Property developer Ayala Land Inc. raised P10 billion from the issuance of two-year retail bonds on strong demand despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Ayala Land president Bernard Vincent Dy said during the virtual listing ceremony at Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. that the bonds were oversubscribed by 1.7 times, which enabled the company to excise its oversubscription option and raise a total of P10 billion.
This is the first corporate bond to book-build, price and issue within the community quarantine period.
Ayala Land is also the first non-bank corporate issuer of fixed-rate bonds that braved the local market since the country was placed under community quarantine.
“We hope that our success would spur investor confidence and pave the way for the reopening of the local debt capital market,” Dy said.
The bonds were priced at the tight end of the range at 3 percent interest rate per annum for two years, which is currently the lowest coupon achieved by corporate and bank issuers in the local market of comparable tenor.
Securities and Exchange Commission commended Ayala Land for its leadership and confidence in entering the market under the unprecedented circumstances.
“ALI’s decision to tap the local bond market is also a strategic one. Clearly, ALI and its financial team is aware of the value that bond investors place on well-known issuers with an established track record of capital market access, bolstered by strong credit ratings,” SEC commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong said in a speech during the listing ceremony.
Amatong said the SEC remained committed to facilitating access to the debt capital markets, following the institution of the shelf-registration program, the adoption of the Philippine Peso Bloomberg Valuation Reference Rates and the recent approval of the Revised Schedule of Fees at PDEx.
Amatong said these initiatives aimed to support the development of the capital market as a number of companies expressed plans to tap the bond market despite the current conditions.
Amatong said Bank of the Philippine Islands announced plans to issue a COVID Action Response bond that would carry the ASEAN Social Bond Standards label. Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., San Miguel Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp., Security Bank and Filinvest Development Corp. are also reportedly considering a return to the peso bond market.