surging from P51.1 billion a year ago to P64.6 billion in the same period in 2022.

This was despite challenges posed by high interest and inflation rates.