Posted on July 10, 2012 09:42:44 PM [
BusinessWorld Online ]
HONG KONG -- Local conglomerate Ayala
Corp. is seeking to raise about $250 million by selling shares in real estate
unit Ayala Land, Inc. in a block deal launched on Tuesday, according to a
source with direct knowledge of the plans.
Ayala Corp. is offering 530 million
shares of the country’s biggest property developer at a price range of P19.80
to P20.20 pesos, said the source, who declined to be identified because he was
not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Earlier, the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) had approved Ayala Land’s bid to hike its authorized capital
stock by 6.05% as part of a plan to lower its foreign ownership levels.
The developer said the increase
consisted of 13.03 billion voting preferred shares with par value of P0.10 per
share, bringing the total to 15 billion shares.
Earlier this year, the company
announced a capital restructuring plan wherein 13.04 billion non-voting
preferred shares will be retired while 13.04 billion voting preferred shares
will then be issued to common shareholders via a 1:1 stock rights offer.
This move is seen to lower foreign
ownership of Ayala Land voting shares to a desired 19% from 38% as of
end-January this year after a Supreme Court ruling recently clarified corporate
equity limits.
This, in turn, was said to allow the
developer more room if it were to decide to foreign investors.
Ayala Corp. shares dropped by 3.2% to
P458 each while Ayala Land shares fell by 2.5% to P21.05 apiece at the close of
trading yesterday. -- Reuters
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