Vista Land plans dollar bond offering

MANILA, Philippines—Villar-led Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. plans another dollar bond sale to raise funds for its expansion to new areas in the country this year.

In a disclosure on Wednesday, the real-estate giant said it would issue additional US dollar notes. This would go on top of the $100 million in debt paper the company sold in September last year.

The new notes will have the same terms as those of the company’s previous offering. They will be consolidated with the previous offering to form a single series.

“The board further authorized the implementation of all necessary corporate and other actions to proceed with the offering and the issuance of the aforementioned notes. It authorized and empowered management to decide on the final issue size,” the company said.

Vista Land’s previous offering fetched a rate of 8.25 percent per year. The notes will mature in 2015.

Earlier this week, the company, owned by Senator Manuel Villar, said it would embark on a major expansion to 16 new areas across the country in the next 12 months.

The areas identified for its expansion program include Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte; La Union; Nueva Ecija; Bicol; Batangas; Quezon; Bataan; Pampanga; Davao; Butuan, Agusan del Sur; and Zamboanga.

“The expansion to these areas will give Filipino families more opportunities to own homes as Vista Land provides options for low- to mid-market segments at various price points,” Vista Land CEO Benjamarie Therese Serrano said in a statement.

Serrano said these projects would cater to the families of overseas Filipino workers.

“The majority of our OFWs hail from the provinces and there is strong preference for house and lot in their hometown or province of origin which they intend to live in with their families,” Serrano said.

The company said its subdivision projects would cover areas of at least 10 hectares each and would be strategically located.

“Buyers have a myriad of house models to choose from and can look forward to living in themed, master-planned communities. Vista Land ensures that all its projects are well maintained even after turnover, through property managers,” Serrano said.

Vista Land last month reported a 31-percent jump in its net profit last year to P3.01 billion, on the back of record-high real-estate revenues.

The company—which derives 60 percent of its business from households supported by overseas Filipino remittances—booked P11.34 billion in revenue from real-estate sales, up by 18 percent from 2009.