July 20, 2020 | 12:05 am [ bworlonline.com ]
By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter
THE Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) has started accepting applications for eligible brokers to trade real estate investment trust (REIT) securities ahead of Ayala Land, Inc.’s (ALI) REIT offering.
In a July 15 memorandum on its website, the PSE said it would accept applications for eligible brokers at least one day before the price setting of a REIT initial public offering (IPO).
ALI’s approved REIT offering has its price setting scheduled on July 22, based on the PSE’s disclosure at the PSE EDGE website on Friday. The offer period will begin on July 27 and end on Aug. 3, and the listing date is tentatively set on Aug. 13.
Interested participants in the offering must tap eligible brokers approved by the PSE. Like in trading dollar-denominated securities, trading REITs may only be done through eligible brokers.
Eligible brokers are trading participants that have attended a PSE-organized REIT seminar and have a sworn certification of operational readiness.
To qualify for the 20% broker allocation, a trading participant must submit its application to the PSE at least one day before the price setting of a REIT IPO.
To participate in the 10% allocation for local small investors via the PSE EASy website, a trading participant must submit its application at least one day before the end of the offer period of a REIT IPO.
But the PSE said it “highly recommends that (trading participants) submit their applications as early as possible to be able to participate in a REIT IPO.”
The PSE will upload a list of all confirmed REIT eligible brokers as reference for the investing public. All related REIT information may be found on https://pse.com.ph/REITS/REITS.htm.
ALI’s REIT is set to be the Philippines’ first REIT offering in history, to be done through AREIT, Inc. The company will be offering 456.88 million shares with an overallotment option of 45.69 million shares.
The offer’s indicative price is up to P30.05 per share, which would generate about P15.1 billion in proceeds for the company.
In a statement over the weekend, PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said the bourse operator is optimistic that ALI’s REIT offering will have a “positive multiplier effect on the economy.”
“We are pleased that AREIT has decided to pursue its IPO even under the present economic challenges… We are optimistic that the company’s IPO will pave the way for other property firms, even those that are not yet listed in the PSE, to consider listing REITs,” Mr. Monzon said.
Aside from ALI, DoubleDragon Properties Corp. earlier announced plans to do a P16.97-billion REIT offering in the fourth quarter.
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