Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the conglomerate led by the Gotianun family, said it has retired its debt worth $300 million using the company’s excess cash and new loans.
The company said it has fully paid its fixed-rate seven-year bonds using excess cash and new local currency term-loan financing from local banks.
The US dollar-denominated fixed-rate seven-year bonds, issued on April 2, 2013, had an original issuance amount of $300 million with an interest rate of 4.25 percent a year.
“Our continued adherence to our financial commitments is aligned with the Filinvest group’s 60-year unblemished credit track record,” said FDC President and CEO L. Josephine G. Yap.
From the time of the bond issuance and throughout its entire tenor, the full amount of the bonds was fully hedged against foreign currency exchange risks, the company said.
In 2013, FDC redeemed $13.5 million of the $300-million fixed rate bonds at a discount, reducing the principal amount to $286.5 million.
Prior to the government’s declaration of enhanced community quarantine over Luzon, FDC had previously submitted its registration papers for the public offering of peso-denominated fixed-rate bonds of up to P8 billion.
The amount to be raised was supposed to be used in part to finance the said maturing US dollar-denominated debt.
In light of the significantly elevated economic uncertainty and heightened market risks brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), FDC together with its underwriters and bookrunners, just before the start of the bonds’ offering period, unanimously decided to defer the bond offering to a later date, the company said.
Yap also said the company is revisiting its plans in light of the potential economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We intend to take a more cautious direction and anticipate that relaxation of the quarantine may come in stages. As such, we would like to adopt a more flexible short-term planning process while still mindful of our medium-term strategy,” said Yap.
“The Filinvest group and its Filinvest City Foundation and Andrew Gotianun Foundation are fully committed to fighting this pandemic hand in hand with the national and local governments,” she added.
FDC has identified areas with “higher impact” for its donations. This included a P100-million donation to provide medical equipment, including complete personal protective equipment, to frontliners, of which 30,000 have been distributed to date, and the distribution of ventilators and PCR-based testing machines.
The Filinvest group opened their doors for the use of The Filinvest Tent in Alabang as a temporary quarantine center. The Palms Country Club has also offered the use of its premises for the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine frontliners with Filinvest shouldering the food and operating expenses.