San Miguel secures SEC permit to sell P60-B bonds

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SAN MIGUEL Corp. has received the permit to sell P60 billion worth of fixed-rate retail bonds from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the listed firm said on Thursday.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, San Miguel said it received the permit dated Nov. 22. The bonds will have a base offer of P40 billion and an oversubscription option of up to P20 billion to be issued at 100% of face value.

In its final prospectus, San Miguel estimated the net proceeds from the offering to reach around P59.33 billion assuming the full exercise of the oversubscription option.

According to the prospectus, up to P12.3 billion of the net proceeds from the offering will be used to redeem 164 million of San Miguel’s series 2H shares priced at P75 apiece. It will also finance the final redemption and payment of its series E bonds with a total outstanding amount of P13.14 billion.

Part of the proceeds will be used to repay the company’s $300-million facility agreement with MUFG Bank, Ltd., which was incurred on June 26, 2018. A portion will also be used to repay short-term loan facilities that were used in the redemption of its series A and D bonds.

The offer bonds will be issued on Dec. 14 with 5.25-year, seven-year and 10-year maturities and will be listed on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

The 5.25-year series L bonds will have a fixed initial interest rate of 7.45% per annum; the 7-year series M bonds will have a 7.85% interest per annum; and the 10-year series N bonds will have an 8.49% interest per annum.

The offer period will start on Nov. 25 and will end on Dec. 6, or on such other dates agreed upon by the company and joint issue managers, lead underwriters and bookrunners.

San Miguel tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., and PNB Capital and Investment Corp. as joint issue managers, lead underwriters and bookrunners.

Meanwhile, Asia United Bank Corp., Bank of Commerce, BPI Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital, Inc., RCBC Capital Corp., and SB Capital Investment Corp. were assigned as joint lead underwriters and bookrunners.

On the stock market on Thursday, shares in San Miguel declined by 20 centavos or 0.21% to P96.80 apiece. — Justine Irish D. Tabile