RLC bond issuance over subscribed

MANILA, Philippines — Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the listed property developer of the Gokongwei Group, has successfully raised P15 billion from the issuance of fixed-rate retail bonds.

The bonds were listed at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. yesterday.

The amount constitutes the second and final tranche of the company’s P30 billion debt securities program approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in  August last year.

The initial tranche, which was issued in August 2022, raked in total bids of P120 billion for a record oversubscription of 12 times the base amount.

“The final tranche of our debt issue drew total orders of P25 billion, 2.5 times the base offer, making Robinsons Land the first Philippine corporate this year to exceed the oversubscription amount,” said RLC president and CEO Frederick Go.

Thus, the company exercised its oversubscription allotment of P5 billion, marking the first fully filled oversubscription by a Philippine company this year.

Robust investor demand enabled RLC to price at the tightest of spreads, locking in rates of 6.0972 percent per annum for the three-year tenor, and 6.1663 percent per annum for the five-year tenor.

The issuance also received the highest credit rating of PRS Aaa, with a Stable Outlook, from the Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings), indicating the company’s stability, healthy balance sheet and strong capacity to meet its financial commitments.

“We are grateful to the investor community for their continued trust and confidence in RLC’s brand, reputation, and overall growth prospects. Proceeds from the offer will be used to further strengthen the company’s strategic investments aimed at increasing shareholder value,” Go said.

Proceeds from the bonds issuance will be used to fully repay maturing debt obligations, partially fund the capital expenditure for project development, and support overall business operations.

For the transaction, RLC tapped BDO Capital and Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., First Metro Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as the joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners for the transaction.  Land Bank of the Philippines acted as the selling agent.