GT Capital plans P10B bond offer

MANILA, Philippines–GT Capital Holdings, the umbrella holding firm of the Ty family, has filed an application to raise as much as P10 billion by tapping the local bond market.

GT Capital filed a registration statement at the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue up to P8 billion in fixed rate bonds with an option to upsize by another P2 billion, proceeds from which will be used “for general corporate purposes.”

This fund-raising will be done through a public offering. The bonds will be issued at par with 100 percent of face value, in scripless form, in minimum denominations of P50,000 each and in multiples of P10,000 thereafter.

GT Capital Holdings disclosed in early November that it had mandated First Metro Investment Corp. to help it raise long term debt financing “in order to access the current record-low interest rates and to optimize the company’s under-leveraged position.” The holding firm plans to complete the debt issue early next year.

The holding firm reported a 107-percent jump in January to September net profit to P5.3 billion.  Excluding non-recurring items, nine-month core net income went up by 51 percent to P3.9 billion.

Consolidated revenues for the first nine months soared by 211 percent to P16.7 billion year-on-year, driven the expansion of core businesses together with the consolidation of Global Business Power Corp. earlier this year, improved net income from associates as well as a non-recurring gain worth P1.4 billion realized by property development unit Federal Land Inc.

GT Cap, which debuted on the PSE in April this year, has five component companies: Federal Land, GBPC, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., and Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corp.