Posted on
March 22, 2013 08:01:31 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
CONGLOMERATE
FILINVEST Development Corp. has raised $300 million from the issuance of
offshore bonds for capital expenditures this year, the firm said in a disclosure
on Friday.
"Filinvest
Development just raised $300 million from seven-year international bonds last
[Thursday] night. It was a landmark issuance, especially since it was Filinvest
Development’s inaugural bond issuance in the international debt markets,"
Lauro C. Baja III, UBS Investments Philippines, Inc. managing director, said in
a text message on Friday.
Details on
the purpose of the fund raising were not immediately available.
UBS ASG Hong
Kong served as the bonds’ sole global coordinator, while both UBS and HSBC
acted as joint lead managers.
The bonds
were issued in an overnight transaction and the target amount raised, according
to UBS’s local affiliate.
The
disclosure further stated that guaranteed offshore notes, issued through
subsidiary Filinvest Development Cayman Islands, have an interest rate of
4.25%.
Last Jan. 30,
Filinvest Development’s board approved plans to issue by the second quarter
foreign-denominated bonds worth $200 to $300 million to fund capital
expenditures this year.
Filinvest
Development, formed in 1955 as a used car financing firm, was incorporated in
1973 as the holding firm of the Gotianun family’s businesses. The company is
into real estate, mall and theater operations, banking and financial services,
sugar farming and milling, and most recently power generation.
The firm was
one of the last firms to comply with the bourse’s 10% minimum public ownership
rule when it boosted its public float to 10.16% from a previous 3.35% in Dec.
18 last year following the sale of 636 million Filinvest Development shares by
the firm’s controlling shareholder, ALG Holdings Corp.
Company
shares rose by five centavos or 0.86% to P5.85 each on Friday from P5.80 last
Thursday. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
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