San Miguel Brewery eyes P20-billion fixed rate bond offer

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel Brewery Inc. has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer up to P20 billion in fixed rate bonds, marking its return to the domestic bond market three years after a historic retail bond debut.

The beer unit of diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday that it had filed a registration statement at the corporate regulator relating to the issuance of these bonds.

The disclosure said the proposed issuance would have three tenors: five years and one day, seven years and 10 years.

SMB debuted on the local bond market in 2009 with the issuance of P38.8 billion worth of retail bonds, the single largest bond deal carved out of the local market.

A P13.6-billion tranche of the bond issue, however, is maturing by April this year, which SMB seeks to refinance using part of the proceeds from this new bond float. The remainder shall be used to help pay ahead of maturity a $300-million creditor term facility.

SMB grew its net profit in 2011 by 17.4 percent to P12.2 billion on the back of higher volume and selling prices. Its consolidated net sales revenue grew by 6.3 percent to reach P71.9 billion in 2011, driven by higher sales volume, for both domestic and international operations, as well as higher selling prices.