Philippine conglomerates and property firms have been racing to monetise mature assets through REITs, adding to a slew of IPOs expected to help the country take the rare top slot in fundraising in Southeast Asia this year.

In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, MREIT said it would offer up to 949.84 million shares, including an overallotment option of up to 105.54 million shares, at 16.10 pesos per share.

It reduced the size of its IPO from the previous plan to offer up to 1.078 billion shares, with an overallotment option of up to 161.7 million shares.

Price guidance was set at 16.10 to 17.10 pesos per share, implying a yield of 5.5% to 5.9% for 2022, according to a report by IFR, a fixed income news service owned by Refinitiv.

MREIT is a subsidiary of Megaworld Corp, the Philippines' biggest office landlord.

REITs manage real estate assets like office buildings and commercial centres that generate profits, and are attractive to investors seeking regular dividends.

MREIT owns 10 office buildings catering to outsourcing firms and a hotel with a gross leasable area of nearly 225,000 square metres (2.4 million square feet), equivalent to 31 soccer pitches. MREIT will add five more income-generating assets totaling 100,000 sqm in 2022, said chief executive Kevin Tan.

Proceeds from the share sale will be used to build more office buildings, malls and hotels.

A slew of initial public offerings (IPO) and REIT listings https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southeastasia-ipo-philippines-idUKKBN2AJ0DP that could top $4 billion look set to transform the Philippines' bourse into one of Southeast Asia's most vibrant this year.

The IPO of RL Commercial REIT, set to list on Sept. 14, will raise as much as 23.5 billion pesos, the country's largest.

($1 = 49.90 Philippine pesos)

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Ed Davies)

By Neil Jerome Morales