Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) is poised to infuse more assets into Filinvest REIT Corporation (FILRT) after successfully increasing FILRT's public float through a voluntary tender offer that involved a swap of FLI and FILRT shares.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), FLI announced that the tender offer was well received, with applications exceeding the cap by 2.3 times—highlighting the positive reception of the Philippine equity market to FLI's strategic initiative.

The Tender Offer Agent received applications for a total of 4.24 million FLI common shares, representing 17.47 percent of FLI's issued and outstanding stock.

As a result, the entire 1.87 billion FLI common share cap of the tender offer was reached. These shares were exchanged for 597.12 million FILRT common shares, or 12.20 percent of FILRT's issued and outstanding stock.

The capped voluntary tender offer garnered significant support from both major institutional FLI shareholders and numerous minority shareholders throughout the Philippines.

Following the acceptance and crossing of the tendered shares on Dec. 9, 2024, and the settlement of consideration shares on Dec. 11, 2024, FILRT's public float increased to 46.68 percent.

This surpassed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and PSE's requirement of one-third of outstanding capital stock for real estate investment trusts (REITs). Prior to the tender offer, FILRT's public float stood at 34.48 percent.

By expanding public ownership, FLI creates the opportunity to infuse more assets into FILRT while maintaining compliance as a publicly listed company. FLI retains 26.44 percent public ownership after the tender offer, well above the PSE's 10 percent minimum requirement for publicly listed companies.

"We are encouraged by the investing public’s robust support of our capped voluntary Tender Offer," said FLI President and CEO Tristan Las Marias. "Our efforts in delivering this value-enhancing initiative have paid off.”

"As we conclude this transaction, we have greater confidence in creating more shared benefits for shareholders of FILRT through asset infusions and for those of FLI with a virtuous cycle of capital appreciation,” the executive added.

The tender offer period ran from Oct. 7, 2024, to Nov. 27, 2024. The report of the tender offer results and acceptance of shares tendered was released on Dec. 6, 2024. The cross date and settlement date were Dec. 9 and 11, respectively.

In October, FLI filed a Tender Offer Report with the SEC for a capped voluntary tender offer to purchase or reacquire up to 1.87 billion FLI common shares. This equates to approximately 7.69 percent ownership of FLI's outstanding and listed stock, in exchange for FILRT shares owned by FLI, at an exchange ratio of 0.32 FILRT share for every one FLI share tendered.

The capped voluntary tender offer provided FLI shareholders with the opportunity to have their shares bought back in exchange for FILRT shares. FLI stockholders stood to gain from the tender offer by benefiting from potential price appreciation and a stable dividend yield from FILRT shares.

Furthermore, the tender offer provided FLI shareholders with a compelling opportunity to participate in REITs, gaining exposure to a portfolio of income-generating properties. FILRT's portfolio includes over 330,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA) of offices and land leased by a hotel, offering the potential for capital appreciation.