Ayala Land raises P13.6 B in overnight share deal

Fernando Zobel de Ayala . INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Property giant Ayala Land Inc. has raised P13.6 billion from a quick sale of shares to new investors, making history as the largest overnight equity deal done by a Philippine company.

ALI placed out 680 million new common shares at P20 per share via a top-up offering, which meant that controlling stockholder Ayala Corp. initially lent out secondary shares for sale to qualified buyers and institutional investors and then subscribed to the same number of new primary shares from ALI at the same price.

Based on data from Dealogic, this landmark transaction represented the largest overnight placement by a real estate company in Southeast Asia since 2005, as well as the largest-ever overnight placement in the Philippines.

The offering was originally launched as a top-up placement of 530 million shares at an indicative price range of P9.80 to P20.20 per share. Due to strong demand as reflected by oversubscription to the offering, the offering was increased to 680 million shares.

“We are delighted with the investor community’s continued strong support of Ayala Land.  This capital raise builds on the company’s recent performance and positions us well to capture the attractive real estate growth opportunities we see throughout our country,” ALI chair Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a press statement.

The company plans to use the proceeds of the share placement primarily to “fund its next phase of expansion, enabling it to sustain its high growth trajectory.”

In addition to its previously announced P37 billion capital expenditure program for 2012, ALI said it has identified significant landbanking opportunities amounting to approximately P36 billion over the next two to three years. Approximately P20 billion of this may be deployed in Makati City and other parts of Metro Manila and the balance in growth centers in Nuvali and other parts of Luzon and in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Furthermore, a portion of the proceeds is also expected to partially fund ALI’s potential strategic alliance with a group led by Ignacio Ortigas and resulting participation in OCLP Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Ortigas and Company Limited Partnership, for which ALI budgeted an initial investment of P15 billion. This alliance is expected to provide the company with access to prime properties in Metro Manila amounting to about 55 hectares.

“We are on track toward achieving our ‘5-10-15’ plan by 2014. This equity raise provides Ayala Land with expanded permanent capital to support our long term growth plans,” said ALI president Antonino Aquino.

Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte., J.P. Morgan and UBS Investment Bank acted as joint bookrunners and placement agents in connection with the placement. BPI Capital Corp. acted as sole domestic coordinator and bookrunner while CLSA Ltd. acted as co-manager.