By Zinnia B. Dela Peña Updated May 14, 2009 12:00 AM [ philstar.com ]
MANILA, Philippines – Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has approved the issuance of up to P504 million of the second series of its Homestarter bonds.
The Ayala Homestarter bond is a fund-building program to help prospective buyers of homes offered by the company and its subsidiaries, Alveo Land and Avida Land Corp., to raise the required downpayments.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said an initial tranche amounting to P252 million will be issued with an option to increase the size to P360 million, subject to the registration requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
BPI Capital Corp. has been appointed as issue manager and underwriter for the bonds.
Ysmael said the bonds will be issued through a general public offering to retail investors.
Last month, ALI obtained a P1-billion loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines.
The loan facility, which will take the form of seven-year corporate notes, will be used for general corporate purposes as well as funding its capital expenditure program for this year of P17.4 billion.
Despite a difficult business environment, ALI is executing simultaneously 129 projects it has committed to complete on time.
Among these projects include the redevelopment of the Ayala Center which is estimated to cost P7.2 billion and the completion of MarQuee Mall in Angeles, Pampanga.
Marquee Mall, the company’s first provincial shopping center outside Cebu, will make available an additional 38,000 square meters of gross leasable area when it opens its doors to the public in September this year. It will allow the company to broaden its reach and allow it to tap into the increasing consumer demand and sophistication in a rapidly expanding economic growth corridor at the heart of Central Luzon.
The redevelopment of Glorietta 1 and 2 is expected to be completed by 2012. Also part of the Ayala Center makeover is the construction of Raffles Hotel and Private Residences and Fairmont Hotel.
Meanwhile, the first phase of its Davao mall development will offer 35,000 square meters of gross leasable area by 2011.
With a cash hoard of P16.7 billion, ALI remains confident it will have the cash not only to meet its promises but also to be able to invest in attractive opportunities.
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