Filinvest raises $300M from bond sales

MANILA, Philippines - Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the investment holding company of the Gotianun family, has raised $300 million after it turned to the international bond market for the first time in decades.

International investors swamped the bond sale intended to bankroll general corporate purposes, its underwriter said.

“FDC just raised $300 million in seven-year international bond [Thursday night],” Lauro C. Baja III, managing director of global sole coordinator UBS Investments Philippines Inc., said in a text message.

In a disclosure, FDC said its offshore unit Filinvest Development Cayman Islands sold the bonds, which carry an interest rate of 4.25 percent per annum.

“It was a landmark issuance especially since it was FDC’s inaugural bond issuance in the international debt markets,” Baja said.

HSBC, a joint bookrunner along with UBS, said it is the first international bond offering of the holding firm since the late 1990s.

“Order book was $1.4 billion with over 70 investors. Asia was 92 percent, while Europe was eight percent,” Baja said.

Fund managers accounted for 60 percent of the buyers, Baja said, adding that the fresh funding will be used for general corporate purposes like hotel and power business expansion.

The order books were oversubscribed within 30 minutes of the bond sale despite jitters caused by the Cyprus bailout package, HSBC said.

“This is a testament to the confidence in FDC’s track record of growing into one of the Philippines’ largest and most respected business groups,” said HSBC Philippines president and CEO Wick Veloso.