ALI readies P5.7 B notes issue

MANILA, Philippines —Ayala Land Inc., the property development arm of the Ayala Group, is preparing to launch P5.7 billion worth of corporate notes due 2019.

ALI has sent invitations to institutional buyers and is targeting to issue and list the notes at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx) on Nov. 23.

The company tapped BDO Capital and Investment Corp. and China Bank Capital Corp. as joint lead underwriters and book runners for the transaction.

The final interest for the notes is 3.25 percent per annum, according to documents related to the transaction.

Details on the use of proceeds were not immediately available.

ALI said it has total outstanding bonds amounting to P2.9 billion listed on the PDEx. It recently retired P8 million in Homestarter bonds.

The bonds were retired following the exercise by various bondholders of their early downpayment application option.

The Homestarter bonds, a concept pioneered by ALI, enables bondholders to build up full or partial downpayment to buy a residential unit in the future.

ALI first launched the innovative instrument in 2006, making it the first property company to issue such type of bonds.

Bondholders have the option to exercise early downpayment application if they already want to buy a house.

The company has been issuing the bonds regularly, saying that it has been an effective savings instrument for many bondholders.

ALI will continue to grow the business and will continue to tap the debt market to fund its growth.

It is on track to hitting its 2020 growth plan on the back of a growth strategy equally divided between property development and leasing.

The plan is to grow the company’s net income by an average of 20 percent to reach P40 billion by 2020.

Under this plan, 50 percent of the growth will come form property development — divided equally between horizontal and vertical projects and 50 percent from leasing such as malls, office, hotels and resorts.

A key component of the 2020 growth plan is to triple ALI’s leasing assets with a focused completion of investment properties.