AREIT, INC. of Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) has completed the country’s first real estate investment trust (REIT) offering and is set to list at the Philippine Stock Exchange next week.
In a disclosure on Thursday, ALI said AREIT has ended the offer period for its P12.33-billion initial public offering on Monday, which saw a twice oversubscription from investors.
AREIT will list its shares at the exchange on Aug. 13.
The company offered up to 456.88 million common shares with an overallotment option of up to 45.69 million shares priced at P27 each. It has not disclosed on Thursday the total proceeds it generated from the offering.
“The landmark deal and the introduction of the new asset class was well-received by the market, with the deal more than fully covered with broad distribution across retail investors as well as international and domestic institutional investors,” ALI said.
About 70% of the issuance was offered to qualified institutional buyers that are either based in the Philippines or located outside the United States. Some 20% were offered to REIT-eligible trading participants and 10% were offered to local small investors.
A total of 96 eligible trading participants and more than 3,300 local small investors participated in the offering.
“High-quality domestic and international institutional investors locked in demand for the Philippines’ first REIT notwithstanding the continuing COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) global pandemic,” the company said.
AREIT had tapped BPI Capital Corp. as sole global coordinator and joint bookrunner for the offering. UBS AG Singapore Branch was sole international bookrunner for the international tranche, and BPI Capital, PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. were underwriters for the domestic tranche.
The portfolio of AREIT consists of three office buildings in Makati City: 24-storey commercial building Solaris One, two-tower mixed-use development Ayala North Exchange and five-storey commercial office McKinley Exchange.
Proceeds from the offering are intended to be used in buying Teleperformance Cebu and other real estate properties in Metro Manila and key regions.
Earnings of ALI in the first quarter dropped 41% to P4.3 billion as an effect of the Taal Volcano eruption and the coronavirus pandemic. It is allocating P69.8 billion for capital expenditures this year.
Shares in ALI at the stock exchange gained 30 centavos or 0.92% to P32.80 each on Thursday. — Denise A. Valdez
