Property developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Westview Commercial Ventures Corp. raised P3.2 billion from the sale of shares in real estate investment trust firm AREIT Inc. via a private placement.
ALI said in a stock exchange filing Tuesday it sold 98 million AREIT shares at P32.45 apiece, representing a 5-percent discount to the stock’s closing price on Thursday of P34.15.
ALI said the share sale was strongly received by the market as the transaction was two times oversubscribed at the clearing price and was anchored by high-quality long-only institutional investors.
BPI Capital Corp. and UBS AG Singapore Branch arranged the deal.
The overnight placement will ensure that AREIT will remain compliant with the minimum public float of 33 percent before the ALI’s planned property-for-share swap transaction with AREIT.
This is the second time that ALI sold AREIT shares this year. In January, it raised P5.63 billion from the sale of 181 million AREIT shares at P31.10 apiece.
ALI is set to inject P28.6 billion worth of assets in AREIT this year. These assets include four commercial buildings in Ayala Center Makati and Ayala Center Cebu and a 276-hectare parcel of industrial land in Zambales.
ALI and its subsidiaries will receive 841,259 million AREIT primary common shares. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.
The planned asset infusion will bring AREIT’s assets under management to P117 billion, quadruple the size when the company was listed on the local bourse. It will also immediately contribute to AREIT’s income.
This is in line with AREIT’s objectives to significantly expand and diversify its portfolio to capitalize on various growth opportunities across the real estate sector.
