Ayala Land pours P1.1 B into Avida

MANILA—Property giant Ayala Land Inc. is set to infuse P1.1 billion in fresh equity into Avida Land Corp. to support the capital spending program of this residential development unit.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, ALI said its board had approved the additional capitalization for Avida to complete its funding requirement of P5.4 billion based on the 2012 capital expenditure program.

Equity infusions of P2.3 billion and P2 billion were previously approved by the board on May 2011 and May 2012, respectively.

“Proceeds of this funding exercise will be utilized for various land acquisitions in key growth centers,” the disclosure said.

As a group, ALI has about P6 billion in remaining funding requirement for the rest of the year. Of these, Avida and Alveo Land would raise P3 billion each through a bond issue, the first time that an unlisted property company would tap the debt market.

ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the company was now working on the documentary requirements and expected to proceed with the bond issuance by September.

In the first six months of the year, ALI booked P18.4 billion in revenues from the residential segment, 28 percent higher than the same period last year. Of this, Avida contributed P5.24 billion in revenues, 45 percent higher year-on-year.