PROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) on Friday successfully raised about P5.6 billion, exclusive of fees and taxes, from a block sale of shares in its real estate investment trust, AREIT Inc.

ALI and its wholly owned subsidiaries, AyalaLand Offices Inc. and Glensworth Development Inc., sold a total of 181 million common shares in AREIT at a price of P31.10 per share.

The Ayala-led company told the stock exchange that the block sale was in relation to a property-for-share swap deal with the REIT.

BPI Capital Corp., UBS AG Singapore Branch and CLSA Ltd. acted as placement agents.

"The transaction was upsized by over 40 percent, anchored by high-quality, long-only institutional investors," it noted.

ALI said the shares were offered and sold to qualified buyers outside and within the United States, in compliance with the country's securities laws.

"The said shares were also offered and sold in the Philippines in transactions that do not require registration under the Philippine Securities Regulation Code (SRC), specifically Section 10.1(l) of the SRC and Rule 10.1.3 of the implementing rules and regulations of the SRC," it said.

Proceeds from block sale will be settled by January 30 of this year under the placement agreement, ALI said, adding that the reinvestment plan outlining the use of proceeds will be disclosed "in due course."

"Any future offer or sale of the offer shares by the buyers thereof in the Philippines is subject to the registration requirements of the SRC, unless such offer or sale qualifies as an exempt transaction in accordance with the applicable requirements of the SRC," the property company noted.

On Friday, ALI shares slipped by 0.44 percent to close at P34 each amid a 0.19-percent uptick in the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.