Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) likely continued growing its profits in the first quarter on the back of strong performance across all business segments. New properties like malls, offices and hotels launched last year will start contributing profits in the next few months, an official said. “(Performance) is still good. It’s a respectable quarter, still consistent with expectations,” said ALI chief finance officer Jaime E. Ysmael. “We were firing on all engines effectively. All different businesses continue to contribute to the pie,” Ysmael said. The property arm of the Ayala conglomerate posted a 30-percent jump in profits to P2.76 billion in the first three months of 2013 from P2.13 billion a year ago. Consolidated revenues hit P18.53 billion, up 38 percent from the P13.39 billion. Ysmael said the country’s property sector remained robust, allowing the residential segment to remain as the biggest contributor to ALI’s earnings in the first quarter of the year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “We did not launch that many projects in the first quarter. But the succeeding quarters is when most of the projects will happen,” Ysmael said. ALI plans to launch 78 projects consisting of 30,000 residential units this year with an estimated value of P142 billion. The five residential brands of the property firm launched a total of 28,482 units worth P108 billion last year. ALI is primarily into the development of residential projects, lease of commercial and office space and sale of prime lots. Read More …

MACTAN, Cebu , Philippines   – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it will not “hesitate” to deploy measures to prevent any asset price bubbles forming in the property sector amid sustained growth in real estate credit. Central bank Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo, during the annual BSP Lecture Series, said the above 20-percent increase in loans to real estate in the three years to 2013 bears “closer monitoring.” “Today, while there is no evidence of overstretching of asset prices as far as real estate sector is concerned, if you will have over 20 percent, 30 percent, or 25-percent (credit) growth, it also comes to a point when it becomes risky,” Guinigundo said. The BSP official said that during the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, real estate credit growth hit 30.2 percent, but this sharply fell to 12.3 percent in 2009 and 12.2 percent in 2010. The figure climbed to 25.2 percent in 2011 and to 29.7 percent in 2012, before slightly easing to 22 percent last year. “If there is evidence that there are signs (of asset price inflation) then the BSP will not hesitate and we will undertake the necessary measures from the monetary policy side and the prudential side,” Guinigundo said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Real estate loans amounted to P831.787 billion last year, up from the P676.928 billion recorded in 2012. The increase was driven by a 24-percent expansion in commercial real estate borrowings to P511.337 billion and a Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx), the country’s trading platform for fixed income securities, will likely post a banner year for 2014 as more companies raise funds through the bond market. The amount of bonds to be listed this year in the PDEx is seen to eclipse the all-time high of P111 billion recorded in 2012, its top executive said. “Definitely we will reach the P100 billion level…this will be a record year,” said PDEx president and chief operating officer Cesar Crisol. He said the previous high of P111 billion posted in 2012 will be breached this year given local companies’ moves to tap the bond market. “Right now, the issuers go to the capital markets to be able to tap the liquidity. Investors are also looking for the corporate bonds that have a premium over government securities,” Crisol said. So far, seven issuers listed 12 series of bonds worth P89.8 billion in the PDEx. Major listings include the P30-billion bonds of JG Summit Holdings Inc. and P15 billion bonds of San Miguel Brewery Inc. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In 2013, eight firms issued 16 series of long-term bonds totaling P83.5 billion. For the issuers, Crisol said raising funds from the bond market is an opportunity to ease up on the single borrowing limits with the banking system, which is facing changes due to the implementation of Basel III. Basel III introduces a complex package of reforms designed to improve the ability Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – International shipping lines are asking the government to identify areas near the North and South harbors where depots could be established to bring down additional costs brought about by the truck ban imposed by the city government of Manila. Patrick Ronas, president of the Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL), has asked the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to identify areas near the ports to put up new depots to allow cost efficiency in transporting cargoes. Ronas pointed out that there are several depots owned by private contractors and not by shippers. He said shipping lines have to convince private contractors to operate their depots for 24 hours to accommodate truckers returning their containers. According to him, there was a move by contractors to look for space in the North or South harbors as an alternative for locating the depots but the only problem would be the distance. At the recent transport and logistics summit, the private sector pushed the setting up of alternative depots to address congestion of cargoes. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Exporting and importing firms as well as service providers of transport and logistics and allied services contributed to the drafting of the resolution which aims to attain a sustainable solution on removing barriers in cargo transport and customs procedures. Among the proposed measures include the creation of alternative depots, maximization of Batangas and Subic ports, the 24/7 operations by the customs agency, the removal of the truck ban, the Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Listed property firm Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. has completed its return to the bond market, raising $225 million in fresh capital to support debt payments and expansion projects. The real estate unit of the Villar family said it generated $350 million of demand from 44 offshore and institutional investor accounts in the first dollar-denominated bond offering from a Philippines corporate in 2014. “The success of the tender offer and new issue represents an important milestone for Vista Land in the active management of its capital structure,” Vista Land said. “Most importantly, the exercise achieved the Vista Land’s objectives of reducing interest expense, further diversifying its funding sources and increasing funding from offshore investors,” it added. In terms of geographic distribution, roughly 95 percent of the bonds were distributed in Asia and the rest was distributed in Europe. By investor type, 60 percent of the bonds were distributed to banks, 28 percent to fund and asset managers, and 12 percent to private banks, Vista Land said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “This enabled Vista Land to price the new five-year issuance at a yield of 7.625 percent, representing a 12.5 basis points tightening from initial guidance of 7.75 percent,” the property firm said. The bonds of subsidiary VLL International Inc. will bear a fixed interest coupon of 7.45 percent per year, with interest payable semi-annually in arrears. HSBC acted as sole global coordinator, and with DBS Bank Ltd., acted as joint bookrunners and Read More …