Ayala Land raises $300 M in new sale of shares

MANILA, Philippines—Property giant Ayala Land Inc. has raised about $300 million from a fresh equity deal, taking advantage of the buoyant stock market to boost funds for expansion.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange late Wednesday, ALI said it had sold 399.5 million common shares at P30.50 per share, equivalent to a 3.6-percent discount to the volume-weighted average of share prices in the past five days.

Due to strong demand and the fact that the placement was almost three times oversubscribed, ALI decided to increase the offer size from 320 million. A total of P12.2 billion was raised from the overnight sale of 399.5 million shares.

UBS Investment Bank acted as sole bookrunner and placement agent.

The placement was conducted via an overnight bookbuilt offering structured as a top-up placement wherein all the proceeds will be received by ALI. Ayala Corp. assisted in facilitating the offering by lending its shares.

ALI will use the proceeds of the share placement primarily to fund its next phase of development, enabling it to sustain its high growth trajectory. The company has identified significant land banking opportunities amounting to about P20 billion and has earmarked P46 billion for project completion as part of its P66 billion capital expenditure program for 2013.