Vista Land issues $350-M bonds

MANILA, Philippines — Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. has returned to the offshore debt market with the issuance of $350 million worth of bonds.

The proceeds from the issuance will be used primarily for refinancing. On Nov. 10, the company announced a liability management exercise for the tender offer of its outstanding $51.8 million 6.75 percent bonds due 2018 and $180.8 million 7.450 percent bonds due 2019.

Investors swamped the deal, showing positive response with the final orderbook reaching $1.7 billion.

This meant the transaction was almost five times oversubscribed. It is also the largest size raised by Vista Land on a primary issuance.

There were 121 accounts that participated in the transaction, with 87 percent coming from Asia, and 13 percent from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Fund managers comprised bulk or 72 percent of investors, while 16 percent came from banks, and private banks and other institutional accounts accounted for the remaining 12 percent.

Vista Land expects to issue the bonds on Nov. 28.

Prior to this, the company embarked on a roadshow to meet with existing and potential bond investors.

On Nov. 20, Vista Land announced a new seven-year bond that has a call option starting on the fourth year with an indicative price guidance of around 6.125 percent.

However, the strong response from investors enabled Vista Land to further tighten the pricing of the bonds to 5.75 percent, or 37.5 bps tighter than the guidance, despite some market volatility. This is the lowest coupon achieved by the company from the offshore bond market.

“The ability of Vista Land to price much tighter is a testament to the credit profile of the company, and the confidence it enjoys from offshore investors who continue to support their issuances.” said Wick Veloso, HSBC president and CEO.

For his part, Manuel Paolo Villar, Vista Land president and CEO, said the new bond issue, coupled with a liability management transaction, allows Vista Land to reduce its short term refinancing risk, extend maturity duration and realize interest expense savings.

“It also provides us an opportunity to continue diversifying our sources of funding, ensuring we continue to build key relationships not only with our investors onshore, but also with investors from Europe and Asia,” Villar said.

The company tapped DBS Bank Ltd. and HSBC as joint lead managers and bookrunners for the new bonds, and are also joint dealer managers for the tender offer exercise.

China Bank Capital Corp. also acted as domestic manager for the new bonds.