Conglomerate Ayala Corp. plans to raise as much as P20 billion from the issuance of fixed rate bonds to finance maturing debts.
Ayala, according to the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, will initially issue P10 billion in seven-year bonds and put the balance of P10 billion under shelf registration for issuance within the next three years.
The conglomerate hired BDO Capital & Investments Corp. as issue manager for the fund raising activity. Joining BDO Capital as joint lead underwriters are BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp. and First Metro Investments Corp.
Ayala plans to use the proceeds from the fund raising activity to refinance the group’s P10-billion bonds maturing in April 2017.
Ayala, which has major investments in real estate, banking and telecommunications sectors, expects most of its business units to continue growing at a healthy pace in 2016.
The conglomerate said it would continue to strengthen its growing portfolio of power and infrastructure investments.
The group also expects its power business to sustain a positive earnings’ trajectory in 2016.
“The company will continue to explore new investments in healthcare and education, while looking for opportunities to scale up its automotive manufacturing businesses. Overall, Ayala remains vigilant in tracking economic indicators and other relevant metrics across the group to give the company a pulse on the economy,” the conglomerate said.
Ayala, one of the country’s largest and oldest conglomerates, said during the annual stockholders’ meeting held last month it planned to double its net income to P50 billion by 2020.
The conglomerate said it would seek new businesses in automotive and manufacturing while strengthening energy and infrastructure investments to achieve the target.
Ayala also expects earnings contribution outside its four largest business units, namely Ayala Land Inc., Globe Telecom Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Manila Water Co. Inc., to increase to 20 percent from the current four percent.
It plans to expand the group’s presence in Southeast Asia to 10 percent of equity earnings by 2020 and improve shareholder return on common equity to 15 percent.