SEC to penalize Filinvest Dev't for late disclosure

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Monday it will slap Filinvest Development Corp. with a P4.15-million penalty for a late submission of its statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities. According to the corporate finance department of the SEC, Filinvest failed to disclose thoroughly the transaction involving the acquisition of some P1.2 billion worth of convertible bonds from Reco Grandhomes Pte., Ltd in December 2005. The convertible bonds were issued in February 2002 by FDC's property unit Filinvest Land, Inc. (FLI) and were bought by Reco. As payment for the bonds, Reco received P1.3 billion in cash and 300 million existing FLI shares owned by FDC. "The disposition of said shares by FDC and the acquisition of the same by Reco are subject to report thru SEC form 23-B, which was filed on time by RECO. However, with respect to FDC, it was filed six days after the due date. Hence, a show cause letter was issued against FDC," the SEC said. Filinvest earlier said the purchase of the bonds from Reco was part of its ongoing program to take advantage of the current liquid financial market to replace existing debt of FDC and its subsidiaries with lower cost funds at longer maturities. The bond purchase was funded by the loans that Filinvest secured from Insular and Sun Life of Canada. "The new terms will allow FLI to allocate more funds for its expansion program over the next few years," Filinvest said. Filinvest is allotting approximately P10 billion for the next five years to develop several new projects. Among these are the Timberland Sports and Nature Club in Timberland Heights, Tagaytay; the recently launched Asenso Business Parks; and a number of residential projects. - GMANews.TV