P12-B GT Capital pref share sale oversubscribed

MANILA, Philippines – GT Capital Holdings saw its preferred share sale oversubscribed by more than five times after Investors gobbled up the stocks.

The offer is already 5.2 times oversubscribed as of press time yesterday on strong demand from investors looking for better options to park their funds, according to persons familiar with the matter.

The George Ty-owned conglomerate aims to raise up to P12 billion from the offering of 12 million preferred shares at P1,000 each share.

GT Capital has set a dividend rate of 4.6299 percent for the seven-year preferred shares and 5.0949 percent for the 10-year preferred shares.

Series A shares which have a maturity of seven years, can be redeemed after five years while the 10-year Series B shares are redeemable after seven years.

The offering began last Oct. 17 and will run until Oct. 21 while the listing of the shares is set on Oct. 27.

Proceeds from the issue will be used “to refinance previous acquisitions paid through bridge financing in the fourth quarter of 2016 and to fund strategic acquisitions.”

At present, the company has P9 billion in loans from the Philippine National Bank (P4 billion), Security Bank (P2 billion), Bank of the Philippine Islands (P2 billion) and Development Bank of the Philippines (P1 billion).

Preferred shares are cumulative, non-voting, non-participating, non-convertible and peso-denominated.

In May, GT Capital made its foray into the infrastructure business through the acquisition of a 25.6 percent stake in Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

GT Capital’s businesses are housing and property through Federal Land, automotive through Toyota Motor Philippines, banking through Metrobank and financial services through Toyota Financial Services Philippines Corp.