IFC, First Balfour sign deal to develop electric vehicle system in Batangas industrial park

THE International Finance Corp. and First Balfour Inc., an engineering and construction company owned by the Lopez Group, signed an agreement to ramp up efforts to decarbonize the transport sector.

IFC, a member of the World Bank, will help First Balfour conduct assessments and viability studies to develop a robust electric vehicle system in the First Philippine Industrial Park in Batangas province, including charging infrastructure targeted to be powered by renewable energy.

“Aligning with our mission towards decarbonization, we are actively exploring opportunities in the electric vehicle space to be able to provide an integrated infrastructure and services to our customers, such as FPIP. In this context, IFC’s expertise will help us develop highly relevant market solutions that will ultimately help us to contribute to our country’s resilient future,” said First Balfour president and chief oper- ating officer Anthony Fernandez.

IFC said many businesses were looking to explore EV adoption to help green their operations, but technical expertise was lacking and successful business cases were few.

“A huge investment opportunity over the next decade, electric vehicles are critical in the fight against climate change and can help reduce emissions, lower transport costs, and create thousands of green jobs. So, developing an efficient and thriving e-mobility ecosystem is crucial for the Philippines to meet its climate commitments,” said IFC country manager for the Philippines Jean-Marc Arbogast.

“The project will also help diversify FPIP and First Balfour’s infrastructure services and hopefully bring in new market players and spur the evolution of the local electric vehicle segment in the country,” he said. Alena Mae S. Flores and Othel V. Campos

The bank said on a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday the bond offering carries an oversubscription option, meaning the price could be adjusted upward or offer more securities to reflect higher demand.

“Proceeds will be used to support the bank’s lending activities and expand its funding base,” it said. The bonds will have a tenor of 1.5 years and will be marketed at a fixed-rate of 6.4250 percent per annum. The public offer period will be from June 26 to July 7, 2023. Minimum denominations were set for P1 million and increments of P100,000 thereafter.

Security Bank will list the bonds on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on July 13, 2023 to provide secondary market liquidity to investors who would like to trade the instruments. The bonds will be issued out of the bank’s P100-billion peso bond and commercial papers program. Julito G. Rada

Ayala Land raises P15b from issuance of fixed-rate bonds

By Jenniffer B. Austria

PROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. said Monday it raised P15 billion from the issuance of five- and 10-year fixedrate bonds as part of the company’s fundraising program to finance 2023 capital spending.

ALI chief finance officer Augusto Bengzon said in an interview following the bond listing on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. this could be the last bond offering for the company this year.

“In terms of accessing the debt capital market, we will probably take a pause already. The next phase of our fund-raising activity will be the banks,” Bengzon said.

Bengzon said the company signed a P10-billion term loan facility with one of the country’s universal banks. Net proceeds from the borrowing will also be used to fund this year’s capital spending program, he said.

ALI earlier earmarked P85 billion for 2023 capital expenditures primarily to roll out more residential, office, hotels and resorts across the country.

Bengzon said the company remained positive about the property market as its residential, office and mall businesses were now close to pre-pandemic levels.

He said the company was prepared to launch over P100 billion worth of residential projects this year. The actual launches would depend on market demand, he said.

“We do track our inventory levels, and we would like to move our inventory.

Once we get it to certain levels, then we will launch. But we are prepared to launch depending on demand,” Bengzon said. PDEx president and chief executive Antonino Nakpil welcomed ALI’s return to the debt market.

Nakpil said ALI’s P15-billion bond listing is the sixth on PDEx in 2023, bringing the year-to-date total admissions to P75.45 billion.