Ayala Land files first REIT in PH

LISTED Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has filed the country’s first real estate investment trust (REIT) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, seeking to raise as much as P15.10 billion from the issuance.

In a statement, the regulator said Ayala Land subsidiary Areit Inc., previously known as AyalaLand REIT Inc. and One Dela Rosa Property Development Inc., will offer up to 502.57 million common shares for P30.05 apiece.

The offering is made up of a primary offer of up to 47.86 million common shares, secondary offer of up to 430.76 million common shares, and an overallotment option of up to 23.93 million common shares.

Net proceeds will be allocated for future investments in real estate properties in Metro Manila and other key regions.

BPI Capital Corp. is the issuance’s bookrunner, lead manager and lead underwriter.

Areit’s portfolio is made up of three commercial building in Metro Manila: Solaris One, Ayala Nort h E x c han g e an d McKinley Exchange.

“In addition to these properties, after the primary offer, we intend to expand our building portfolio by acquiring a fourth property, Teleperformance Cebu, from ALO Prime Realty Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ayala Land,” the firm said in a prospectus.

The property to be acquired houses two Philippine Economic Zone Authority-accredited business process outsourcing offices with a gross leasable area of 17,947.96 square meters.

“Through this initial capital market transaction, ALI hopes to pave the way for the development of a REIT market in the country, bringing another milestone to the Philippine stock market,” Ayala Land said in a separate statement.

The property giant eyes to hold an initial public offering for Areit once it secures the approval of the SEC and the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Ayala Land posted a net income of P23.2 billion in the first three quarters of 2019, up 23 percent from P20.8 billion in the same period in 2018, driven by sales of office, commercial and industrial lots and leasing of commercial assets.

Ayala Land shares ended flat at P43.35 apiece on Friday.