Filinvest holding firm to issue $300-M bonds

MANILA, Philippines - Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the listed investment holding company of the Gotianun family, said it plans to raise as much as $300 million through an overseas bond sale.

Fresh funds from the bond sale, which follows a successful bond issuance of a local conglomerate, will used for capital spending this year, the company told the local bourse yesterday.

In a meeting, the board of directors of FDC approved the company’s plan “to issue and float bonds in the offshore market with an aggregate principal amount between $200 million to $300 million.”

“The proceeds from the bond issuance will be used by the corporation to finance its capital requirements for 2013,” it added.

Target date for the bond sale is within the second quarter, subject to the approval of concerned government agencies.

The exact amount and other details like the yield and maturity will determined by management, FDC said.

Local conglomerates are increasingly tapping the international bond market for fresh capital.

Early this month, the overseas unit of taipan John Gokongwei’s investment vehicle JG Summit Holdings Inc. raised $750 million by selling corporate bonds overseas to finance general corporate expenses. GT Capital Holdings Inc. of banking tycoon George S.K. Ty, on the other hand, plans to issue P10 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds to support its capital expenditure program.

The Filinvest Group is one of the country’s leading conglomerates, with interests in real estate development (Filinvest Land Inc.), hotel (Crimson Resort and Spa at Seascapes Resort Town in Cebu), financial and banking services (East West Banking Corp.) and sugar manufacturing (Pacific Sugar Holdings).

Its power generation and distribution unit FDC Utilities Inc. is pursuing clean coal projects mostly in Mindanao, with a total of 395 megawatts of generating capacity expected to be committed by 2017.

The group first made its presence felt in the power sector in 1995 via East Asia Power Corp. and eventually, Cebu Private Power Corp. from 1998 until 2000.

FDC is also joining the bidding for the P17.5-billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project to expand and operate the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.