ABOITIZ Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) said it may conduct its initial bond offer of between P10 billion and P15 billion in July.
Stephen Paradies, the company’s CFO, said the company has not decided yet on what tenor would its debt paper will be, but it will be between seven and 12 years.
“July is our timeline launch. We have the authority to do up to P25 [billion] but we won’t probably do it all at once,” Paradies said on its fixed-rate retail-bond offer.
AEV earlier said it will use the proceeds of the bonds, which will be listed at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp., to finance planned acquisitions, future investments and other general corporate requirements.
AEV is part of the consortium of the country’s four biggest firms for the P123.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore project, the biggest among the public-private partnership projects of the Aquino administration.
“They’re still working on it. But I think it will likely be postponed because there is still so much info needed,” Paradies said.
“There’s a timeline for the bid submission, but it’s very very soon. I think its July. We have no time and most [of the other bidders] will request for extension with the time needed for due diligence,” he said. To note, AEV’s net income declined by 13 percent last year, to P18.4 billion from P21 billion in 2013.
The company incurred a nonrecurring gain of P436 million from the revaluation of AboitizPower’s consolidated dollar-denominated liabilities and placements, and a one-off gain of P634 million from the sale of a couple of the group’s investments. AboitizPower also booked a non-recurring cost for the acquisition of Lima Utilities Corp.
Adjusting for these one-offs, AEV’s core net income dropped narrower by 15 percent to P17.9 billion from last year.
Moving forward, the company sees more growth opportunities from infrastructure investments, which it has made the fifth leg of its business. “Our strategic growth plans remain intact as we pursue to further strengthen and expand our businesses, keeping pace with the country’s economic growth,” Erramon Aboitiz, AEV president and CEO, said.
Power accounted for 71 percent of AEV’s business, followed by banking, food and land development, with income contributions of 18 percent, 7 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
The company, through its joint venture with JV Angeles Construction Corp., has also been awarded the contract to develop a 300 million liters per day bulk water-supply project to support Davao City’s growing needs, the country’s largest private bulk water-supply project to date.