Filinvest to raise P10B via bond sale

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a plan by Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. to raise as much as P10 billion from a new retail bond offering.

Based on documents from the SEC, the conglomerate was given clearance to register and issue 10-year unsecured fixed-rate bonds at a base offer of P7 billion with an on option to increase the size by P3 billion.

Mandated as joint lead underwriters are BPI Capital Corp., BDO Capital and Investment Corp., First Metro Investments Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank.

The bonds will be offered for a minimum investment of P50,000 and in multiples of P10,000 thereafter. Indicative interest rate is between 5.1512 and 5.5762 percent per year based on 10-year PDSTF yield plus a spread of between 1.45 and 1.875 percentage points.

Net proceeds from the offering will help finance projects to be implemented in early 2014.

FDC said it would need P12.13 billion for capital spending by the first quarter of 2014. In particular, FDC is budgeting the following for this period: P5.38 billion for repayment of loans; P3.5 billion to build a new Crimson Hotel in Boracay and P3.26 billion for a 405-megawatt power project in Misamis.

Through unit FDC Hotels Corp., the group is planning and designing a five-star, 192-room Crimson Resort and Spa in Boracay. It plans to break ground upon the approval of its application for environmental compliance certificate with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

For the power plant, which is being developed by subsidiary FDC Utilities Inc., the first two units with a capacity of 270 MW are expected to be commercially operational by 2016 while the third unit with a capacity of 135 MW is scheduled to start operations by 2017. Doris C. Dumlao