Milbank advised Filinvest Land, Inc. (“Filinvest Land”), a subsidiary of Filinvest Development Corporation (“Filinvest”), as sponsor, and its real estate investment trust, Filinvest REIT Corp. (“FILREIT”), on FILREIT’s initial public offering (“IPO”). FILREIT successfully opened on the Philippine Stock Exchange (“PSE”) on August 12, 2021, raising at least ₱11.4 billion for the sponsor in spite of market volatility. This landmark transaction marks the first sustainability-themed, publicly listed REIT in the Philippines.
FILREIT offered approximately 1.63 billion common shares priced at 7 pesos, with an overallotment option of up to approximately 163.42 million shares.
Filinvest is one of the Philippines’ leading conglomerates with interests in real estate, hospitality, banking and finance, utilities, and transportation, amongst others. Its real estate business has developed over 3,000 hectares of land across the country. FILREIT’s portfolio includes 17 office buildings with approximately 300,000 square meters in gross leasable area, which have incorporated sustainability into their core features. Sixteen of FILREIT’s properties are located in Northgate Cyberzone in Filinvest City, the first central business district in the Philippines to receive a Gold rating for Neighborhood Development under the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (“LEED”) rating system.
The Hong Kong-based Milbank team was led by Global Capital Markets Group partner James Grandolfo with associates Ari Singzon and Abir Varma.
Mr. Grandolfo said: “We were thrilled to have assisted our longtime client Filinvest in the historic listing of FILREIT. The high demand from both domestic and international investors during this time of volatility in the international equity markets speaks to the consumer and investor confidence in Filinvest’s properties as well as the attractiveness of sustainable investments in the Philippines.”
2021 has thus far shown itself to be a blockbuster year for Philippine capital markets and for REITs as an emerging asset class. Milbank has advised on a number of REIT offerings across Asia, including most recently DDMP REIT, Inc.'s US$302 million IPO, the second-ever REIT IPO in the Philippines.
