Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) has gained the approval of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) to conduct its real estate investment trust (REIT) offering before the end of the month.

In a disclosure on the PSE EDGE website on Friday, the regulator said it has allowed ALI to proceed with its REIT plan after securing the go-signal from the Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

AREIT, Inc., which is the property firm’s vehicle for the REIT offering, is scheduled to finalize its offer price by July 22. The offer period is set from July 27 to Aug. 3, with listing at the PSE main board tentatively scheduled on Aug. 13.

“The exchange’s approval of the listing of the company’s shares is subject to its compliance with all of the post-approval conditions and requirements of the exchange,” the regulator said.

AREIT will do an initial public offering (IPO) of 456.88 million shares with an overallotment option of 45.69 million shares.

The offer price may go up to P30.05 per share, which would raise about P15.1 billion in proceeds for the company. Its market capitalization post-IPO may reach up to P32.84 billion, if the offer price is set at the maximum.

AREIT tapped BPI Capital Corp. as sole global coordinator, PNB Capital & Investment Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as domestic co-lead underwriters, and BPI Capital and UBS AG Singapore Branch as joint bookrunners for the offering.

ALI’s REIT plan involves three office buildings in Makati City: Solaris One, Ayala North Exchange and McKinley Exchange.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to buy Teleperformance Cebu and future investments in other real estate properties in Metro Manila and key regions.

If it succeeds with the plan, ALI would be the first property developer to do a REIT offering in the Philippines. The REIT shares will be listed under the stock symbol “AREIT”.

ALI’s earnings in the first quarter dropped 41% to P4.3 billion due to lower bookings and project completions because of the Taal Volcano eruption and the coronavirus-related lockdown.

Shares in the company at the stock exchange shed P1.20 or 3.65% to P31.70 each on Friday. – Denise A. Valdez

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR