Fantasia announces issuance of
US$120 million guaranteed senior notes
Planning ahead to seize emerging opportunities
amid adverse market environment
5 May, 2010, Hong Kong – Fantasia Holdings Group Co., Limited (“Fantasia” or the “Company”; stock code 1777) announced today that the Company has successfully completed the issuance of guaranteed senior notes in the aggregate principal amount of US$120 million. The notes will mature on May 2015 and will bear interest at a rate of 14% per annum. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Merrill Lynch International and UBS AG are the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners of the offer and sale of the notes.
Fantasia announced a proposed issuance of guaranteed senior notes last month and commenced a series of roadshow presentations around 29 April 2010 to institutional investors in Asia, Europe and the United States. With an emphasis on high quality land acquisitions at relatively low costs, high-end customers and upmarket products, Fantasia’s successful business model has been well received and won widespread recognition among investors met during the roadshows. The Company originally planned to issue US$200 million worth of notes for potential acquisitions of low cost yet high quality land parcels when opportune moments arise. However, in the light of rising interest expected by the capital market, and the fact that Fantasia has had ample capital in hand, the Company eventually confirmed the issue of US$120 million senior notes due 2015.
The proceeds raised will primarily be used to fund the purchase of high quality land parcels in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. Fantasia launched a successful listing on the Hong Kong stock market in 2009, which was 160 times oversubscribed despite the market downturn. It has a high quality land bank and has the ability to acquire low-cost land parcels that stand at only half the price of its peers. With a prudent approach in business development, Fantasia has been actively expanding into tier two and three cities in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions as tier one cities are more prone to the asset bubble phenomenon. Since listing last November, Fantasia has added over 3 million square meters of land parcels located in Wuxi, Dali, Guilin and Suzhou, with its total land bank amounting to over 13 million square meters.
Commenting on the recent property market policies implemented by the Chinese government, Mr. Pan Jun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fantasia, said, “While timing is bad in terms of market fluctuations during a volatile macroeconomic environment, this also presents us with enormous business opportunities. Market consolidation is warranted where only the strongest will stay and the weaker peers, as well as those SOEs with property as non-core business, fall from the sector. Fantasia is positive about the opportunities that will come along, and is looking to get hold of quality land parcels that will come at half the price of that offered during peak periods. Without doubt, we will spare no effort to further build our brand awareness by expanding our presence in our core markets in the Pearl River Delta region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone and the Beijing-Tianjin metropolitan region.”
About Fantasia Group
Founded in 1996, Fantasia Group is a leading property developer and property related service provider in China. Fantasia has a property development portfolio strategically located across four of China’s most economically prosperous regions, namely the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin metropolitan area, focusing on developing projects of urban complexes and boutique upscale residences.
Fantasia was successfully listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in November 2009 under the stock code “1777”. Fantasia has created an operating model of bringing property development, property management and property agency businesses under one roof. It is the only property company in China with members of the group being ranked among the 2009 China Top 100 Real Estate Developers, the 2009 China Top 100 Real Estate Agencies and the 2009 China Top 100 Property Management Companies by the China Real Estate Top 10 Research Team. In 2010, the Group was also ranked among the 2010 China Top 100 Real Estate Developers and the 2010 China Top 100 Real Estate Agencies.
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