SM Prime Holdings, Inc., one of the largest real estate companies in Southeast Asia, just raised P20 billion this week as investors gobbled on its latest bond issuance, which is the company’s last fundraising activity for this year.
 
For 2016, SM Prime sees the second quarter as the perfect timing to tap the debt market anew.
 
In an interview, SM Prime senior vice president and chief finance officer Jeffrey Lim said the company’s P20-billion bond issuance has already been oversubscribed by investors, prompting the real estate firm to already close the offer even if there are still a few days left before the actual offer period ends. 
 
“The bond offering already closed. We hit the P20-billion mark. We just launched it last week and now we’re done. The offer period is still up to next week but we’ve raised the P20 billion already,” Lim said on the sidelines of Colliers International 20th year anniversary celebration held in Makati.
 
SM Prime specifically issued P15 billion worth of Fixed Rate Peso Retail Bonds, with an overallotment option of up to P5 billion. Lim said the bonds will be officially listed at the Philippine Dealing Exchange Corp. in December.
 
The bonds has been issued into two series — Series D with maturity of 5.25 years, which carry an interest rate of 4.51 percent per annum, and Series E with maturity of 10 years, carrying an interest rates of 4.79 percent per annum.
 
According to him, P16 to P17 billion worth of issued bonds carry the maturity of 5.25 years, while the rest are issued as 10-year bonds.
 
For his part, SM Prime President Hans T. Sy earlier said this issuance will largely support funding for the company’s mall expansion programs in the coming years.
 
By the end of this year, SM Prime will increase its number of malls to 55 in the Philippines with an equivalent mall footprint of 7.3 million square meter in terms of gross floor area (GFA), while next year, it will open six new malls and expand two existing mall. Combined, the additional mall space is 571,631 square meters.
 
Most of the proceeds from the offer will be disbursed in the first half of 2016 for the construction and completion of 11 malls. Some of the other SM malls that will be funded by the proceeds from the offer include those that are in San Jose Del Monte in Rizal, Commonwealth in Quezon City, Tuguegarao, Puerto Princesa, Cagayan de Oro.