GT Capital’s P10-B bond issue gets SEC nod

MANILA, Philippines - George Ty-led GT Capital Holdings Inc. is all set to tap the bond market for fresh capital that would support the construction of residential towers in business districts in Pasay and Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

In an en banc decision, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the registration of GT Capital’s P10 billion bonds.

“The issuer, in consultation with the issue manager, shall have the option to increase the issue amount by up to P2 billion in the event of oversubscription,” SEC said.

The five-year Series A bonds carry a fixed interest rate range of  4.7333-5.2333 percent per annum, while the seven-year Series B bonds offer a yield range 4.9439-5.4439 percent per annum and the 10-year Series C bonds have an interest rate range of 5.1833-5.6833 percent per annum.

“The company intends to allocate a portion of the net proceeds of an approximate amount of P6- to P8-billion to finance several prime projects of Federal Land Inc. in Metro Manila. This will be infused through an equity investment,” GT Capital said.

Specifically, P4.2- to P6.2-billion would be allocated to partially finance the construction of Park West, Central Park West and Madison Park West projects in Veritown Fort in BGC, GT Capital said.

Around P1.778 billion is earmarked to partially finance the Palm Beach Villas Boracay, and Six Senses 1, 2 and 3 in the Metropolitan Park Project in Pasay City, it added.

It would also spend P390 million for working capital requirement, of which P250 million is for the service charge to the outstanding retail bonds due August 2014 and November 2014.

Philippine Rating Services Corp. earlier said the proposed P12-billion corporate bonds were rated PRS Aaa, the highest credit score.

GT Capital allotted P50 billion for its capital expenditures this year, mostly to fund property and power projects.

GT Capital is into banking (Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.), property (Federal Land), power generation (Global Business Power Corp.), automotive assembly and importation (Toyota Motor Philippines), life insurance (Philippine AXA Life Insurance), non-life insurance (Charter Ping An Corp.) and automotive distribution (Toyota Manila Bay Corp. and Toyota Cubao Inc.).

In the first quarter, net income of GT Capital was more than halved to P1.7 billion in January to March from P4 billion reported in the same period last year, dragged by weaker earnings from its banking and power businesses. Consolidated revenues jumped 40 percent to P31.1 billion from P22.2 billion.