SMC plans P60B fund-raising

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. plans to raise as much as P60 billion from an offering of new bonds to the local debt market within the next three years.

SMC plans to sell up to P20 billion worth of bonds initially out of this facility, based on a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The conglomerate said its board had approved the filing of an appropriate registration statement and prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The bonds are proposed to be listed on the fixed income exchange Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

Under the shelf registration program allowed by the SEC, securities to be issued in tranches may be registered for an offering to be made on a continuous or delayed basis for a period not exceeding three years.

The issuer is allowed to use the same prospectus for various tranches of securities offering under such mechanism.

Such shelf registration is crucial in seeking a good timing to proceed with a planned securities issuance especially when financial markets are volatile. This allows the issuer to complete all the tedious paperwork and thereby lay the groundwork for a future issuance and immediately go to market as soon as conditions are favorable.