Villar’s Vista Land sets rates for bond sale

The Villar family’s Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. has set the interest rates for its planned bond sale, which will involve an initial tranche of up to P5 billion.

Vista Land said in a stock exchange filing Monday that the interest rate for its seven year bonds due 2024 was set at 5.75 percent a year while the yield on its 10-year bonds due 2027 was set at 6.225 percent a year.

The bonds will be offered through sole underwriter China Bank Capital Corp. from July 18 to 24 this year.

The bonds are part of an up to P20 billion shelf registration filed by Vista Land last July 13.

P3-B base offer

The initial tranche involves a base offer of P3 billion, with an oversubscription option of as much as P2 billion.

The bonds would be used to fund the property giant’s expansion.

The builder said it had the option to redeem all of the bonds ahead of their maturity date.

The debt securities will be listed on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

The SEC’s shelf registration mechanism allows issuers to register and sell under the same prospectus and other regulatory filing requirements a certain volume of securities that the company does not intend to use right away.

Companies tap this scheme to allow flexibility in the timing of fundraising activities, especially when market conditions rapidly shift.

Vista Land earlier revealed plans to ramp up spending in 2017 after delivering strong results last year.

Specifically, the builder said capital spending this year would hit around P35 billion, up about 13 percent.

It said P8 billion of that amount would go toward developing its leasing business, mainly new shopping malls, which accounted for about 20 percent of profit last year.

This would support growth, after Vista Land said net income last year grew 13 percent to P8.1 billion while revenues rose 7 percent to P31 billion.