San Miguel plans P15B new bond offer

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. plans to raise as much as P15 billion from a new public offering of five-year retail bonds.

This is the second issuance under SMC’s three-year bond shelf registration of up to P60 billion, of which an initial P20 billion had been issued last March 1.

Proceeds from this new offering will mainly be used to refinance obligations, SMC president Ramon S. Ang said in a text message.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, SMC said it had filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement for a new offering of at least P10 billion in fixed-rate bonds due 2022, with an option to upsize the offering by P5 billion.

The bonds will be listed and traded through fixed income trading platform Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

Local credit watchdog Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings) said it had assigned the highest rating of “PRS Aaa” on this new debt offering by SMC with a “stable” outlook.

Obligations rated “PRS Aaa” are deemed of the highest quality with minimal credit risk. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is deemed “extremely strong.”
A “stable” outlook, on the other hand, means that the rating was likely to be maintained or to remain unchanged in the next 12 months.