■ CLI HOPES TO RAISE P5-P10 BILLION FROM ISSUANCE OF RETAIL BONDS
Cebu Landmasters Inc. president and CEO Jose Soberano III bares plans to issue retail bonds next year to finance construction of residential and mixed-use projects
Publicly-listed Cebu Landmasters Inc. will issue retail bonds to finance the construction of buildings, mostly residential and mixedused projects, in the Visayas and Mindanao. “We have lined up already a lot of term loans and funding options but there is already that proposal (to issue bonds) moving forward to expand our resources,” said CLI president and CEO Jose Soberano III at the sidelines of the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. CLI hopes to raise P5 billion to P10 billion. The Cebu-based developer first tapped the Philippine Stock Exchange last June 2 to raise fresh equity capital amounting to P2.15 billion.
Publicly-listed Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) is slated to tap the debt market by next year to raise P5 billion to P10 billion to finance its expansion plans.
The information came yesterday from CLI president and chief executive officer (CEO) Jose Soberano III at the sidelines of the company’s annual shareholders meeting at the Cebu City Marriott Hotel yesterday.
“This step is very much in process and this could be something that could be done within the first half of 2018,” the official said. The proceeds expected from the retail bond issuance will largely finance the construction of buildings, mostly residential and some mixed-use projects, in the Visayas and Mindanao.
“We have lined up already a lot of term loans and funding options but there is already that proposal (to issue bonds) moving forward to expand our resourc- es,” added Soberano.
The Cebu-based developer first tapped the Philippine Stock Exchange last June 2 to raise fresh equity capital amounting to P2.15 billion. As of the third quarter, CLI has used P605.6 million or 28 percent of the initial public offering (IPO) proceeds in key land acquisitions and investments in joint ventures. The company has scheduled to use up the rest of the proceeds within the first half of 2018.
For the third quarter, the listed developer posted a 105-percent year-on-year profit growth, expressing confidence that it is on track to surpass the P1.2 billion net income year-end target.
CLI’s year-to-date net income after tax reached P940 million, significantly exceeding previous year’s P459 million. The homegrown developer attributed this stellar income report to the 68 percent hike in real estate revenues in the past quarter to P2.736 billion from P1.625 billion a year ago.
Meanwhile, the company earlier reported that reservation sales in the first nine months reached P3.66 billion, or 26 percent more than the P2.9 billion in reservations sales registered for the entire 2016.
“We’re very pleased with our company’s performance this year, but we still have more projects to launch for the balance of 2017,” said Soberano.
Key projects scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter include the mixed-use Astra Centre in Cebu City, which will feature 10,000 square meters of retail space, 467 residential units and 158 hotel units; the 727-unit Casa Mira Towers in Guadalupe, Cebu; and the 351-unit Base Line Prestige residential condominium, also in Cebu.
The developer offers projects across the economic spectrum and is largely focused on the mid-market and economic housing segments, which respectively account for 43.92 percent and 40.55 percent of its residential project mix. High-end residential projects account for 14.46 percent; socialized housing at 1.07 percent.
In a disclosure, CLI said there are 42 projects in its current portfolio in various stages of construction, cumulatively valued at P45.02 billion. Residential condominiums account for the largest share in CLI’s project mix at 52 percent, followed by residential subdivisions at 26 percent.Commercial developments account for a 16-percent share in the mix while hotel projects hold the remaining six percent.