Vista Land gets SEC green light to sell bonds

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given listed developer Vista Land and Lifescapes, Inc. the go signal to proceed with its plan to raise R20 billion through a bond sale over the next three years.

The debt will be issued under the SEC's shelf-registration program, which allows the company to sell the bonds in tranches for the next three years.

This includes Series A bonds that will mature in seven years as well as Series B bonds due in 10 years.

The approval that the company has secured from the corporate regulatory agency covers the sale of R5 billion worth of fixed rate bonds in the coming weeks.

Vista Land will particularly issue bonds worth R3 billion plus another R2 billion in case of oversubscription.

The bonds will be listed and traded at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEX)

"The net proceeds of the Offer Bonds shall be used to fund for the construction and completion of the Evia Lifestyle Center Expansion and for the development, construction, and completion of Vistamall Malolos, as well as for general corporate purposes," the company told the SEC.

The company just celebrated its 10th year anniversary as a listed company in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

Previous reports showed that Vista Land Chairman Manuel Villar Jr. said they are aiming to expand the company’s presence to 200 cities and municipalities by next year.

“Right now we are in 121 cities and municipalities and we should end the year with residential projects in 140,” said Villar.

“We have seen marked improvement in our reservation sales as we registered a 12 percent growth during the first quarter of 2017,” he added.

During the first three months of this year, Vista Land had so far launched new projects totaling to about R12 billion.

This, as the company revised its target for the total value of projects it will launch this year to R42 billion from R30 billion.

"2017 promises to be another banner year for Vista Land. We are pleased to have been able to achieve solid growth over the last decade and should have no problem continuing the trend this year," Villar further said.

First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) executive vice president Justino Juan Ocampo already said before that the capital market will remain busy this semester, with more companies expected to raise more funds moving forward.

Ocampo said the capital markets saw a reversal in the activities in the first half of this year compared to last year.

The capital raised through the market in the first six months of the year particularly totaled to about R190 billion, 82 billion of which came from the fixed income market and R106 billion from the equity market.

In the first half of 2016, equity issuance made in the PSE only stood at R55.59 billion, while bond issuance are only R15 billion.

The companies who had so far issued bonds this year include Ayala Corp., San Miguel Corp., STI Education Services Group, Megaworld Corp., Ayala Land, Inc., and SM Prime Holdings, Inc.

"For the balance of the year, we maintain our positive outlook as the market continues to be liquid and interest rates, notwithstanding upward expectations, are still relatively benign," Ocampo said.