Vista Land buys back $100-M notes before maturity

MANILA, Philippines - The real estate holding unit of the Villar family has bought back more than $100 million worth of corporate notes ahead of maturity in line with efforts to lower the interest it pays to creditors.

In a regulatory filing, Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. said it completed the tender offer for notes that carry an interest rate of 8.25 percent per annum.

Vista Land said “holders representing an aggregate of $103.76 million in nominal amount of the notes submitted valid tender offers prior to the expiry of the offer on April 22.”

Early this month, Vista Land’s board of directors approved the invitation to holders of $150.34 million in outstanding notes to tender any and all of the notes.

The notes were originally due September 2015.

The board also approved the issuance, offer and sale, subject to market conditions, by Vista Land International Inc. (VLLI) of a new series of corporate notes. VLLI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vista Land.

“The proceeds of the new notes will be used to refinance existing indebtedness of the company, finance its capital expenditures and/or for general corporate purposes,” Vista Land earlier said.

Vista Land appointed The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. and DBS Bank Ltd. as joint deal managers, BDO Capital & Investment Corp. as the domestic deal manager, and DF King Worldwide as information and tender agent for the sale of new debt papers.

In March, the property firm secured the highest bond score from Credit Rating and Investors Services Philippines Inc. given its leadership in the low-cost and affordable housing market, excellent financial performance, strong management team and successful operating model.

Vista Land is the holding company of five business units: luxury brand Brittany, upper middle income segment Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines and condominium builder Vista Residences. It recently rolled out its socialized housing arm Lumina Homes Inc. that will sell homes at P1.5 million and below.

Vista Land will introduce to the market P28 billion worth of projects this year, two-thirds of which are under middle income brand Camella Homes.

In 2013, the country’s largest homebuilder launched 35 projects with an estimated value of P26.1 billion, 31 of which are in the low and affordable segment.

Vista Land also allotted P21 billion for capital expenditures this year, up 22 percent from P17.2 billion in 2013.

Profits of the company jumped 15 percent to a record P5.06 billion last year from P4.38 billion in 2012 as real estate sales climbed 23 percent to P20.02 billion.

In the past 38 years, the property firm has completed more than 250,000 housing units in 31 provinces and 64 cities and municipalities around the country.