AREIT eyes up to P9 billion additional share offering

MANILA, Philippines — AREIT Inc. is planning a follow-on offering or private placement of shares to boost its public float which would decrease following a major property-for-share swap transaction with its sponsor Ayala Land Inc.

ALI SVP, CFO and treasurer Augusto Bengzon said the plans for a share offering, which could happen within the year, could involve a private placement of up to P9 billion worth of AREIT shares.

“It’s similar to how we’ve done it in the past. We place it with institutional investors,” said Bengzon, also a director at AREIT.

AREIT would have to take up the matter with its shareholders in a special stockholders meeting in the near term.

“We’re going to file it with the SEC. We expect approval maybe sometime in the third quarter,” Bengzon said.

Last December, AREIT disclosed that it would issue 841 million primary shares to ALI and its subsidiaries at P34 per share in exchange for four commercial buildings located in Ayala Center Makati and Ayala Center Cebu and a 276-hectare parcel of industrial land in Zambales valued at P28.6 billion.

For this transaction, the company expects to execute the deed of exchange and file the application for approval of the original issuance of shares with the SEC this March, and the issuance of the certificates authorizing registration (CAR) with the relevant Revenue District Office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue within the third quarter of 2024.

The SEC’s approval is expected to be issued within the third quarter of 2024, and the BIR’s CAR issuance is expected to be issued within the fourth quarter of 2024, it said.

After the approvals, the company shall likewise apply for the additional listing of shares with the Philippine Stock Exchange by the first quarter of 2025.

AREIT is the country’s pioneering real estate investment trust which made its debut on the PSE in 2020.

Its property portfolio currently consists of Grade A office buildings in Makati City, Pasig City, Muntinlupa City, Negros Occidental and Cebu, a commercial development in Pasig City and industrial lots in Laguna Technopark, among others.