Posted on July 10, 2012 10:03:56 PM [
BusinessWorld Online ]
STARMALLS, INC. is set to raise funds
from a share sale to United States-based investors, a disclosure to the
Philippine Stock Exchange showed late Monday.
Following a meeting that day, the
board of the Villar Group’s mall development arm approved the execution of a
private placement and subscription transaction involving authorized but
unissued stock held by Fine Properties, Inc., Starmalls’ principal shareholder,
and subsidiary Manuela Corp. to qualified institutional buyers based in the
United States.
No further details were made
available. The offer price of the shares will be determined via a book building
process following a roadshow abroad, Starmalls said.
UBS AG will serve as sole global
coordinator, sole book runner, sole lead manager, and stabilizing agent for the
transaction.
Further, the board also authorized the
issuance of 2.35 billion preferred shares to Fine Properties for a total issue
price of P23.5 million.
In a related development, Starmalls
forged a deal with the subsidiaries of Villar-controlled Vista Land &
Lifescapes, Inc. wherein Starmalls will serve as project manager of the Vista
Land subsidiaries’ commercial properties.
The deal granted Starmalls the right
of first offer and first refusal over these properties.
Starmalls, which operates six malls
nationwide, is engaged in the business of development, establishment, operation
and lease of commercial malls and office spaces. It opened its first mall in
Las Piñas City in 1979.
The mall operator went on to open
three other malls between 1982 and 1996, but was forced into corporate
rehabilitation following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Starmalls said that it was aiming to
spend P15 billion over the next five years to bankroll its nationwide expansion
plans, beginning with a mall in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan, and to be
followed by malls in Visayas and Mindanao, according to earlier reports.
Prior to the Villar Group’s
consolidation of its mall development and real estate businesses on July 3,
Starmalls was known as Polar Property Holdings Corp., a property firm
originally incorporated in 1969 as Polar Mines and Development Corp.
Polar Property had been engaged in the
development and marketing of medium-cost lots and condominiums in Manila,
Muntinlupa City, Quezon City, and Cavite province.
According to earlier regulatory
filings, Starmalls’ net income rose by 11.27% to P464 million in 2011 versus
P417 million in 2010, while revenues grew by 7.99% to P298.60 million last year
from P276.50 million in 2010.
This growth was attributed to rapid
improvement in occupancy and rental rates, Starmalls said.
Similarly, the company’s malls
division posted an occupancy rate of 70.0% in 2011, up from 65.0% in 2010, the
same filing showed.
Shares of Starmalls plunged by 2.35%
to P4.15 apiece yesterday from P4.25 at its previous close, while those of
Vista Land shed 0.24% to P4.12 versus P4.13 on Monday. -- F. J. G. de la Fuente
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