Primex prepays P1.8B in debt, strengthens financial position

Property developer Primex Corp. settled about P1.8 billion in group-wide debt ahead of maturity as part of a strategy to clean up its balance sheet and brace for a higher interest rate environment.

The company’s strengthened financial position even allows the payment of dividends to shareholders this 2017 on top of acquisition and upcoming development projects, Primex chair Ernesto Ang said in a statement on Wednesday.

The debt settled included those of its subsidiary Primex Realty Corp. and affiliate Primex Land Inc. For instance, a P300-million loan with Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. had been paid ahead of maturity on April 2020.

Primex Realty, the owner and developer of a 31-story residential tower in Salcedo Village Makati, prepaid both its term loan with Metrobank amounting to P700 million and its P500 million loan with BDO Unibank.

The Metrobank loan that matured on July 6, 2016, was fully paid three months ahead of time, while the BDO loan that would mature in 2020 was fully settled before end-2016.

“Eliminating our already low debt levels help make Primex a fundamentally stronger company especially at a time when the market is expecting a rise in interest rates. Additionally, our debt-to-equity levels should now be among the healthiest and lowest among the most valuable 20 listed property developers in the country,” Ang said.

“We were able to achieve this with our recent record profitability supported by steady and robust cash flows coming from foreign and institutional investors,” he said. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA