By Neil
Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) | Updated January 17, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines - Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) will tap the bond market
this year to jumpstart the development of large parcels of land acquired
recently.
This will
allow the company to cater to the expectations of continuous robust property
demand in different market segments, a ranking company official said.
“Definitely
at the ALI level, the parent company level, we will be tapping the capital
markets. Bonds primarily,” ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael told reporters.
ALI has yet
to finalize the terms and issue size of the bond sale pending full-year 2012
performance data, he said.
“At the rate
we are going, there will be some funding requirements because capital spending
is continuous especially now that we have a lot more projects,” Ysmael said.
Philippine
companies have been tapping funds from different channels like bonds and banks
amid low interest rates and high liquidity.
Bulk of the
borrowed funds will be used to start and complete the construction of numerous
condominium units, shopping malls and hotels as opposed to the landbanking
focus last year, Ysmael said.
Potential
share sales, for its part, will depend on market condition and funding needs,
Ysmael said.
For project
development, ALI will be busy starting construction in large parcels of land
recently acquired.
“We will
focus on the ones we acquired last year. Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) is one of
them definitely and also Circuit Makati,” Ysmael said.
“We will
focus on the big parcels in trying to accelerate the development and monetize
them as soon as possible,” he added.
Last year was
a busy year for the property giant particularly in terms of securing prime,
large chunks of land.
For instance,
the firm won the bidding for the 74-hectare FTI complex in Taguig with its
P24.3-billion offer.
Also last
year, ALI’s middle-income housing unit Avida Land Corp. signed a deal to
develop the Gatchalian family’s 60-hectare Plastic City property in Valenzuela
City, which formerly housed the country’s biggest fully-integrated plastic
manufacturing plant.
Ysmael said
the master plan for the mixed-use development of FTI is already complete.
“We already
filed our license to sell and we already got it so we should be starting to
sell soon. Initially commercial lots,” Ysmael said, adding that the residential
segment will be marketed by upper market brands Alveo and Ayala Land Premier.
Ysmael said
Avida already started its development in Plastic City while ground works for
the 6.6-hectare former Nestlé factory in Muntinlupa will begin this year.
In terms of
landbanking, ALI is still keen on acquiring lots from areas without an ALI
footprint or projects that are experiencing accelerated project development.
“We are still
looking at opportunities to landbank where we do not have a presence or we need
to replenish like Nuvali where the development has been very accelerated,”
Ysmael said.
In the Nuvali
township project in Laguna, ALI is buying adjacent lots.
“To be able
to sustain the momentum, we have to make sure we have landbank that will last
for a couple of years,” Ysmael said.
For ALI’s
socialized housing unit BellaVita, the company is looking for new parcels
outside of Metro Manila amid large demand, Ysmael said.
In the nine
months to September last year, ALI’s earnings reached P6.62 billion, up 27
percent from P5.23 billion a year earlier on the back of the strong performance
of all its business units.
_______________________________________________________________________
