PLDT prices $600-million note offering

PLDT, Inc. yesterday priced its US dollar-denominated 10-year and 30year dual-tranche note offering amounting to US$600 million.

The fixed coupon rate for the 10-year bond was placed at 2.500% and 3.450%, for the 30-year bond, payable semi-annually. It was the lowest ever coupon for a 10-year and 30-year issuance by a Philippine corporate.

Also, it was the first ever 30-year offering for a nongovernment entity out of the Philippines.

S&P rated the notes BBB+ and gave PLDT a BBB+ stable. Moody's gave the telco a Baa2 stable rating while Fitch rated it BBB stable.

The bonds were priced at T+180 and T+195 with a re-offer yield of 2.566% and 3.495%.

With the issuance, the telco has returned to the bond market for the first time in 18 years to refinance debts maturing till next year and partially fund its capex.

Significantly, high quality institutional investors showed strong confidence in PLDT.

The offering was 17 times over-subscribed and the largest orderbook size reached US$10.2 billion.

The order book was allocated predominantly to Asia and the balance to Europe.

“The tremendous market response to our bond offering is beyond what we expected after such a long absence,” remarked PLDT Chairman, President and CEO, Manuel V. Pangilinan.

“We are mindful that our performance in the coming years should match the expectations of the market that received us so warmly,” he acknowledged.

“I believe we have now assembled possibly the best management team in our history, one that will allow us to realize the extraordinary potential of our business as an integrated telco,” Pangilinan underscored.