P55-B equity deals in PSE pipeline for August

Nearly P55 billion worth of new equity offerings will come to market this month, led by the large real estate investment trust (REIT) offerings of property developers Robinsons Land Corp. and Megaworld Corp.

This ensures a relatively sizable pipeline of capital market offerings despite the pullout of another listing candidate, Del Monte Philippines, which has already secured all regulatory approvals to run its P44-billion initial public offering (IPO) supposedly from Aug. 16 to Aug. 20.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cleared the respective IPOs of RLC-sponsored RL Commercial REIT Inc., which is raising as much as P26.7 billion, as well as Megaworld-sponsored MREIT Inc. worth up to P27.3 billion.

The SEC has likewise approved a follow-on offering planned by Apollo Global Capital Inc. worth about P988 million.

On top of these upcoming equity deals, the SEC had also approved the bond offering of as much as P3 billion planned by Phinma Corp.

The next REIT to tap the local market is MREIT, which aims to hold an IPO from Aug. 23 to Aug. 27, subject to the approval of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). It plans to sell up to 1.078 billion shares for about P22 a share, with an over allotment option of 161.7 million shares.

This will be the fourth REIT to list on the stock exchange —to follow Filinvest REIT’s recently-concluded offering— and the largest in size so far.

Assuming the full exercise of the over allotment option, MREIT will have a post-IPO public float of 49 percent.

BDO Capital & Investment Corp., Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd., UBS AG Singapore Branch, and DBS Bank Ltd. are the joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the offer.

Credit Suisse, UBS, DBS, and CLSA are the international bookrunners and BDO Capital is domestic lead underwriter.

MREIT also engaged First Metro Investment Corp., Investment & Capital Corp. of the Philippines, RCBC Capital Corp., and SB Capital Investment Corp. as domestic co-lead underwriters.

A REIT is a stock corporation established principally for the purpose of owning income-generating real estate assets such as apartment buildings, office buildings, medical facilities, hospitals, hotels, resorts, highways, warehouses, shopping centers, railroads, among others. It is a type of investment instrument that provides a return to investors derived from rental income of the underlying real estate asset.

RLC’s REIT, meanwhile, will offer up to 3.34 billion secondary common shares at up to P7.31 a share, with an overallotment option of up to 305.1 million. The deal will bring 36.67 percent of RLC REIT’s stocks to public hands.

It will hold the IPO from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8 and list on Sept.20, subject to PSE approval.

BPI Capital and UBS AG, Singapore Branch are the joint global coordinators, lead managers, and joint bookrunners for the offer.