SM completes $150-M equity deal

MANILA, Philippines – SM Investments Corp. has completed a $150-million equity sale to institutional investors via a top-up offering made last August.

SMIC, led by tycoon Henry Sy, issued 9.1 million primary common shares to institutional investors through an equity placement at P700 per share, raising P6.37 billion, the conglomerate disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday. The equity deal was priced at 6.04 percent discount to closing price of Aug. 23 before the overnight equity deal was made.

Pursuant to the top up placement, the selling shareholders – namely Teresita Sy, Elizabeth Sy, Hans Sy, Herbert Sy and Harley Sy – sold 9.1 million shares of existing SMIC shares to institutional investors at P700 per share and SMIC concurrently issued 9.1 million new primary common shares to them at the same price.

“The proceeds of the placements were mainly used to pay off an existing bank loan, including related interest,” SMIC said.

The top-up offering was arranged by Macquarie Capital (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. last August. SMIC is now trading at over P800 per share.

Based on earlier reports, about 40 percent of the issuance was taken up by local investors while the remaining bulk was gobbled up by foreign investors.

SMIC grew its first-half net profit by 13 percent year-on-year to P10.9 billion on the back of higher earnings from its banking, retailing, shopping mall and residential property businesses.

Total revenues went up by 14 percent year-on-year to P105.2 billion as all the core businesses delivered on their sales targets. Cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose by 12 percent to P24.1 billion from the same period last year for an EBITDA margin of 22.8 percent. Return on equity was steady at 14 percent.