FDC retires $300M offshore debt

FDC and FLI president Josephine Gotianun-Yap. INQUIRER file photo

Gotianun-led conglomerate Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) has fully retired $300 million worth of offshore debt using excess cash and proceeds from new local borrowings.

“Our continued adherence to our financial commitments is aligned with the Filinvest group’s 60-year unblemished credit track record. FDC is revisiting its plans in light of the potential economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We intend to take a more cautious direction and anticipate that relaxation of the quarantine may come in stages. As such, we would like to adopt a more flexible short term planning process while still mindful of our medium term strategy,” FDC president and chief executive officer Josephine Yap said in a press statement.

FDC retired its fixed-rate seven-year US dollar-denominated bonds issued on April 2, 2013. These bonds carried an interest rate of 4.25 percent per annum.

From the time of the bond issuance and throughout its entire tenor, FDC said the full amount of the bonds had been fully hedged against foreign currency exchange risks.

In 2013, FDC redeemed an initial $13.5 million of the $300 million fixed rate bonds at a discount, reducing the principal amount to $286.5 million.

Prior to the lockdown of Luzon, FDC had set in motion a public offering of peso-denominated fixed-rate bonds amounting to as much as P8 billion. The proceeds were to be used partly to finance the aforementioned maturing US dollar-denominated obligation. Amid the heightened market risks brought about by COVID-19, however, FDC decided to defer the bond offering to a later date.

Meanwhile, Gotianun-Yap said the Filinvest group, Filinvest City Foundation and Andrew Gotianun Foundation were fully committed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic hand in hand with the national and local governments.

Filinvest has identified areas with the higher impact for its donations. This included a P100 million donation to provide medical equipment including complete prospective personal equipment (PPE) for front-liners. Of these, 30,000 units have been distributed to date, along with ventilators and COVID-19 testing machines.

The group has also sponsored a data analytics dashboard for the use of government decision- makers in conjunction with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Department of Health (DOH). Filinvest City Foundation has provided relief food packages for the Muntinlupa community through the local government.
Filinvest Tent in Alabang is now being used as a temporary quarantine center while The Palms Country Club is providing temporary accommodations to medical workers from the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM).