MANILA - Ayala Land said Tuesday it received the Securities and Exchange Commission "pre-effective" approval for its P15 billion real estate investment trust initial public offering under "AREIT", the country’s first REIT listing.

AREIT aims to sell up to 456,883,000 common shares with a stabilization option of 45,688,700 shares at a maximum offer price of P30.05 a piece. In total, this represents 49 percent of AREIT's capital stock, Ayala Land told the stock exchange.

Under trading symbol, "AREIT", it will trade on the Philippine Stock Exchange's main board.

Part of the proceeds will be used to fund acquisition of the fourth commercial asset in its portfolio while 90 percent will be used by the sponsor, Ayala Land, Inc, to reinvest in real estate projects in the country, it said.

With the pre-effective approval, "AREIT is closing to launching the country's maiden REIT," the company said. An approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange for its listing application and the order or registration and permit to sell from the SEC will also be secured, it said.

Real estate investment funds will give the public more options to engage in the property investments.

BPI Capital Corp is the sole global coordinator for the maiden share sale and will act as joint bookrunner, together with UBS AG Singapore, and joint lead underwriter, along with PNB Capital and Investment Corp and SB Capital Investment Corp.

DoubleDragon Properties earlier said it has identified the first batch of properties for its REIT offering.

• DoubleDragon says first tranche of REITs assets identified