The AREIT asset injection triggered a one-hour trading halt on its shares on Thursday morning.
It involves the subscription of 505.89 million AREIT shares by three Ayala Land subsidiaries (Accendo Commercial Corp., Cagayan de Oro Gateway Corp., and Central Bloc Hotel Ventures), which will infuse eight commercial properties worth P20.99 billion or P41.50 per share.
The price is subject to a third-party fairness opinion.
Impact on AREIT float
Ayala Land shares shed 5.85 percent to P23.35, while AREIT shares slipped 1.14 percent to P39.05 apiece as of this writing.
Joey Cipres, AP Securities research analyst, said the deal will lower AREIT’s public float from 38.29 percent to 33.07 percent.
This falls just below the 33.33 percent minimum public float rule for REITs, meaning the company may need to sell shares to comply.
Debt refinancing
Ayala Land also revealed plans to raise P75 billion via the sale of retail bonds or corporate notes to refinance maturing loans.
These may also involve the signing of bilateral loans, the filing showed.
Cash dividends, promotion
Ayala Land declared a cash dividend of P0.2888 per common share, payable on March 21, 2025, to shareholders of record as of March 5, 2025.
Moreover, it said Darwin L. Salipsip, the company’s construction management head, was promoted to senior vice president from vice president.
Retiring treasury shares
Ayala Land is also bolstering shareholder value by retiring 1 billion common shares held in treasury.
By retiring the shares, it removes the possibility that they will be reissued in the future, limiting the risk of dilution.
The treasury shares were accumulated during its ongoing buyback program. Ayala Land said it spent P7.4 billion on share buybacks last year.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
