The Philippines: San Miguel Corp. to issue P10 bln worth of fixed rate bonds this year

Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. plans to issue P10 billion worth of fixed rate bonds before the end of the year, the Manila Standard reported on August 16.

San Miguel said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the P10 billion fixed-rate bonds represented the final tranche of the P60-billion bond shelf registration earlier approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

San Miguel said it would file with the SEC an offer supplement on or before Aug. 22 regarding the planned bond offering.

The conglomerate will also conduct an investors’ briefing for qualified institutional buyers on Aug. 22 to discuss the terms of the bonds.

The company did not say how it would use the proceeds from the bond offering. It used the proceeds of previous bond offerings to finance debt obligations.

San Miguel last issued retail bonds in 2017. It offered P5 billion five-year bonds at a fixed interest rate of 5.1923 percent a year.

San Miguel early this week obtained the go-signal to pursue the P734-billion Bulacan International Airport project.

Under the plan, San Miguel Holdings Corp. will take care of the financing, design, construction, supply, completion, testing, commissioning and operation and maintenance of the new international gateway.

The Bulacan International Airport is expected to begin construction by the end of the year and operate within four to six years.

San Miguel tapped the services of global firms Groupe ADPi, Meinhardt Group and Jacobs Engineering to design and build the New Manila International Airport in Bulakan, Bulacan.

The company is building the project on a 2,500-hectare property in Bulakan town, about 30 kilometers northeast of Metro Manila at no cost to the government.

San Miguel’s profit in the first half of the year declined five percent to P26.15 billion from P27.58 billion year-on-year, dragged down by the weak performance of the fuel and oil and food businesses.

First-half net sales rose two percent to P509.4 billion from P499 billion in the same period a year ago. As a result, income from operations fell 14 percent to P57.6 billion.

Share price of San Miguel rose 4.4 percent to P183.70 on August 16.

17 August, 2019