SMC offers P30B in retail bonds

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) rolled out Monday a multi-tenor local retail bond offering worth as much as P30 billion, proceeds from which will be used to refinance debt and for investment in various businesses.

The bonds were priced to yield 6.25 percent per annum for the five-year tenor, 6.625 percent for the seven-year tenor and 7.125 percent for the 10-year tenor, SMC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

The offer is until March 9 and will be listed on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. on the date of issuance on March 19.

The base offer size is P20 billion but SMC has the option to upsize the offering by another P10 billion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the permit to sell these securities on March 2.

The bonds will be issued in scripless form in minimum denominations of P50,000 each and in multiples of P10,000 thereafter.

Seven big banks are managing the offering: BDO Capital & Investments Corp., BPI Capital Corp., Chinabank Capital, First Metro Investments Corp., ING, SB Capital and Standard Chartered.

In selling these bonds, SMC is pitching to investors exposure to a conglomerate with market-leading positions in key industries like beer, key food categories, packaging, fuel and oil, power generation and infrastructure development.

Local credit watcher Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings) has assigned a triple-A rating for this new issuance, which represents the third tranche of SMC’s three-year debt securities program of up to P60 billion. The rating has a “stable” outlook.