Robinsons Land to issue 450M more shares to public
By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes
Reporter

ROBINSONS Land Corp. (RLC), the property arm of the Gokongwei-controlled JG Summit Holdings, would sell up to 450 million common shares from its unissued authorized capital stock to local and international institutional investors.
       JG Summit and other companies controlled by founder John Gokongwei Jr. own more than 92 percent of RLC.
       In a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday, RLC said the offer price would be computed on the basis of the volume-weighted average trading price of its common shares for the 10 trading days immediately preceding the pricing date of the offering, subject to a discount of up to 10 percent.
       RLC listed shares closed at P11 a piece at Tuesday’s trading at the bourse. Assuming this price holds, the company would likely to generate proceeds amounting to P4.95 billion from the offering.
       RLC is the second subsidiary of the Gokongweis that would engage in secondary offering. The first was its food unit Universal Robina Corp., which raised proceeds of P10.8 billion and resulted in a public or free float of 40.8 percent.
       The issuance of 450 million more common shares by RLC would likewise increase its free float to 40 percent. The new shares will increase the company’s 2.3 billion shares by 16 percent.
       Free float shares are those shares of a publicly listed company that are readily available to the investing public.
        In an earlier interview, RLC president Lance Gokongwei said RLC’s secondary offering would follow the same tack implemented by URC.
       “We are planning to increase the free float of RLC to reflect the real value of the company,” he said.
       The proceeds would be used for the expansion of its malls, hotels and other property development projects.
       “We believe that the current share prices of our subsidiaries are undervalued and do not reflect the real prospects of our companies,” Gokongwei added.
       RLC reported a 17-percent growth in net profit from January to March this year to P411.3 million compared to P350.7 million in the same period 2005.
       The amount represents the second-quarter profit of the company, whose fiscal year ends in September.
       Gross revenues, on the other hand, were higher at P1.63 billion compared to the previous level of P1.28 billion. Income from operations likewise rose 26 percent to P578.6 million compared to P459.3 million in 2005.
       This year, the company is spending a capital expenditure of P7 billion from P3.5 billion in 2005.
       The capex would bankroll the company’s three important projects: landbanking; building of four malls; and putting up of new office buildings to serve the growing markets for business process outsourcing. With Bloomberg