Posted on November
27, 2012 10:56:24 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
PROPERTY DEVELOPER
Rockwell Land Corp. has secured board approval to issue as much as P10 billion
worth of corporate notes in a bid to raise fresh funds for capital expenditures
and debt refinancing, the company said in a disclosure yesterday.
“The board of directors of Rockwell Land today
(Nov. 26) authorized the corporation to issue corporate notes under a notes
facility of up to P10 billion,” the disclosure read, adding that First Metro
Investments Corp. and PNB Capital and Investment Corp. have been appointed as
joint lead arrangers for the transaction.
Bulk of the proceeds
from the planned note issue will be allotted for Rockwell Land’s capital budget
and land banking. “About P4 billion of the proceeds of the facility will be
used to refinance Rockwell Land’s existing loans, while the balance of up to P6
billion will be for various land acquisitions and capital expenditures,” the
disclosure added.
Rockwell Land was
incorporated in 1975 as First Philippine Realty and Development Corp., adopting
its current designation in 1995 after the Lopez Group’s thermal power plant in
Makati City shut down. It listed by way of introduction last May. It is engaged
in development, sale, marketing and management of residential towers as well as
development and operation of shopping malls, retail areas and office buildings.
Planned projects
this year have included The Proscenium (formerly introduced as Greater
Rockwell), a 3.6-hectare, five-tower, mixed-use expansion of its flagship
Rockwell Center district in Makati City; the Lopez Tower and Museum, intended
to be the headquarters of firms under the Lopez Group; and two other
unspecified developments in Quezon City.
The company grew its
net income by 14.8% to P706 million as of September from P615 million in the
same nine months last year, driven by higher revenues.
“Bulk of revenues
came from the sale of condominium units, including accretion of interest
income,” Rockwell Land said in its latest financial report.
In the same
comparative nine-month periods, revenues -- composed of condominium unit sales,
lease income, interest income, cinema and other mall revenues, and
miscellaneous income -- rose by 1.03% to P3.92 billion from P3.88 billion,
while expenses slid by 1.98% to P2.97 billion from P3.03 billion.
The company had said
last July that it was confident it could grow its net income to over P1 billion
this year from 2011’s P915 million.
Shares of Rockwell
Land gained two centavos or 0.68% to P2.94 apiece at the closing of trades
yesterday from their P2.92 finish last Monday. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la
Fuente
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