Robinsons Land lists P10-billion fixed rate bonds

MANILA, Philippines - Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the real estate arm of the Gokongwei family’s JG Summit Holdings Inc., listed yesterday its P10-billion fixed-rate bonds – the first corporate bond listing for the year – on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx).

The listing, which will allow the investing public to trade the RLC bonds at the secondary market, brings the total number of debt instruments listed on the fixed-income exchange to 18, amounting to around P114.3 billion. RLC listed P5 billion worth of bonds due July 14, 2014 and another P5 billion due Aug. 27, 2014.

The bond issue was assigned the highest credit rating of PRS Aaa by domestic rating firm PhilRatings, indicating that the debt issue is of the highest quality with minimal credit risk and that the issuer’s capacity to meet its financial obligations is extremely strong.

Proceeds from the issue will be used by the company to fund its capital expenditure requirements. RLC joined the growing list of debt issuers in the secondary market infrastructure from the real property sector- the first sector to utilize the market venue with the maiden listing on PDEX in August 2008 coming from this sector. Since that time, the real estate industry has continued to build its significance in the PDEx market, with a sectoral aggregate of P19 billion worth of debt securities listed on PDEx.

RLC is spending up to P9 billion this year to build new shopping malls, residential buildings and units, office buildings and hotels. To fund its future projects, RLC is also studying the possibility of introducing real estate investment trusts (REITs).

RLC is the second largest shopping mall developer in the country with 29 malls nationwide.