Rockwell sets P5 B bond sale in Nov

MANILA, Philippines - Upscale property developer Rockwell Land Corp. will pursue its P5-billion fundraising next month through the issuance of bonds.

Fresh funding will support the company’s project development that will shore up the real estate firm’s income to a record P1.4 billion this year, an executive said.

“I think if we have to use our financial statements, [the bond sale] has to happen in November,” said Rockwell Land president Nestor Padilla.

Padilla said Rockwell Land is not planning to upsize its bond sale given the company’s conservative financial stance. The company allotted P12 billion for its capital spending this year.

In a special meeting last month, Rockwell Land’s board of directors “approved the public offering of up to P5 billion seven-year and one quarter unsecured peso-denominated fixed-rate bonds.”

“Proceeds of the said bonds issuance will be used to partially finance its various capital expenditures particularly the Proscenium project,” Rockwell Land earlier said.

The upscale property developer of the Lopez family allotted P26 billion for five towers of the Proscenium in Makati. The 3.6-hectare Proscenium will allow Rockwell Land to generate development income for the next eight years.

As of end-2012, Rockwell Land recorded P2.5 billion sales takeup from the Proscenium which is designed by “starchitect” Carlos Ott.

Robust demand for its property projects will jack up the earnings of Rockwell Land to another record level this year.

Rockwell Land is also the company behind 53 Benitez, a two-tower, mid-rise residential development designed for startup families in Quezon City.

“We will make P1.4 billion income, somewhere there,” Padilla said, adding that development income would account for bulk of the profits.

Last year, the property developer’s earnings jumped 23 percent to a record P1.1 billion, up from P914.9 million in 2011.

In the first half, the firm’s net income attributable to equity holders of the parent firm jumped 25 percent to P554.8 million from P441.3 million a year ago.

Moving forward, the company plans to be more visible to the investors given plans to increase its public float, Padilla said.

So far, Rockwell Land has a public ownership level of 13.05 percent, well above the 10 percent required by the local bourse.

Rockwell was created in 1995 after the shutdown of the thermal power plant of the Lopez group. The former power plant complex is now a self-contained, mixed-use community with residential towers, office buildings, a shopping mall, and a graduate school.