SAN MIGUEL EXPLORING A P50 BILLION BOND ISSUE

SAN MIGUEL Corp. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the preliminary prospectus and the registration statement for the shelf registration of fixed-rate bonds worth up to P50 billion, the company said in a disclosure to the exchange on Monday.

The bonds will be issued in tranches within three years with an offer supplement each from the effectivity of its registration statement.

It will be issued at face value and will be listed and traded at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

“The use of proceeds for each tranche of the offer will be set out in the relevant offer supplement,” San Miguel said in its preliminary prospectus published on its company website.

For the first tranche, San Miguel also filed an offer supplement for up to P20-billion fixed-rate bonds with an oversubscription option of up to P10 billion.

The initial offering will consist of six-year Series I Bonds due in 2027, with a put option or repricing on the third year. It may be redeemed in the fourth year or the fifth year.

If the oversubscription option is only partly exercised or if it is not exercised at all during the offer period, the amount will be carried over to the bonds under shelf registration.

“The entire proceeds for this offer will be used for redenominating the existing dollar denominated obligations of the company and expenses of the shelf registration and offering of the offer bonds,” the company said in its preliminary offer supplement.

The company tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., ING Bank N.V. Manila Branch, Philippine Commercial Capital, Inc., PNB Capital and Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp., and SB Capital Investment Corp. as joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters, and bookrunners of the initial offer.

The SEC has yet to approve of the shelf registration of P50-billion fixed-rate bonds and its proposed first tranche.

Shares of San Miguel at the stock exchange closed unchanged on Monday at P115 each.

Source: BusinessWorld