THE Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) has breached the P300-billion mark for new bonds listed in 2019, a new record for bond listings in a year.
Ayala Land, Inc (ALI) listed P10 billion in fixed-rate bonds at the exchange yesterday, pushing PDEx’s count of new bond listings this year above P300 billion.
“Today makes listing number 31, level of P308.92 billion of new bonds listed for the year and a total of P1.27-trillion corporate bonds listed at PDEx (as of Nov. 6),” Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) President and Chief Operating Officer Antonino A. Nakpil said in his speech at the listing ceremony yesterday.
Mr. Nakpil said he expects new records in the coming weeks as several banks are set to conduct bond issuances before the year ends. This will raise 2019’s new listings well beyond the P256.4 billion the PDEx saw in 2018.
“We are delighted to announce that today also marks the effectivity of our SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)-approved framework for listing and enrollment of bank bonds issued under a bank bond issuance program… [T]his means that documentary requirements dropped from 25 to 11 for a so-called follow-on tranches within such bank bond issuance programs,” the PDEx chief said.
“We look forward to seeing the efficiency metric shortened much more in the coming year,” he added.
Mr. Nakpil earlier said the new guidelines for bank bond issuances, or the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Circular No. 1010, have attracted several banks to enter the bond market because of the simplified process for universal and commercial banks and quasi-banks.
By the end of the week, the SEC-approved trading and settlement guidelines for floating rate bonds will also take effect, which Mr. Nakpil said will help spur more interest in the PDEx.
“We would like to thank the SEC for its development-enabling regulatory approach to our fixed-income market,” he said.
ALI’s P10-billion bond listing yesterday is its third listing this year, after P3 billion in bonds were listed last month and P8 billion in bonds were listed in May.
“ALI has raised on a year-to-year basis a total of P50 billion, comprising P21 billion in bonds, P19 billion in bilateral loans and P10 billion in alternative financing… This is the highest amount of total debt financing in a year for ALI,” Chief Finance Officer Augusto Cesar D. Bengzon said in his speech at the ceremony.
The P10-billion bonds listed yesterday is the company’s first-ever offer of such size under two tranches with polarizing tenors of two years and seven and a quarter years. Proceeds from the offer will fund its 2.8-hectare development project in Makati City.
ALI’s net income in the nine months to September grew 12% to P23.2 billion due to the growth of its real estate business. — Denise A. Valdez
