MANILA, Philippines--The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a plan by SM Investments Corp., the holding group of retail tycoon Henry Sy's SM group of companies, to offer up to P10 billion in peso-denominated retail bonds.

The offering will mark SMIC?s debut in the local bond market and the first retail bond issuance within the SM group, which generally took the private placement route in raising funds for its listed companies in the past.

SMIC announced on Friday that the SEC has given its nod to its proposed issuance of fixed-rate domestic retail bonds with a minimum investment value of P20,000 per transaction.

The bonds will be issued in two tranches maturing either in five or seven years. SM aims to issue P5 billion but with a leeway to upsize by another P5 billion.

The bonds shall be jointly underwritten by BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Banking Corp., Union Bank of the Phils., and RCBC Capital Corp., SMIC said.