ALI raises 2015 capex to P100 B

MANILA, Philippines - Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is jacking up its spending this year to P100 billion from P70 billion last year to support more new and expansion projects.

In a disclosure to the local bourse, ALI said it has earmarked P100 billion in capital expenditures this year for its various developments.

“We remain committed and supportive of Ayala Land, and continue to believe that it is a key component of our portfolio and an important driver of growth at Ayala Corp.,” said Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and chief executive officer of the country’s oldest conglomerate.

In support of the higher capex planned for this year, ALI has raised P16 billion from a top-up placement of 484.849 million common shares at P33 apiece.

The offer price was nearly a four percent discount to ALI’s five-day volume weighted average price ending Jan. 9.

“This equity placement will help Ayala Land pursue its growth plans and achieve its long-term strategy,” Zobel said.

The placement was conducted through an accelerated bookbuilt offering structured as a top-up placement, in which Ayala Corp. (AC) will sell 484.849 million listed common shares to investors and subscribe to the same number of new shares from ALI.

All the proceeds of the placement, meanwhile, will go to ALI, which it intends to use for its expansion projects.

“This P16-billion placement represents a landmark transaction for us as it is the single largest capital-raising exercise in the 23 years that Ayala Land has been a listed company,” ALI president and chief executive president Bernard Vincent O. Dy said.

“The funds generated will support our aggressive growth trajectory as declared in our 2020 vision,” added Dy, referring to the property firm’s plan to post a 20-percent average annual growth in profits over the next six years to reach P40 billion by 2020.

ALI said the transaction saw strong investor participation from global institutional investors, with the deal size being multiple times oversubscribed.

The firm also said approximately 90 percent of the demand was generated by foreign investors and existing long-term shareholders.

After the transaction, AC’s holdings in ALI’s common shares has been reduced to 47.3 percent from 48.9 percent but AC retains its voting control at over 68.9 percent.

UBS AG was tapped as the sole bookrunner of the placement with Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. serving as co-lead manager and BPI Capital Corp. as its domestic co-bookrunner.