Posted on February 21, 2012 09:35:26 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
DUTCH INVESTMENT firm APG Strategic Real Estate Pool N.V. has moved to acquire another 9.8% stake in Century Properties Group, Inc. via a bond conversion, a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed yesterday.
APG inked a purchase agreement with the listed developer and its parent Century Properties, Inc. (CPI) for the issuance of 868.32 million Century Properties shares in exchange for convertible bonds APG subscribed to last year.
CPI had earned the approval of the PSE’s market operations division to conduct the block share sale. Macquarie Capital (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and Ventures Securities Inc. served as brokers.
This, after APG already moved to subscribe to 1.33 billion common shares priced at P1.75 apiece. Century Properties said it was poised to raise P2.33 billion in proceeds from the offshore placement, which had hiking hiked the developer’s public float to 17.5% from 6.4% prior.
Now with the bond conversion, Century Properties says its public float level has risen to 27.3%.
Century Properties had been among the 41 publicly-listed firms who failed to meet the PSE’s minimum public float requirement of 10% by Nov. 30, 2011.
The firm said that half of the subscription proceeds will be allocated for working capital purposes, while the remaining balance will be used to bankroll land acquisitions.
APG provides asset management services to pension funds, managing more than 30% of all collective pensions in the Netherlands, the company said on its Web site.
Last year, Century Properties secured P2.25 billion in funding from APG to finance its projects, according to earlier reports.
Century Properties, a high-rise developer which claims to have more than 40 projects in its total portfolio as of last year, has already completed a total of over 22 buildings and 720 homes according to its Web site.
The firm debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange last September by way of backdoor listing, replacing energy firm East Asia Power Resources Corp.
The company plans to spend this year as much as P8.3 billion -- more than thrice its capital expenditures in 2011.
Century Communities Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Century Properties, has moved to build a leisure and resort community estate in Batangas. So far, Century Properties has reported P779.65 million in net income attributable to the company’s equity holders for January to October, 399% higher than the P156.66 million booked in the same period last year.
The company’s total revenues nearly doubled to P4.02 billion from P2.09 billion year-on-year, while costs and expenses grew by 59.67% to P2.89 billion from P1.81 billion two years ago.
Shares of Century Properties plunged by 4.40% to close at P1.74 apiece yesterday from P1.82 at its previous close on Monday. -- FJGDLF
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