Ayala raises P13B from preferred shares offer

FILE PHOTO

MANILA  -The preferred share sale by Ayala Corp. was oversubscribed, allowing the diversified conglomerate to raise more than P13 billion to fund its capital expenditures and other corporate spending.

In a disclosure on Thursday, the listed company said that it had sold 4 million preferred class “A” shares from its base offer and additional 1.24 million shares from oversubscription option to “address the excess demand for the shares.”

The shares, drawn from treasury stocks, were priced at P2,500 each.

All the 5.24 million shares will be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange on May 29.

The preferred shares have no voting rights. Dividends will be payable quarterly at an initial rate of 6.3587 percent per annum.

Capital outlays

Ayala received the certificate of permit to offer securities from the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month. The public offering ran from May 8 to May 19.

The joint lead underwriters and book runners for transaction were BPI Capital Corp., BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., RCBC Capital Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. The selling agents were PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and First Metro Investment Corp.

This year, the group is allocating capital expenditures of P264 billion.

In the first quarter, Ayala saw its core net income grow by 61 percent to P9.4 billion on the back of strong revenue growth in its banking, property and energy business.

“One of our priorities is to end 2023 with profits above pre-COVID levels. Given our first quarter results, our constructive outlook for the year remains intact,” Ayala president and CEO Cezar Consing said earlier. —Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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