Megaworld to raise fresh capital for investment program

MANILA, Philippines- Developer Megaworld Corp. will be holding capital-raising activities to fund its capital spending program in the near term. In a statement, Megaworld said it is embarking on a P10.4 billion fund- raising campaign to fund its P30 billion capital spending program over the next three years. Megaworld has closed a P1.4 billion corporate notes offer on February 10. It expects to generate another P 9 billion within the next three years from a pre-emptive rights offer with detachable warrants to holders of Megaworld common shares. The rest of the P30 billion capex will be generated internally. The planned rights offer was approved by the company’s board of directors on Feb. 10. Megaworld said the new fund-raising program will further enhance its capital base, aimed at ensuring that it can ride out the global financial turmoil and capitalizing on new opportunities along the way. Megaworld, led by Andrew Tan, expects to accommodate around 14,000 jobs in the business process outsourcing sector from 2009 to 2010 with the completion this year of five BPO office buildings with more than 100,000 square meters of office space. The office projects are located in Eastwood City, McKinley Hill and Newport City. GMANews.TV