Century Properties to hike capital stock to P9.54B

PROPERTY developer Century Properties Group Inc. (CPG) is beefing up its authorized capital to pave the way for a stock dividend declaration and obtain flexibility for future expansion.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, CPG said its board approved a resolution to amend the company’s articles of incorporation and to increase its capital stock by way of stock dividends.

The board approved an increase in the company’s authorized capital to P9.54 billion divided into 18 billion common shares with a par value of P0.53 each. The current authorized capital stock is P5.3 billion divided into 10 billion common shares.

The increase of eight billion shares in the capital stock, based on yesterday’s closing price of P1.40 a share, was worth P11.2 billion.

The 25-percent minimum sub- scribed and paid-up capital for the increase in authorized capital will be covered by the implementation of a two billion stock dividend declaration worth P1.06 billion at par value of P0.53 a share. These shares are proposed to be listed on the PSE.

These changes will be up for approval and ratification of the stockholders of CPG in the next annual stockholders’ meeting.

CPG is also set to debut on the local bond market with a retail offering worth as much as P3 billion from a local offering of retail bonds with tenors of three, five and seven years.

BDO Capital and Investment Corp. was appointed issue manager and, together with HSBC, named joint underwriters and bookrunners. Primeiro Partners is Century’s financial adviser on the transaction.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to partially finance capital expenditures for a portion of CPG’s projects scheduled for completion between 2017 and 2019. In particular, the projects include more than 3,250 residential units and about 90,000 square meters of commercial space for lease.

By 2019, CPG expects to complete 1.67 million square meters of development, consisting of 31 buildings and more than 150,000 sqm of commercial space for lease. In addition, it has a landbank of 200 hectares to develop in Metro Manila and is looking at other promising areas in the country.

CPG has had 28 years of experience in the real estate business. It has four subsidiaries, namely Century City Development Corp., Century Limitless Corp., Century Communities Corp. and Century Properties Management.

As of end-2013, the company has completed 24 condominium and commercial buildings with 8,197 units and a total gross floor area of 836,867 sqm.

Early this year, CPG also opened Century City Mall, marking its initial foray into retail development.