Vista Land $2-B bond sale withdrawn due to lack of interest

Bilyonaryo reported that Manny Villar’s Vista Land and Lifescapes [VLL 1.42 unch] [link] is walking away from its bond sale due to lack of investor demand. Bilyo quotes a “letter from a local bank” as saying, “[VLL] has decided not to proceed with the proposed [bond sale]. They would like to thank investors for their credit work and the interest expressed and the issuer looks forward to re-engaging with investors in the future.” The bond sale was configured to raise US $2 billion (~P112.3 billion), which VLL had planned to use to refinance maturing debt and for general corporate purposes.

MB bottom-line: The article was full of quotes from unnamed stock brokers and fund managers all talking about the Villar Family’s terrible IPO track record and how this might have either scared away investors or failed to overcome the draw of more attractive options. It’s true that the Villar Family’s string of IPOs between 2019 and 2022 is the stuff of horror legend. AllHome [HOME 1.14, up 1.8%] went public in 2019 at P11.50/share (down 90%). AllDay Marts [ALLDY 0.16 unch] went public in 2021 at P0.60/share (down 74%). Medilines Distributors [MEDIC 0.33, up 4.8%] went public in 2021 at P2.30/share (down 86%). But the VistaREIT [VREIT 1.42 unch] IPO in 2022 at P1.75/share (down 1%) is (so far) a positive story for the family, and is performing according to its prospectus and expectations. The Bilyo article mentions another aspect that might have been more important to potential bond investors, which was when C&P Homes, now a subsidiary of VLL, defaulted on P16 billion of foreign and domestic debt in 1999 following the Asian Financial Crisis. Still, that’s a pretty deep cut to bring up for a bond sale happening some 25 years later after all of the subsequent debt transactions that VLL has undertaken, seemingly without issue, in the years since. Maybe they just didn’t like the price. OK, now my curiosity has been piqued.

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