Sta Lucia Land to raise up to P200M via follow-on offer

MANILA, Philippines - Sta. Lucia Land, the listed property unit of the Sta. Lucia Group, is aiming to raise up to P200 million through a follow-on offering of shares in the fourth quarter this year or early 2012.

In a briefing with reporters, David M. Dela Cruz, senior vice president for Corporate Finance, said the company is looking to offer P100 million to P200 million worth of shares through a primary and secondary offering to fund new projects and expand its tourism and leisure-related assets.

Cruz said the company has tapped Asian Alliance & Investment Corp. as its financial advisor while UBS will serve as its international underwriter.

Sta. Lucia has earmarked P11 billion over a five-year period to put up new residential, office and commercial projects.

For this year, Sta. Lucia is hoping to launch over 3,600 residential units to take advantage of a buoyant property market.

Among its new projects include the Sta. Lucia Towers (located beside the Sta. Lucia mall along Marcos Highway), office buildings catering to the business process outsourcing sector.

The first two of the five-building Sta. Lucia Towers is slated for construction in the first quarter this year.

The Sta. Lucia Group has had a strong history of building quality projects having developed over 9,000 hectares of prime properties with over 200 projects nationwide.  

It by far has served the middle income segment by providing residential units while tailor-fitting amortization schemes to make the units affordable without comprising quality. It also ventured into retail with its 180,000 GFA Sta Lucia Grand East Mall located in Cainta, Rizal which provides a steady stream of cash flows to the company.

With a formidable sales force of over 120,000, the group has been able to market and develop projects all over the country, with major developments in key areas within and outside Metro Manila such as Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Baguio, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Subic, Bulacan and Pampanga.  

SLI (formerly Zipporah Holdings) was formed in 2007 through a reverse takeover and has since, in addition to a portfolio of assets transferred by SLR, been highly successful in launching and delivering quality projects.