By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated August 20, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Gokongwei-owned property firm Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) said it has successfully raised another P5 billion from a recent bond offering which was more than four times oversubscribed, as both institutional and retail investors snapped up the issue.
This was the second bond offering undertaken by RLC for the year following the maiden bond issue held last July.
“The strong market demand for the first tranche of RLC bonds encouraged the company to follow on with the issuance of another round of retail bonds. This reaffirms the market’s confidence in RLC and in the company’s impressive credit standing and strategic planning,” said James Go, chairman and chief executive of RLC.
The bond issue was assigned the highest credit rating of PRS Aaa by leading domestic credit rating firm PhilRatings indicating that the debt issue is of the highest quality with minimal credit risk and that the issuer’s capacity to meet its financial obligations is extremely strong.
PhilRatings, in assigning the rating, took into account the company’s consistent robust operating profit and strong cash flow from a diverse portfolio of real estate assets.
The five-year and one-day retail bonds were priced at 8.25 percent per annum and are set to mature in 2014. RLC earlier announced that it will use the proceeds from the issue to fund capital expenditure requirements.
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC) and SB Capital Investment Corp. were joint issue managers, and were also joint lead managers together with BDO Capital & Investment Corp. and BPI Capital Corp. HSBC served as sole bookrunner for the transaction.
RLC, the real-estate arm of JG Summit Holdings, Inc., is one of the Philippines’ leading real estate developers in terms of revenues, number of projects and total project size. It is engaged in the development and operation of shopping malls and hotels, mixed-use properties, office and residential buildings, as well as land and residential housing developments located in key cities and other urban areas nationwide.
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