Petron buys back more than $22M in securities

Petron Corp., which operates the country’s sole refinery, is repurchasing more than $22 million in securities listed on Singapore’s bourse to pare down interest expenses.

In a disclosure on Monday, the listed oil company said it is buying back $22.47 million in senior perpetual capital securities following the conduct of its tender offer.

Petron bought these “perps” for $927 or approximately P51,000 per $1,000 in principal amount of securities.

“The payment date for the settlement of the tender offer is expected to be on January 19, 2023,” it added.

Petron received offers from investors to divest their securities worth $37.48 million for the duration of the tender offer which concluded last Jan. 12.

It was able to arrive at the purchase price via the modified “Dutch auction” wherein stockholders are allowed to indicate how many shares and at what price within the indicated range they would like to tender their shares.

Early this month, Petron offered to buy a portion of its $500-million, 4.60 percent senior perpetual capital securities “to optimize the cost of capital and capital structure of the offeror.”

This would also provide liquidity to investors at a premium to market price, it added.

“[Petron] is undertaking the tender offer to optimize the cost of capital and capital structure of the offeror. The tender offer also provides liquidity to investors at a premium to market price,” the company had said.

Petron had reported its consolidated net income as of end-September grew by 64 percent to P8.2 billion while revenues more than doubled to P631.1 billion. INQ