FLI to return to debt market with P10-B bond issuance

Gotianun-led property developer Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) is going back to the local retail bond market this year with an offering of as much as P10 billon worth of debt papers with tenors ranging from four to six years.

In a special meeting, FLI’s board approved the issuance of P8 billion worth of fixed-rate peso-denominated retail bonds with an oversubscription option of up to P2 billion.

This will be the second tranche of its P30-billion bond shelf registration that was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020.

For this new issuance, FLI has mandated BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., East West Banking Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as joint lead underwriters and bookrunners.

The board has authorized FLI’s management to evaluate all aspects relating to the proposed offering, including the timing and interest rate.

The last time that FLI tapped the local debt market was in November last year when it issued P8.1 billion three- and 5.5-year bonds that carried interest rates of 3.3353 percent and 4.1838 percent per annum, respectively. Prior to this, FLI had been absent in the local bond market for five years.

Last August, FLI also raised P12.6 billion from the stock market debut of its business process outsourcing-oriented real estate investment trust.

As of end-June this year, FLI had a land inventory of about 1,851 hectares of raw land for the development of various projects, including about 201 hectares under joint venture agreements.

In the residential segment, FLI has a P30-billion pipeline of projects prepared for launching as market conditions further improve. FLI is looking to expand to new areas across the country such as Bataan, Naga, Dagupan and General Santos.

FLI’s capital outlays in the first half of this year amounted to P5.78 billion.