Premiere Horizon seeks to raise P1 billion for capex
PREMIERE HORIZON Alliance Corp. (PHA) is looking to raise P1 billion in the middle of the year to advance its infrastructure and tourism play.
The listed company will undertake a private placement and stock rights offering to cover its capital spending requirement amounting to P1 billion this year, Vice-President Ana Liza G. Aquino said in a telephone interview.
“Actually, that’s scheduled in second to third quarter. For the stock rights offer, we’re still complying with PSE ( Philippine Stock Exchange) requirements. Definitely within the year, we will be able to raise the P1 billion,” Ms. Aquino noted.
PHA is still finalizing the terms of the planned fund- raising exercises. For the private placement, it intends to issue securities to several rather than a single investor.
PHA will disburse around P400 million of the proceeds to subsidiary West Palawan Premiere Development Corp. ( WPP) for the development of a mountain and beachside lifestyle community in Puerto Princesa City.
“WPP is in the final planning stages for an integrated township development that brings together serene mountainside and beachfront resorts as well as residential projects located in the emerging West Palawan corridor,” PHA noted in a disclosure to the PSE on Tuesday.
The company unveiled the 576-hectare development spanning several destination white sand beaches in the Bacungan- Napsan area in Puerto Princesa in June last year.
When it announced the project, PHA owned 512 hectares in Bacungan and set aside P50 million from the P400 million raised in a placement of exchangeable notes in October 2015 to initially develop the property.
PHA then raised another P120 million through a private placement completed in December. It sold a 15% stake in WPP based on the entire project’s valuation at P800 million.
The listed company also disclosed last month the purchase of an additional 5 hectares of beachfront property in Nagtabon Beach and ongoing efforts to draw a comprehensive tourism development plan for the area.
Engineering, consulting and project management service provider AECOM is expected to finish the master plan of WPP within the month. The environmental scanning and best land use study undertaken by Vertex Land Development management Consultancy, Inc. and Leechiu Property Consultants, meanwhile, was slated for completion last December.
“PHA will bring in its infrastructure subsidiary, Redstone Construction and Development Corp. (RCDC), to provide cost-effective site and land development expertise to the tourism project,” according to a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday.
The company earmarked P200 million for the infrastructure development projects of RCDC, which plans to broaden its operations to include non-mining construction activities starting with the execution of development plans for WPP.
In addition, PHA will consider business partnerships and acquisitions in the cement, iron, water and energy sectors. It budgeted P400 million to finance such transactions.
PHA divested its 32% stake in First Ardent Property Development Corp. in March to focus its core businesses toward the countryside. In this light, the company has invested in businesses addressing gaps in the mineral resource development, food security, tourism and housing sectors.
In the first nine months of 2016, PHA booked a 52% year-on-year increase in net income to P150.4 million from P98.8 million, following a 33% rise in revenues to P879.4 million from P660.1 million.
Shares in the company jumped by half a centavo or 1.02% to 49.5 centavos each on Tuesday, tracking a market-wide uptrend triggered by stronger- than- expected economic data from China.