SEC okays JG Summit’s P30B bond offering

MANILA, Philippines—The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a plan by JG Summit Holdings Inc. to issue as much as P30 billion in bonds to retail investors to partly fund its investment in Manila Electric Co.

Based on a document from the SEC, the Gokongwei conglomerate was given authority to offer five-, seven- and 10-year bonds worth P15 billion plus an option to upsize by another P15 billion. JG Summit plans to begin the offering on Feb. 10 which will run until Feb. 19.

Net proceeds will be used by JG Summit for general corporate purposes and in relation to the recently completed acquisition of a 27-percent stake in Meralco from San Miguel Corp.

JG Summit plans to issue the bonds to institutional and retail investors through a general public offering.

BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank were mandated as joint lead underwriters for this offering.

The bonds will be issued in scripless form in denominations of P50,000 as a minimum and in multiples of P10,000 thereafter. They will be listed on fixed income trading platform Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

In October last year, JG Summit agreed to pay P72 billion for the 27-percent block held by San Miguel Corp. in Meralco, to be funded through a mix of equity and debt.