Filinvest Development settles P8.8-B bond debt

FILINVEST Development Corp. (FDC), the holding firm of the Gotianun family, on Thursday said it had completed payment of 10-year fixed-rate retail bonds worth P8.8 billion issued on Jan. 24, 2014.

FDC told the stock exchange that the bonds matured on Wednesday and were paid through Philippine Depository & Trust Corp.

Based on FDC’s 2014 prospectus, the bonds had a fixed interest rate of 6.1458 percent per annum.

Proceeds of the issuance were used for funding FDC’s capital expenditure requirements for the construction of hotel and power projects, and the refinancing of outstanding debt.

During the listing of the offer shares with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx), then-FDC President and Chief Executive Officer Josephine Yap said the bonds would help them bankroll long-term developments to “further the firm’s growth.”

“While we could have opted for a double tenor of seven and 10 years to increase the issue size, we chose to be conservative by offering only a longer tenor to achieve a more balanced debt maturity profile for the group,” she added.

FDC had tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., First Metro Investment Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank as the bond offer’s joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners, with China Banking Corp. as co-lead underwriter and East-West Banking Corp. as selling agent.

The company, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in the real estate business, banking and financial services, sugar farming and milling, and power generation.

FDC shares last traded at P5.55 each on January 22.